Are you tough enough?
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What Britain's climbs lack in distance, they make up for in gradient (Pic: Shirokazan, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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The Rosedale Chimney is as easy on the eye as it is brutal on the legs (Pic: Mike Dobson, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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Ffordd Penllech in Harlech is the UK's steepest road (Pic: Stephen Elwyn Roddick, via Wiki Commons)
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Jenkin Road was the final climb of stage two of this year's Tour de France (Pic: Marc, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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Vale Street in Bristol is the UK's steepest residential street (Pic: Sam Saunders, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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A sign at the bottom of Porlock Hill warns of the gradient to come (Pic: Stephen McKay, via Creative Commons)
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Clovelly is traffic-free but a private access route allows cyclists to have a slice of the action (Pic: Graham Alton, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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This brutal hairpin makes Penbarras one of the toughest of the north Welsh hills (Pic: SimonPix, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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Great Dun Fell is both long and steep at 7.45km and 7.7 per cent (Pic: Phil Catterall via Wikimedia Commons)
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York's Hill hosts the annual Catford hill climb, the world's oldest bike race (pic: Bareknuckleyellow, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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Hardknott Pass is the most brutal of the grueling Lake District passes (pic: Eifion, via Flickr Creative Commons)
Are you tough enough?
Tackling a climb which ramps skywards at an almost perpendicular angle is what we ride for, right?
Well, it may not feel that way at the time as we huff, puff and drag body and bike up the slope but you can’t match the feeling of satisfaction of reaching the summit.
And while mountain passes in the Alps and Pyrenees, and giants such as Alpe d’Huez and Mont Ventoux, remain bucket list favourites, there are plenty of leg-burning climbs on these shores too.
What they lack in length, they certainly make up for in gradient and we’ve picked out ten of the steepest UK climbs. Some regions like the south west and the Lake District boast wall-like climbs around seemingly every corner but we’ve hand-picked some of our favourites from across the country.
Check out our picks over the following pages. How many have you tackled? Share your favourites in the comments section below or in the forum.
UPDATE: Did your favourite climb miss out? There were simply too many good ascents missing for us to leave it at just ten so check out ten more of the steepest climbs here.