Monte Zoncolan

The sign above the start of the steep stuff on Monte Zoncolan said "the gates of hell" in Italian, and that's what we were riding through...attempting what many people are already saying is the steepest road climb ever used in a professional cycling race. '2007, the legend begins' said another.

Were arrived in the area from Cortina the day before and ridden 25 miles to the base to try and ride the climb and watch the Giro ride up as a summit finish a few hours later.

On the way there I chatted with Ric Hjertberg, a manager at FSA (Full Speed Ahead, bike bits) and very friendly chap over to watch and ride the Giro course with hospitality. He had a helicopter option to the top.....unlike us.

Once we had gained our compsure we hit the lower slopes and were immediately out of gears. Oh dear.


Then after 2 k's and a small village, the serious climbing began..announced by that banner across the road.

To get an idea of what we would be pedalling up, a profile of this fearsome climb can be found here :http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Monte-Zoncolan&qryMountainID=36 but the key stats are over 10 km's at 12% average with a kilometer of nearly 20% near the bottom. Owch !

The road through the forest ramped up and straight away our heart rates jumped to threshold. And then they kept rising......the crowds at the side of the road were cheering us on (especially Amy) but we knew that were were losing the battle. Just as Amy slowed to a point where the wheels were barely turning I heard a cry of 'Mark...MARK !' and turned round to watch her topple sideways onto the road, still clipped in.

The crowd rushed in to help...which being in Italy also involved the offer of a shot of Grappa. I took a swig and a breather and carried on up whilst Amy waited for the stars to disappear from her vision before being given a push start on the >20% ramp.

The other feature of the climb is that a bit like the Koppenberg, much of the bottom section is in a trench, so it feels like the crowd are looking into a gladiator's pit as you ride up.

The helpful pushes from the crowd continued for Amy (why do I not get pushed ?...ok, I think I know why) and she was given the traditional Italian two cheeked kiss by a marshal at the point where we cyclists were told to stop. There was still 5 km's to go, but I think the marshalls were wary of amateur cyclists causing serious medical issues and blocking the roads with ambulances before the pro race got there and they wanted to minimise the risk.

The leaders (Maglia Rosa, Di Luca on left) looked strong on very low gears (Ric, who was staying with Discovery Channel told me Sean Yates had specified 34 x 28 for their riders, we had 34 x 25) but the domestiques at the back were a different story. They were really struggling, some holding onto motorbikes or team cars and nearly all when offered a push replied with a faint 'Grazia' as spectators pushed them up the muderously steep slopes. Don't be fooled by glamorous TV pictures, they do not all make it look easy...the back markers looked like they were totally spaced out as they toiled up.

Mark pushing the pros on the left. They are suffering like dogs.

60,000 people were estimated to be on the slopes that day....I am sure it will become a classic, but don't expect to ride up it like you would l'Alpe d'Huez or the Ventoux....it is in a different league. On long climbs it´s my legs that get weary, on this I couldn´t really control my heart rate. Doing it on thrashed legs (ie summit finish after 100 mountain miles) would be impossible for me, I would make about 10 metres of the steep stuff. And I´d ignore that 12% average stat, take out the bottom two k´s of and it is much steeper.

If you live in the UK I reckon it is a bit like Winnats Pass x 8.