By Tuks Cycling Team

With the summer steadily approaching, a lot of cyclist in the area are starting to dust off the cobwebs from their bikes and getting back into shape. With the second part of the racing calendar kicking off at the end of August, we have identified a very well balanced climb to help you work on those sustained climbing efforts. These efforts will help stay with the pack when the race starts going uphill and make sure you have enough power for the attacks at the top of the climb.

“Cycling doesn’t get easier, you just get faster” – Greg LaMond

Klapperkop climb is one of the most ridden climbs in the Pretoria area with more than 1000 people riding the climb each day. It is a very well balanced climb and makes sure that you work on your sustained efforts throughout. The climb in full, from the bottom cattle grid at the entrance to Klapperkop nature reserve, up to the top of the climb is just over 3,7 km long. The average gradient is just over 3% but this is very deceiving seeing that there is a 250m downhill section halfway through. The climb starts off with quite a steady section with an average gradient of 5,5% and works its way up to a steady 7%.

The Tuks Cycling team uses this climb quite often, especially when training for longer climbing efforts. The total time for the climb ranges between 7 and 9 minutes and is ideal for the longer climbs in races such as the 94.7 Cycle Challenge. We usually do between 5 and 10 repeats on this climb with a couple of minute’s recovery in between each interval.

Please see below the detailed breakdown of the Rose Avenue climb (map, profile) and our video dairy made during a training session on Rose Avenue.

I trust that you enjoyed our first and second Blog Post in this series! Please come and have a look at next weeks post. You can also follow the team on social media for updates and pictures.

Klapperkop – Climb breakdown:

• Maximum Gradient: 7,5%
• Average gradient: 3%
• Climb length: 3,7km
• Surface: Tar surface throughout the climb
• Surface quality: 8/10 Perfectly smooth tar, a couple of potholes at the foot of the climb
• Lighting: No lighting installed on climb
• Best time to train: First light of day up to 5 pm
• Overall rating: 8/10

Klapperkop – Street map

Klapperkop – Profile

Klapperkop - Video Blog