Hi All - where are the best hill in the area for hill repeat training (i.e. ride up and down the hill 10 times or more). I need to get in more climbing this year and I am currently using Baden Hill (Sandhills Road and Snyder’s Rd E) and Greenwood Hill (Greenwood Hill Rd and Township Rd 3) just outside of Wellesley for training. Im looking for a longer hill with a more steady incline. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Blenheim Rd. from Oxford Waterloo Rd. south all the way to Oxford Rd.8, turn right to Wolverton. Up the big hill & then turn around & do it as an out & back. Nice rollers & 1 good climb each way. Approx. 25k round trip.
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I think the ‘longest’ hill i’m aware of around here is the one going south out of Amulree towards Stratford on our Stratford rides.
Might be a bit busy with traffic during the day/evening? But mornings aren’t too bad.
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Not sure where you’re coming from, but the Ottawa street hill heading (west) towards Mannheim has a decent ramp for shorter efforts and a decent shoulder.
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There’s actually a nice MUT on both sides of Ottawa now. I usually ride up on the MUT and stick to the road on the way down as you can pick up some pretty decent speed. There’s a new subdivision being built off of Ottawa at Trussler Rd. You could ride up the hill, loop through the subdivision and back down Ottawa for a more or less continuous loop with lots of climbing
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Of course there’s Hawkesville. Long side (2-3 mins to climb) pictured below. Push over the top to go down the other side (steep side hits 15%) at 65kph. Then turn around and go back up steep side (painful) and down long side. Repeat 10 x and that’s an hour of climbing.
Click on the club album below to see pictures from different angles. And it’s close to you in Wellsely @emily.lloyd
When training for IronMan France, I’d just go up and down 10 times on each side before a long ride. Can’t remember…maybe that’s 1000M? But you get in a groove and are essentially climbing for an hour. You’ll feel the change in your legs as it draws on a different muscle group after time. Same when you go to Europe and spend time the Alps and Pyrenees.
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And you’re on hallowed ground.
I keep this professionally framed photo taken by @SteveSh in my garage. Next to my bikes.
It’s Gaelen Merritt @gmerritt winning the KW Classic a decade ago via a solo breakaway in the rain up Hawkesville Hill (long side) for the last time. Police escort leading him up.
We all watched as the strongest rider in the club was born.
BTW, Old Man Merritt is still crushing souls at the front of group 1 every night. Last night he and his group averaged 40.1 over the Fergus loop (67 km)
Every time up Hawkesville, I think of this picture.
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That wasn’t a decade ago, was it? It feels like 4, maybe 5 years ago!
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Ha!!!
That’s steep side Hawkesville !!!
I was dropped right there at that 16% point. And if it wasn’t for your encouragement @TommyB i would have given up.
But I made it over the top and down the long side of Hawkesville Hill in the picture above that Gaelen is climbing up and managed to catch the lead group for the final loop.
And sprinted for 3d place (Sportif). I owe half that medal to you @TommyB
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@SteveSh Everything feels like 10-20 years ago to me these days.
But COVID was only 4 years ago. I believe this was Gaelen’s first E1 win with Bruce at WOB.
@SteveSh it’s your picture! Go check the film. Or better yet @gmerritt . Come on…when did you win this? Should be embedded in your mind forever?
Also can’t be anywhere near as painful as that Scenic Caves Hill climb event at Centurion in Collingwood?
@emily.lloyd technically we haven’t hijacked your thread yet. We are plumbing the WCC brain trust for ideas and stories to inspire you (and others) to find more hills in the region and start climbing.
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Another good climb for repeats is Columbia extension. 
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Columbia has got really busy with the new lobk to costco 
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The climb out of Glen Allan near Conestogo lake is decent and usually not too busy. Beauty ride to get out there via Yatton side road… bumpy as all get out. Early on Sunday morning Lobsinger Line isn’t too busy. Radio tower repeats.
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I have the same photo in my living room.
Also, the hill coming from Paradise Lake to Weimar is quite punchy but then again, me and up hill do not get along very well. I guess you have to pay for the fun downhill part though.
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Summoned by @Francqlife → it was 2014, so yeah it’ll be 10 years in ~June. We had a really fun/awesome team that year and could just light up races with absolute abandon. I won 2 E1 races that year and rode with Jet Fuel the next year as a “call up” for UCI road races and NRC crits… which was the real eye opener/peak in terms of level.
As for best hills, 1-2 min punchy hills are a dime a dozen around here, basically anywhere immediately west of town on the Waterloo Moraine and you’ll find one.
Anything longer is tougher to find. You roughly have at most 50-70 m of vertical to play with around here, so even at a ~3% grade that’s like a 5 min climb tops.
I’d argue noone’s done more Columbia Extension repeats than me, and yeah it’s gotten way busier because of costco but depending on when you go it can still be fine. I used Columbia a lot because it’s a) super local and b) long by waterloo standards (i.e. duration got into that vo2 max range and not just anaerobic like the punchy hills on bamberg loop), c) WAS very quiet till the suburbs starting filling in, c) “stepped” with reasonable undulations in grade, so you get good at making watts under variable resistance (it ain’t erg mode), and d) you can make it a 5 km loop back through the path on columbia forest blvd, it’s nice, and it enforces a good recovery period.
Another one not mentioned is the “horror hill” on Wilmot Line, yes it’s dirt but is usually in good shape and more than fine on a road bike. It’s like 1.5-2 mins for me just to get up the dirt part, but if you stay on the gas the coming over the top, there are net uphill rollers all the way to a high point just past Wilby. I like that segment because the differences in grades are huge and it’s a real skill to be able to optimize your pacing and gearing etc to clock a good time, and with the steepest/toughest part first it helps to force a front loaded effort. Still, you’re looking at max a ~5 min effort and it’s not sustained “climbing” per se.
And way out of town, you can find a bit better → there are the escarpment climbs near Rattlesnake point → appleby, bell school, 14th side road, and steeles, those are steep and ~100 m vert. Then even further collingwood/thornbury you have escarpment climbs (grey rd 19, scenic caves, pretty river) and out of beaver valley (grey rd 4) that give ~240 m. Scenic Caves is IMO the toughest paved climb in Ontario.
But yeah, a more than 300 m vertical climb in Ontario doesn’t exist. We have a very warped perspective here in the grand scheme of things regarding what constitutes a “hilly” route 
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Yeah, I know it was a decade ago; it just doesn’t FEEL like a decade ago!
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Great question Emily! I am loving this thread and all the ideas. Looking for sustained climbing practice too.
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Dundas has a few close to each other: Sydenham Rd, King St W, Weirs Ln
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Great suggestions everyone! Keep them coming! I have done the horror hill on Wilmot line (love the name btw) and also the ride up Glen Allan to Conestogo Lake - both killer climbs. Will make sure to check out Columbia, Amulree and Hawksville in the coming weeks.
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