Photo: Hill with no reward by Teocalli
Actually this isn’t so much about a climb but rather a hill or road section that you cannot easily avoid but is a pain with no / low reward.
For me there is a section of road locally that is neither long, nor steep but it is just steep enough and long enough to be a grind but is not steep enough, nor long enough to to feel rewarded by the effort to get to the top.
I suspect it is made worse by the fact that the gradient gradually increases and the section of road is straight and the first part visually looks like it should be about flat.
At one point a while ago someone labelled the section of Strava as “Bastard Climb” and I could see their point.
Unfortunately, it is hard for me to avoid as it is about my only route back for rides out and back in a particular direction and it is also towards the end of many of my routes. So I just have to love to hate it.
The nuts part is that I can do most of it in the big ring, in fact all of it if I monster it on the last bit.