Racing The World’s HARDEST Hill Climb | Taiwan KOM Challenge
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- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2025
- The Taiwan KOM Challenge is the longest and highest hill climb race on the planet. The epic Wuling Pass climb is 83km long with 3,500m of elevation gain, heading from sea level up through the stunning Taroko Gorge and Taiwanese rainforest to above the clouds. How will Ollie get on against the likes of WorldTour pro Simon Yates, and can he beat Si’s time from 2017?
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臺灣自行車登山王挑戰
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What challenge should Ollie take on next? 👀 Let us know in the comments below! 💬
Crusher in the Tushar in Utah. Elevation to the nines and tough climbing on gravel.
The Chiemgauking in Bavaria, that's a Mountainbikemarathon against the clock, 172km and 4800 meters of climbing! Maybe joined by Hank!
#gcn
The Midnight Sun Randonnée in Umeå Sweden.
1200 km
Great job again Ollie 😊
Get Emma back as a guest and pair it Ollie to conquer Colombian mountain range
Ollie has really become a legend of a rider in the last 2 years. Well done! Just a few spots short of a top 20 finish. A remarkable achievement for anyone.
He truly is a special rider! Have you seen when he did the tour des stations?👉gcn.eu/Ultimate1000
He's living his dream, clearly. ❤
🚨 Spoiler alert! 🚨
He looks so fresh that I think he can go down and up again and be faster
Thanks for the spoiler 😒
Ollie has a special place in my heart because he shows what a non-pro rider can actually do if they put their mind to it. It's been inspiring to watch him transform himself from the earliest GCN vids where he was constantly dropped to where he's now chilling amidst the clouds at the top of the Taiwan KOM finish. Big up, Ollie and GCN!
And I remember when he was on that other channel!!
When he first started he was Cycling Weakly
I still want a repeat of 4 v1 !
@@charlesjungclaus Brilliant, GCN should definitely give that another go, Ollie on a TT bike now would be something else!
@@grintalcycles8266And we can’t even make that joke anymore, because he sure isn’t cycling weakly these days.
Being a fellow cyclist from Taiwan it’s really nice to see one of the most influential cycling RUclips channel tackle this beast of a mountain. Love the Taiwan content please come back and visit more.
They’ve done it before, too. That video put this event on the map for a lot of people. Si and Matt rode it, but they made it look way harder than this legend.
Holy smokes! Ollie, you're a machine! Nice ride mate. 26th is damn respectable. Chapeau!
It's more than respectable! Ollie smashed it! 🙌
I've done this climb! Also the climb up from Puli City to the same summit on the West side. Utterly spectacular routes on both sides. The whole country is just a cycling paradise in fact. Jaw dropping scenery, excellent roads, awesome food, warm, generous, lovely people. Taiwan is one of the best cycling destinations on earth, truly special.
How can it be a cycling paradise when Taiwan is one of the most dangerous places for pedestrians and motor bikers, as reported by CNN. Car drivers there don't make way for pedestrians or people who are riding motor bike or bike.
@@dt8101 If you're looking for cycling paradise riding a bicycle in downtown traffic in a city of millions I'm afraid there isn't a country on earth where you're going to find it, Taiwan included, obviously. But much of the countryside, the central mountains and their foothills, and Taiwan's East coast though... cycling paradise.
@@dt8101I take it you haven’t been
@@dt8101???
Sadly to say as a native person in Taiwan I still think it dangerous to go cycling in Taiwan. Lack of cycling lanes in downtown area, bad driving habits of most Taiwanese people all make me feel like I'm risking my life on road.
Been living in Taiwan for 20 years and it is a bike riders paradise, especially if you love climbing. Ollie well done that is a amazing effort. Having done the climb in 2018 double amazing EFFORT!
They have some fantastic international bike brands as well.
@barneyklingenberg4078 lol, thats because your fav bike brand is actually built in taiwan.....
My previous road bike had components from a taiwanese manufacturer called Sunrace.
@@DoritoFD 😂😂😂 you know like 3 companies in Taiwan makes 90% of all road bikes right ? They just slap the name of your "European brand "
@sanynava9160 yes I'm riding a Spanish BH EVO ULTRALIGHT and it's made here in Taiwan
Averaging 27 km/h on this extreme long uphill climb and occasionally filming and talking is insane!
Think you need to check your maths there mate. Nearer 21kmh. 👍🏼
He certainly had his work cut out on this shoot... do you think GCN held him back?
@@gcn or he benefitted from the occasional (unintended) drafting :)
And. he looked as fresh as a daisy at the end.
Someone commented in the first video on this KOM about how they had cycled around Taiwan with Taiwan. I had plans to join Giant Adventures for this "Tour de Taiwan" in Marvh 2020, but then Covid hold the world hostage.Fast forward to Oct 2023: Me and my husband did the Tour de Taiwan with Giant and cycled 925km in 9 days. What a great, unique honeymoon in an awesome country. 😅😊
Wow!!!
We’re you able to cycle Hualien to Taipei?….I have been told it is a good idea to train this portion.
@@bernieraverty4319 Indeed, we took a train from Hualien to Yilan and continued biking from there.
@@mkud1984 okay thank you! ….quick follow up question is if you cycled the KOM climb and if you stayed near or just across the summit or even rode back down to Hualien in the same day? Sorry for the extra questions…just trying to sort out if a day trip to the summit is a possibility for a recreational cyclist.
@bernieraverty4319 no, the KOM part/Taroko wasn't part of the trip. That would have been to challenging - the group consisted of 35 people. I guess some would have been able to do it, but most wouldn't. Like me, and I consider myself reasonably fit...
It's nice to have selfies with Ollie before the match start. Happy to finished under 5 hours. Great to found Ollie's stunning performance under 4 hours. It's my third time for the KOM event. The first time finished line moved to 2100m due to typhoon. The second time finished 5:21 way below expectation. Guess third time's the charm.
Awesome! Great to hear that you had a good race 🙌 We loved going back for the race, such a cool event! Ollie loves taking selfies 🙌 Will you be back next year?
I suggest that Ollie go to Hawaii and take on the Mauna Kea volcano challenge. It starts on the beach and climbs for 54 miles and gains 13,800ft. The final stretch of very steep grades is on gravel. I did this climb a couple of years ago. Completely incredible. Might be the longest hillclimb in the world. Phil Gaiman holds the KOM.
Once again, Olli smashed it. Videos like this are not just stunning to watch, but hugely motivating for the average (never been a pro, holding down a day job) rider. I probably won't ever get to ride in Taiwan, but it shows me I can be better cyclist if i put in the work. Nice one!
The first gcn video got me excited for this ride and I did it in 2019. It was absolutely incredible! The gorge near the bottom was unreal, and the last 10k was brutal! Congrats to Olly for an impressive result!
Ya, the video doesn't even do it justice! It's amazing in person! Just watch out for falling rocks!!!
That's so cool to hear! Getting people excited to ride bikes is why we do what we do 🙌 So cool to hear you enjoyed the race, pretty epic isn't it!
Great to see GCN riding in Taiwan again. It really is a bucket list cycling destination. Hope you'll try a few more routes next visit!
Bravo! Well done Ollie. Thank you for taking us with you on your journey. Brought a smile to my face as you shared your joy with us and it recalled my ride of the Triple Bypass last summer. You had an amazing ride.
Well done Ollie!! Your energy and enthusiasm just explodes out of this video. I have been a huge fan ever since you joined this team at GCN and astonished at your improvements over this time. This is just another huge feather in your cap.
Your energy and enthusiasm (two things) just explode* ...
I mean, Ollie became a monster in just a few years, crushing it like no tomorrow. Great job, as always GCN on these amazing sceneries!!!
I'm sure Si will be doing it next year to take the GCN crown back. 😂 Well done Ollie.
Hahahah there have been some evil looks between the two 👀
Si got his time when he was so much younger and closer to being a pro. Not a chance now… 😜
The scenery is absolutely stunning. Congrats to Ollie on the great result.
I started cycling last year. I am 30 years old. Ollie is the reason why I am still riding and hoping to improve!
I love this! I was just in Taiwan last month on these exact same roads in Taroko National Park! My family is from Taiwan (I was born and raised in the U.S.), and this was my first time back in over twenty years. I didn't bring the bike because cycling wasn't in the trip itinerary. I guess I need to correct this deficiency by planning a trip back, this time with road bike, climbing fitness, and race registration along for the ride! 😁
see the fan taking a photo together with ollie in the last section of the video it's awesome, and as always very good video, and congratulations to the entire team..... ride safe everyone.
It was great to ride with you for a fair part of the event Ollie, have followed you on Strava in recent years and seeing your level I suspected I'd end up near you once the selections happened. Sure enough we hit the tough bits together. Well done and hope to share the road with you again some day.
Ollie's improvement is an inspiration to us all. Top stuff.
Brings a tear to the eye 🥹
I rode the first part of the Taroko gorge on a crappy mountain bike I hired from a local shop. Absolutely stunning place, this video brings back such great memories.
Road surface looks incredible, proper cycling paradise!
Great video Ollie & GCN - you have promoted this stunning place well ☺️. Taiwan is incredible
Such an amazing place to ride! We can't wait to head back, Si might want to his crown back 👑
Honestly, I never get tired of watching you guys are GCN suffer! It never gets old
Ollie walking along talking about Taiwan had me laughing as all I could hear when he was talking was the "Brilliant" guy from The Fast Show. 🤣
Me too 😂
hahaha
I wished this video was at least 30 minutes. I would have liked to see longer clips of the amazing scenery. Really appreciated the beautiful aerial views. Congratulations to the organizers and riders.
Amazing scenery, wow.
Congrats Ollie & thanks to the sponsors for making it possible!
Damn you GCN! You’ve just increased my bucket list.
It's what we are here for 😉 Have you checked out our other bucket list rides over on GCN+👉gcn.eu/Ultimate1000
@@gcn 404 not found :(
We need more Ollie. He's like an excitable puppy, he's clearly delighted to be doing what he does.
Well done Ollie. Fantastic achievement as always in your epic ride videos. It's an inspiration to see how you've developed as an athlete. Congratulations mate! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
His Development has been great! Have you seen his epic Alps ride over on GCN+👉gcn.eu/Ultimate1000
26th, under 4 hrs, WOW! Chapeau Ollie. From once being dropped to now the dropper just love it!
My favourite GCN presenter riding in my Dream Race! What a ride! Congratulations 🎉
Another magnificent video and effort from Sir Ollie! Sir Ollie mentioned his favourite thing to do is ride up mountains……please come to Australia and do the Peaks Challenge. You get to ride up 3 mountains in one day!
Would love to see Si, Sir Ollie, Hank and Alex all do the same ride at their own pace and do 4 separate stories on it!!!!
Thanx GCN and keep up the good work!
That could be an idea 👀 Who do you think would win?
@@gcn On current form I would have to say Sir Ollie. Hank would destroy himself (once again) just to try and win because he is such a competitive beast. Alex would do well if he trained more for it and I think Si would be a good bet at lower odds and would have second place sewn up!
Please make this happen at Peaks Challenge!
@@gcnwell, depends on puncture protocol…
It must be so hard to film a real event like this as it happens, one take on everything. Well done, production team!
thanks
for the kind comments everyone! i worked really hard training for this!
Fantastic video. Fantastic result. And a big thank you to those sponsors that enabled this to happen!
Yeah I’ve no friends so can’t share sorry. But bloody good job. I’m only watching this because I’ve just completed Stelvio Pass on ROUVY in 2:11. Happy with that for first attempt. And 90% in zone2.
Taiwan's mountain ranges is simply heaven, a must go if you are into hiking, cycling and outdoors.
Taiwan's mountain ranges are* heaven ...
Looking strong there Ollie, made it look easy! Thanks for sharing and thanks to Trigon!
The Viewers: "Ollie, how often do you think about the Roman Empire?"
Ollie: "Only when looking at the trees during the KOM challenge in Taiwan!"
Another bucket list ride. That was some going Ollie well done.
Ollie, congrats. What an epic feat! You are my favourite GCN guy!
I was there too, I couldn’t agree more, amazing race but really really hard. Ollie made it look easy, don’t be fooled, this is one not one to be taken lightly. I’d say a minimum of 34-34 gearing is necessary and probably more.
I hadn’t appreciated how good Ollie really is, chapeau sir, very impressive.
That is amazing to come in 26th out of a thousand people. All that hard work has really paid off for you Ollie. Great job!!!!
'Share with youre friends...if you got any' 😂 thnx ollie 😅 superb ride 👌
Ollie sounding just like the 90s sketch character “Brilliant” from The Fast Show! …”aren’t hills brilliant, isn’t the bike brilliant” 😂❤
It was all just brilliant😂
The Fast Show for anyone wondering
"This gorge is absolutely... Beautiful" He missed a solid pun opportunity there...
Respect Ollie! 26 of 1000 and so funny that you were faster than Si 🥳
I'm surprised you didn't look cold at the top. It was freezing up there when I reached the top after 12 pm. Raining, too! You killed it, though, man. Great ride.
Thanks for sharing the beauty of Taiwan.
Seriously tough challenge and top result! enormous improvement Ollie has made from his earlier GCN vids. Genuine commitment and graft! Clearly loves his cycling and all things bike! His infectious enthusiasm and grit are quite inspirational!
Breathtaking scenery. Was expecting King Kong to emerge from the fog. Still, I can't tell if you're a superhero or a masochist... maybe a masochistic superhero.
Ollies puppy like levels of excitement and enthusiasm is something we should all aspire to, chapeau.
Fog looked beautiful in this. Insane looking challenge.
Cool! I did this in 2014, it was an amazing experience!
Have been waiting for this video for the longest time. Well done Ollie!
This has inspired me to wanna try this.
Ollie has gone full on The Fast Show Paul Whitehouse "Isn't everything MEGA!" in this into. Love it!
BRILLIANT
Brilliant result Ollie love what your doing with your cycling and look forward to all your videos
7:46 and the Ro...I thought he was going to say Rolling Stones! 🤣
So, basically Ollie is the pro rider amongst the GCN presenters now. Pretty neat!
Ollie and Hank are really showing up the ex-pro GCN presenters at the moment, Conor dropped by Hank yesterday and Si's time smashed by Ollie today!
Fabulous video, beautiful views, Ollie is now a legend, and what a great result for him 🤩🤩🤩
To be honest I knew Ollie would do well on this. He’s definitely energized by the competitive aspect of it. Well done!
He's secretly very competitive... well, maybe it's not the secret 😂
@@gcn Yes, not much of a secret. I remember a video recently where Ollie was passing either Frank or Conor... and the look on his face made it very clear he was enjoying this... Good for him!
Well done, Ollie! Crushed it again! I love watching you do these types of things because I feel inspired to do the same!
Ollie you are AWESOME. Great achievement mate.
Love the classic jab, “bring a friend- if you have any”. 😆 Was it Oscar Wilde, was is J.B. Shaw? 🤔 Bravo, Ollie! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Outstanding! Thank you very much for the great video. I rode it from the western side and also struggled mightily with the altitude
The aboriginal singing group. Nice touch. Cycling in Taiwan has really exploded. It’s a great venue
"Share with your friends if you got any" was a low blow.
'OLDER THAN JESUS!' Hahahaha! The transformation of Ollie!
The scenery is absolutely stunning wow 😮 congrats
Best video of the year.
Really good, you should find out why and do more videos like this one.
Thanks.
Welcome to Taiwan’s most classic climbing race, I am a taiwanese riding for 12 years, i still never conquer this mountain , well done !Ollie .
“I’m only doing 220 watts and it feels like threshold”. Ollie-that is threshold…well for me at least. amazing performance. great Vid. they surf in taiwan too so looks like a great destination!
The Taroko gorge is incredible. Did it on a mtb boke
Chapeau Ollie 👏🙌👏🙌And I must add, that's one hell of good looking bike.
Run in Korea. We recommend two courses: Seoul > Busan & Seoul > Gangwon-do. There are enough convenience stores, restaurants and cafes in the middle, and there are enough places to sleep. The bike paths are top-notch, and there are a lot of them on RUclips, so please refer to them. In Asia, Japan has the best scenery, Taiwan has the best, and lastly, Korea, but Korea has the best road convenience.
Pretty impressive, Ollie. Well presented and well ridden. Just crushing these past few years. And 27th place is outstanding... beating Si's time is just the icing.
Ollie has be come a great inspiration of what hard work and training can result into.
WOW!! What a beautiful and epic ride! Ollie, you're a BEAST!!!
Breathtaking video in every sense. So impressive to see Ollie, once the only non-ex pro at GCN, go from Everyman to Superman! 4 hours for a ride like that is amazing.
He's incredible! Have you seen his epic alps ride!👉gcn.eu/Ultimate1000
@@gcn That was a great one too! Did a review on Pezcyclingnews of it.
Brill - so glad you included the comparison to Si. Had to be done!!!
If your in Europe and find going to Taiwan for the KOM is unmanageable, there is a similar route you can take in Spain. From Motril in the Andalusia region you can go from sea level all the way up to about 3300m elevation, or that is as far as my bike with bikepacking kit would take me up to Pico de Veleta on Sierra Nevada ❤
It is a bit longer at 120km, and totals at 4000m elevation as it is not just up until you get to Granada and the real fun starts. Epic ride, recommend.
Well done Ollie. Great presentation and really impressive result.
Emma Pooley (Great Britain) 4:08:40
Taiwan is a great place for intro to touring. Cheap accommodations and 24 hr convenient stores everywhere.
Giant (bikes) stores everywhere. You can rent a bike and bags, then they’ll deliver your luggage to the Giant store in the city where plan to finish
What an incredible ride Ollie! Congratulations, and great video
Epic ride!!!! Always great content, thanks!! Great job!
Did the KOM Challenge in 2019, amazing ride and event. Definitely the second most amazing climb I ever did after Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Love these videos. Well done guys.
Wow! An amazing route and bike ride.
Congrats to Ollie! I love his way of storytelling - it's so inspirational! Will have to give this a go sometime - I would love to know more about the training and prep work involved for something like this!
Well done, lad. Really enjoyed this video, too - reminded me of a few climbs I've done and the feeling, both on the way up and on arrival. Glad they had the warm jacket ready.
RUclips need to introduce a button for two thumbs up.
Thank you! What big climbs have you done?
@@gcn Not that many, I was a late starter. Biggest was the Kaunerthal-Weissee-Gletscher, when I was 59 - stretches at 18% and rest-periods at a mere 8%. Did it when I was 60, too, then the cardiologist got me. Not allowed over 2500m since.
The rest were classic French stuff: Ventoux, Tourmalet etc.
Did you get to ride down again afterwards? IME very steep descents are harder than the climbs.
Amazing Ollie, just amazing. Inspired again to stay healthy and on the bike.
I've done this and it's beautiful and beautifully hard! when you realize you're done more than half the distance but like 20% of the elevation it hits you 😄Not the longest or highest climb I've done, but probably the hardest
No more "drop Ollie" jokes. Ollie is so fast now, he drops the saddle bag.