Ha! I’ve done a few others on FulGaz, Angliru, Alpe d’Huez & Stelvio. Those are definitely longer climbs, but I think Horribly Hilly was harder than those, but I’m sure they are harder IRL compared to FulGaz.
My perspective is from Flatlandria, where overpasses are the only climbs for miles around.
We have a hilly 200km race here but its only 2,300m of climing. 2 MONSTERS at 15km each, about 4 or 5 medium climbs at several km each and then a whole lot of flat and some undulations. There’s one left hand bend where (we drive on the left here) you need to actually cross the centre line because it is so steep it’s like a wall and even cars struggle. Then there’s heart attack corner. I’ve never ridden the whole course but have ridden 3/4s of it on various rides. I rode one of the big climbs the other direction and it was horrendous. 14km at 9% or higher and topped out at 23%. Riding it in the correct direction is one of my favourite climbs. 16km at an average of 6%.
It’s hard to stop for a breather with gradients that high. More accurately—it’s easy to stop, hard to start again.
Can confirm! Stopping was easy 