Ride all of the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs to join Britain's most exclusive club

Any cyclists tackling all of the ascents featured in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book will now automatically become members of the 100 Climbs Club.

The book's author, Simon Warren, has also had exclusive gold badges made, which he will present to anyone completing all 100 climbs.

At present, the club really is an exclusive one with just four riders who have ridden all 100 hills: Warren himself, Mark Oliver, Steve Benton and Mike Pridmore-Wood.

However, Warren says that they will soon be joined by many other riders who are currently undertaking the leg-sapping task of riding all of the climbs.

"Up and down Britain, thousands of cyclists are gradually ticking off the hills and now there’s a reward, an acknowledgment for their effort, lifetime membership of the ‘100 Climbs Club’ and an exclusive gold badge," said Warren.

>>> You can now get 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs as an app

"Just like the Blue Peter badge, the 100 Climbs badge can’t be bought in any shop or on any website, it can only be earned with copious amounts of effort. It represents hours in the saddle fighting the pull of gravity, of good days on the bike and bad days on the bike dragging your self up vicious gradients from the Highlands of Scotland to the South Downs."

In order to qualify for membership (and a badge), riders must log their climbs via athlete social network Strava and join the 100 Climbs Strava club. Achievements on the climbs are then tracked via VeloViewer, which runs a leaderboard showing how many of the climbs each signed-up rider has ridden. At time of writing, there are 4439 riders listed.

When a rider has completes all 100 climbs, their name shows up in gold on the leaderboard and they become a member of the 100 Climbs Club.

Riders can also track their progress on the climbs using the new 100 Climbs app, which also assists cyclists in locating the climbs and gives them information on each hill. The app is available via the Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android devices.