Does every cyclist have sections of road they just hate? I do. Not loads, but some. Here’s why.

Just to be clear up front, we’re not talking about roads that are really busy and dangerous, or even ones that are super-steep here. It goes without saying that most of us would prefer not to be negotiating nose-to-tail motor traffic for miles on end and breathing in noxious fumes. We’ll take that as read. And although many of us love nothing more than tackling difficult ascents, I get that riding up the Galibier, to give one example, would be some people’s idea of hell.

But that’s not what I’m talking about. No, I mean those bits of road that are pretty inoffensive to most people, but that, for one reason or another, you’ve taken a dislike to.

I was out riding with my mate Simon on Sunday morning. We’d done the miles, done the climbs and were looking forward to coffees back home, but then, about two miles from the finish, there’s this slight rise. He can’t stand it. He’s said so many times.

Why? It’s the sort of thing you wouldn’t even notice in a car, but there’s a slight rise that slows you down ever so slightly on the bike. Maybe by 2-3mph, something like that. Nothing major. Plus, the road surface isn’t great. It’s not terrible either, but it’s a bit tired. That’s enough for Si. He can’t stand that bit of road. I don’t get the loathing, personally. I ride that bit of road in one direction or the other most days of my life and, you know, it’s fine. Unremarkable, really. It wouldn’t be anyone’s favourite bit of road but Simon absolutely hates it, and you can’t argue with that.

There’s this other section of road in the middle of Salisbury Plain that we ride from time to time, where I do have a little more sympathy. It’s a long drag and there’s usually – virtually always – a breeze (or worse) in your face. Someone pointed it out once and now, whenever we find ourselves out there again, someone else in the group remembers it. No one ever wants to sit at the front here. It’s out near Stonehenge, and it seems to have its own drizzle-based microclimate.

Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, maybe there’s a bit of confirmation bias involved, but every time we ride along there and it’s drizzling, I think to myself, “Ah yes, we’re in that bloody place again. It’ll be over soon.”

I love Salisbury Plain – I spend half my life riding around it – but now I can’t stand that half mile, mile, or whatever it is. This wasn’t even my own pet hate originally, but I gradually adopted it, and now I can’t shake it off. I do have others that I’ve grown myself.

There’s this section on the ride into the road.cc office. It’s on an A road but I wouldn’t say it’s particularly busy or dangerous. What’s the problem, then? I don’t like it.

Why? Not sure. I just know that I don’t like it. You couldn’t call it a hill, it’s a slight slope. You take a lot of speed into it from a long descent, but that doesn’t seem to matter. All of that speed disappears immediately. If I didn’t know better, I’d say there was a minor glitch in the laws of physics. You gently descend for about a mile, take a sweeping bend into a slight incline… and all of a sudden you’re crawling. It doesn’t make sense. Even so, that’s just a bit irritating, nothing more.

Then I’m counting the distance to the bus shelter at the top. It’s 1,200m, if you’re interested. I know because I tick them off every single time I go up there.

What has this bit of road ever done to hurt me? Nothing. It’s not difficult. It’s not anything. The worst you could say about it is that it’s a bit dull. The only real rationale I can come up with is that I only ever ride it in the morning, and I’m not at my best first thing, but it’s a bit harsh to hold a section of road to account for that, isn’t it?

I was involved in a really bad road traffic collision near my home (sorry to darken the mood), and the first few times I rode through the site of the incident afterwards were hard work. That’s relatable, right? Riding past a forever home that turned out not to be a forever home: same thing. Understandable.

But riding up a shallow gradient for about 3/4 of a mile? You probably hit a whole bunch of these every ride, so why does this one irk me? I’m not sure, but if we were ever to ride it together, I absolutely will feel the need to tell you. The conversation usually goes like this.

Me: “I hate this bit of road.”

Them: “Oh, why’s that?”

Me: “Dunno really.”

Silence.

Them: “Okay… Well, thanks for letting me know.”

Prolonged silence.

Them: “So, are you going anywhere nice on your holidays this year?”

Anyway, what I didn’t realise until now is how widespread this phenomenon is: bits of road you hate, usually not for any legitimate reason. It’s not really something I’ve thought too much about before, but I’ve been asking friends and colleagues for the past few days and it turns out that most of us have ’em.

With that, we’d like to open it up to the floor. Are there sections you find yourself riding that you really can’t stand? We’re not talking about tough or dangerous roads, just ones that you’ve taken a personal dislike to for some reason or other. It’s more the reasons that we’re interested in, the weaker, vaguer and more trivial the better.