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Where do you call home?/ What’s your local route/hill climb?

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  • November 7, 2017 at 6:39 pm #27827
    Canyon48

    I’ll start off!

    Born in Bristol, grew up in a little village about a 15-minute cycle from Cheddar Gorge, fled to university in Bristol before moving back to the countryside in a village between Bristol and Cheddar.

    Funnily enough, this means I’ve never lived more than 40 minutes away from where I was born…

    Fortunately for me, this means my local hill climb is and always has been Cheddar Gorge (other than for a couple years at uni).

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  • November 9, 2017 at 3:19 pm #905917
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    nniff

    Box Hill for me – the Olympic

    Box Hill for me – the Olympic Loop with a top and tail makes for an hour’s outing from home.

    November 9, 2017 at 2:20 pm #905915
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    HarryTrauts

    I’ve been living in the

    I’ve been living in the Cotswolds for years so there are plenty of hills to choose from.  I can also avoid them fairly easily by heading to towards the badlands of Swindon!

    I’ve previously lived in South Devon and loved killing myself on those hills.  Having grown up in Essex, I hadn’t really come across many decent climbs until I moved there.

    November 9, 2017 at 12:31 pm #905913
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    peted76

    Warwickshire.. locally there

    Warwickshire.. locally there’s the double of Edge Hill and Sunrising which are within a couple of miles of each other, both are about a mile and average 7 or 8% but the gradient rises and falls all the way up both making them quite testing.. there’s a local race which goes three times up Edge Hill.. ouchy! Also there’s a nice pub/castle at the top of the hill which has a great view of Warks from it’s balcony. https://www.strava.com/segments/641401  https://www.strava.com/segments/848918

    A little further south and there’s Larkstoke which is always fun to take someone ‘new’ up.. it’s a hard steep ramp at the base maxing at 25%, then evens out to a false flat goes round a corner and you find out there’s about a mile of climbing to go.. average 5% all told but unless you measure the effort on that first part it’ll be a tough second half..  https://www.strava.com/segments/7004510

    Then there’s Lady Elizabeth, while not seemingly as testing as any of the above I’ve thrown in just because I quite like her, 1.2miles quite an even climb allowing a rhythm to tapped out but gradually getting steeper maxing out at about 13% before it evens out.  https://www.strava.com/segments/1012141

    November 9, 2017 at 12:20 pm #905911
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    Stef Marazzi

    Similar ones to you as live

    Similar ones to you as live near the Mendips.

    Cheddar

    West / East Harptree

    Draycott Steep

    Burrington Combe

    Broad Road

    Then all of the Bath ones, including the ridiculous Prospect Place.

    Then all of the ones around the Somer Valley – e.g. the Hollow, Stoneage Lane, both Radford hills, Hodds Hill.

     

     

    November 9, 2017 at 10:17 am #905909
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    madcarew

    Horowhenua, New Zealand. Best

    Horowhenua, New Zealand. Best local climbs? Akatarawas, 4.5 miles, 1300′, Rimutakas 5.5 miles, 1650′  or Pretoria road, a false flat lead in for 2 miles followed by a 10% pitch for quarter mile, and then followed by 18% for nearly half a mile. 

    November 9, 2017 at 8:37 am #905907
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    SingleSpeed

    Peak Hill, Dunkery Beacon,

    Peak Hill, Dunkery Beacon, Mamhead, Haytor, Widdecombe all on my local routes. To be fair in Devon there aren’t any flat bits, most are ok some are a bit of grind even on a 38:16.

    November 8, 2017 at 11:06 pm #905905
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    alansmurphy

    They’re a warm up
    They’re a warm up 🙂

    November 8, 2017 at 10:30 pm #905903
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    HLaB

    I’ve been down south for a

    I’ve been down south for a few years and the hill climbs are either quite short or not steep the local club ones are Collweston and Steadfold Lane (both of which run cosecutively as alone they’re probably not enough).

    https://www.strava.com/segments/5705774

    https://www.strava.com/segments/5704831

    November 8, 2017 at 9:13 pm #905901
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    Rapha Nadal

    Hove for me so we’ve got,

    Hove for me so we’ve got, amongst others, Ditchling Beacon, Firle Beacon, The Bostal, and Devil’s Dyke on the doorstep.  Nice if you like going uphill!

    November 8, 2017 at 9:06 pm #905899
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    alansmurphy

    I may upset a lot of people
    I may upset a lot of people if I say Ventoux wasn’t as tough as I expected, training on my little hill I found that I managed to lengthen the amount of time I could work at a 160 heart rate but barely hit that up Ventoux. Having said that, one of these party was having a tough time so we cruised rather than attacked.

    34/28 is do-able on the KM but probably only just (waits for manly hill climber to scoff). I’m 82kg at 6ft tall and generally do better than my friends when the slopes go north of 8%. What hurts with it is the bottom bit that you never remember as a pain and has a couple of bends, quite quickly goes 12-15% and you start to run out of gears and push your heart rate. The ‘easy’ bit in the middle then just becomes recovery with what looks like a wall in front of you. The 25% is only 100 metres or so but sometimes it takes an enormous effort to make the wheel rotate once. My last failure on there was a car coming down, any hesitation and it snaffles you up. Also, you don’t want to be struggling unclipping, fall on your arse and have a 70 year old man jogging past whistling*

    *I am not saying this happened to me (it happened to me)

    November 8, 2017 at 9:05 pm #905897
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    captain_slog

    Sarf-west Lahndahn, innit. So

    Sarf-west Lahndahn, innit. So the best climb within range is White Down, though it’s not close enough for me to do it as often as I’d like.

    I spent some time in the Cotswolds a few years ago and got to know the area around Cheltenham quite well. Bushcombe Lane was the ascent I particularly loved to hate – just doable with a 34×30.

    November 8, 2017 at 8:53 pm #905895
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    Beecho

    SE London. Biggin Hill then

    SE London. Biggin Hill then often down to Brighton/Hove where I prefer Devil’s Dyke to Ditchling.

    November 8, 2017 at 7:52 pm #905893
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    Goldfever4

    I’m in Gloucestershire so I

    I’m in Gloucestershire so I get to enjoy some of the steep Cotswolds climbs, frustratingly my commute dodges all the fun climbs. Few good ones around Wotton, Frocester and Minchinhampton.

    November 8, 2017 at 7:09 pm #905891
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    davel

    Yeah the crosswinds on the
    Yeah the crosswinds on the bends can be crazy. I love the descent, too, but never really hammer it just in case – I’ve been blown across the road coming down a bend once, when I was convinced there was hardly any wind!

    The Killer Mile is on my list… Never done it. I’m not great past 20%, but fancy giving it a go… ‘should’ be ok on my CX (34/28)…

    Not sure I’d be able to get ready for Ventoux (another on my list!) on what Cheshire could throw at me, but being close-ish to the Peaks/N Wales is handy.

    November 8, 2017 at 1:25 pm #905889
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    alansmurphy

    I was up that Cat on SUnday

    I was up that Cat on SUnday Davel, probably the best day of the year up there, tad windy though. Back down via Wincle and Tittensbrook so plenty of elevation for me. I’m a lot nearer to the Staffs border though so only needed a 70 mile round trip. Mow Cop is near by as well so the Killer Mile is a nice tester or Ganny Bank which is a sideways approach to the top.

     

    Though Cheshire is mostly flat I did find an alternative way to train for Ventoux on a 6 minute climb of about 6% which was on my way to meet up for our Weds evening beer and bike rides. I’d leave work suitably early and do 4 or 5 reps of this with a slightly longer and less steep ascent. I’d actually hammer the ascent in zone 5 so that each time I would arrive at the bottom in a spot of bother and then pace the climb. Seemed to work for me 🙂 Then I’d scoot over for the usual 20 miles of flat and the beers!

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