ukdodger wrote:My final candidate. It's in the middle day of the C2C. Sorry but I forget the place (maybe someone will recognise it) but you turned right from the flat and it started steep straight away. Of the twenty or so of us doing this ride only three didnt get off and walk.
The first day of the C2C is half flat/half hilly. The second is awful. Long steep climbs all the way into Stanhope. The last day has one hill to start and then it's literally all down hill into Newcastle. A one legged cyclist could do it.
I remember that one. I was on my old derailleur bike, turned the corner in the wrong gear, stepped on the pedals, tried to change and pinged the chain! Not sure how it rates on the scale of some above but it does have the surprise factor!
mig wrote:i've always found the harder climbs to be the ones where the wind usually blows down them. one such (but i wouldn't think the 'hardest') is wessenden head climbing back west out of meltham in west yorkshire. the tour went nearby this year. i would have so loved to see a peloton blown to bits on the slopes of that.
The hardest climbs are where the rainwater is flowing down them faster than you are climbing up them.
think i'd prefer to avoid the wind rather than the water tbh.
PS. There's a nasty urban myth about a chap on a bike coming down round the bend, hitting the wall, flying through the air and ending up in the cemetery.
ukdodger wrote:My final candidate. It's in the middle day of the C2C. Sorry but I forget the place (maybe someone will recognise it) but you turned right from the flat and it started steep straight away. Of the twenty or so of us doing this ride only three didnt get off and walk.
The first day of the C2C is half flat/half hilly. The second is awful. Long steep climbs all the way into Stanhope. The last day has one hill to start and then it's literally all down hill into Newcastle. A one legged cyclist could do it.
I remember that one. I was on my old derailleur bike, turned the corner in the wrong gear, stepped on the pedals, tried to change and pinged the chain! Not sure how it rates on the scale of some above but it does have the surprise factor!
That's exactly what happened to us. The OMG factor.
The information page says that it's closed to cars (being a private road), but walking up the footpaths is allowed. Are bikes permitted?
That may be an interesting site to browse around!
Pretty sure we went up that road in the school coach when on holiday in 1987 (give or take a year). i remember as one of the teachers bet the bus driver he could beat us up by running, then proceeded to hop in the boot on one of the hairpins, jumped out at the last one and ran to the top.
