Hill Repeats Question

jswba

Hi all

Just looking for a bit of advice. I recently moved away from Sheffield, where I had some perfect hills for repeats. Now I'm in the north east, I can't seem to find anything comparable that's within an hour of my house. The only dip nearby is an 8% that lasts about 300 yards and soon after a 10% that lasts about 150 or so. Would it be possible to use these as decent places for some repeats? I'm used to the longer (slightly less steep) hills, and I can blast up these short ones if necessary (they take about 2 minutes, perhaps 3).

Cheers for any thoughts

dmch2

Are you actually in Newcastle?

I'm in Durham and there's a few longer hills round here. West of Durham it's about 1200 ft on top of the ridges and about 200 ft high in the valleys so there are plenty of hills of varying steepness to choose from. East of here is a bit flatter and the peaks aren't nearly as high. Although there's a nice long (3 miles) shallow climb west out of Hartlepool.

I'd try looking South-West of Newcastle - there's some hills round there but I've only been up that direction once or twice.

I've been to Sheffield a few times and I don't think you're going to find anything that hilly!

amaferanga

Have you tried the B6317 Swalwell Bank that goes up into Whickham? That's around 1.5km at an average gradient of 7% so should be more than a couple of minutes.

There is also a decent hill on the B6310 between Hamsterly Mill and Medomsley (2.5km @ ~6%).

Beyond Consett and out towards Stanhope is obviously quite a bit further, but loads of big climbs to choose from then.

celbianchi

amaferanga wrote:

Have you tried the B6317 Swalwell Bank that goes up into Whickham? That's around 1.5km at an average gradient of 7% so should be more than a couple of minutes.

That one is around 4 mins and I use it regualrly on a hilly loop where I look for 4 to 5 min hard efforts.


If you want something more in the 8 minute range then there is silverhills which goes past the nursery from Lamesley and up to the riding school at the top.
From Newcastle you could ride to Blaydon, do blaydon bank or shibdon bank, head over through Whickham, continue through sunniside, into lamesley then over silverhills and back into Newcastle. Plenty of climbing there,

There are plenty of long moorland climbs round Stanhope - try Stanhope to Barnard Castle going over Bolihope.

jswba

Cheers all

Yes, I'm in Newcastle, on the north east side. I tend to ride north up towards Cramlington or Belsay. I'll have to rethink my routes and head westwards instead. That Blaydon ride looks a lot of fun.

guttertrash

Sorry for hijacking, but i live close to Sheffield (Chesterfield actually) and want to try doing some hill repeats, but need one to try out. Any recommendations?

celbianchi

jswba wrote:

Cheers all

Yes, I'm in Newcastle, on the north east side. I tend to ride north up towards Cramlington or Belsay. I'll have to rethink my routes and head westwards instead. That Blaydon ride looks a lot of fun.

Here you go, here's the route on bikely, I put it on ages ago. On the elevation profile the first lump is Blaydon Bank, the second is whickham then on over the moors towards Urpeth (via sunniside) the third is silverhills which is a hard one, we used to have a a hillclimb race on it, but it has now been moved to the back side of it (ladypark).

PM if you want any more idea's if you are new to the area.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Hills-Training

jswba

Cheers Bianchi. I'll see how that one goes and PM you if I need more hills!

@guttertrash: I used to go out of the north west of Sheffield: Manchester road, Bradfield, Bamford way. There's a thread somewhere else on here from the last week or so that has a discussion of hills around Heeley that might be more accessible from Chesterfield. If you're wanting a ride out Bamford way, you only need to point your bike upwards! Winnats Pass is the toughest, I think.

Buckled_Rims

celbianchi wrote:

If you want something more in the 8 minute range then there is silverhills which goes past the nursery from Lamesley and up to the riding school at the top.
From Newcastle you could ride to Blaydon, do blaydon bank or shibdon bank, head over through Whickham, continue through sunniside, into lamesley then over silverhills and back into Newcastle. Plenty of climbing there,

I think it was CelBianchi and some others that recommended hills around this area a while back and I now regular use the area. Sometimes I wish it was just a little steeper and longer, but it's good training for an hour or 2.

Here's my hill training route from Jarrow's pedestrian Tyne Tunnel (lifts are now being modernized and stairs broken by the way if you have to bike through in cleats)...

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/83727

This is a good route because it goes up Wrekendon which will warm your legs up

jswba

Looks great; cheers!