Innocuous Hills That You Hate?

Pross

Hopefully I'm not the only one who has innocuous (short, not particularly steep) hills on my rides that I find far harder than they should be? In my case, the one that has inspired this thread is a hill that is about 200m long and (according to Ride With GPS) has a maximum gradient of 7.5% and yet it leaves me dropping through the gears and gasping for breath every time and seems to cause problems for some other recreational cyclists I ride with. The road itself is coming out of the hamlet of Llantrisant (near Usk) and I suspect most cyclists in the area will ride it regularly as it is a popular route. The road drags up at about 5% just after it goes under the A449 and the surface seems dead and draining before you hit the steepest part at its junction where you turn left towards Usk (the right turn takes you to a proper climb into Wentwood).

Another climb I find tougher than it should be is Clytha cutting near Raglan which again is only a couple of hundred metres in length and around 8 to 9%. On the plus side I just checked another hill I've been struggling with that goes from the dam at Llandegfedd reservoir past the Sluvad treatment works towards New Inn but was relieved to find it is about 500m at 17% so understandable!

Has anyone else got similar hills that give them trouble? I'm not looking for things like Hardknot or the Bwlch y Groes which would cause most people problems, just those 'nothing' hills that feel harder than they should be.

holmeboy

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl


Although it is'nt quite as tough as when I first went up it but still harder than it should be. Is it something to do with the bends so you don't see what's ahead?

Link has't worked will try again at home later.

pottssteve

This:

http://www.hardfietsen.nl/nl/cols/10/bukel/

Click on "profiel" and "kaart" to see more.

I also hate the Cauberg: http://www.hardfietsen.nl/nl/cols/24/cauberg/

Schobiedoo

Sawyers Hill in Richmond Park. Ordinalrily you wouldn't even think of it as a hill, but trying to get a fast time around the Park means that I always underestimate it.

sfichele

The first 5K out of Sheffield alone the A57. Its a false flat. It gains around 200m by the time you get to the Strines, but it doesn't look like a climb. Really grinds you down

agent_buchwald

Dyke Road out of Brighton - nearly every ride starts with this and by the time I'm at the top I'm so demoralised I just feel like turning round and acting my age.

whitebait01

Balham Hill!





What?

rick_chasey

sfichele wrote:

The first 5K out of Sheffield alone the A57. Its a false flat. It gains around 200m by the time you get to the Strines, but it doesn't look like a climb. Really grinds you down

I loved that bit.

sfichele

I also (somewhat) love cycling out that way, its just that you feel you should be going faster because its looks flat, when its isn't

Secteur

haha I love this thread - I know exactly what the OP is getting at here!

There's a short (less than 100m) climb of about 6-8% which is always a grind - dont know why as there are far, far worse stretches around my way (I live in a hilly area++).

I assume its psychological as it's a pretty dark hill, covered by dense trees and a railway bridge with a constant stream of water running across it (even in the Summer) and it's just dark & miserable.

DavidBelcher

sfichele wrote:

The first 5K out of Sheffield alone the A57. Its a false flat. It gains around 200m by the time you get to the Strines, but it doesn't look like a climb. Really grinds you down

I remember it well from my undergraduate days in Sheffield. Between Rivelin Valley Post Office and Hollow Meadows (where just to rub it in the landscape was pretty bleak too) that road seemed to drag on for an eternity!

David

CiB

I'll nominate the gentle slope from Stratton Mill up to the wooded copse half a mile up the road. It is barely a slope but it has me panting in the lower gears at 13/14mph, even though the climb another half mile on to the crossroads for Stratton Audley is longer, steeper & easier, and I can do the climb up the Finmere bypass to the slot-left at a steady 17-18 all the way up without even considering the idea of busting a gut.

Maybe it's because my 'slope' follows a long swoop down + a fast flat in the open, or because it doesn't even look like a hill.

rick_chasey

When I was younger, this one would wind me up like nothing else.
http://g.co/maps/2ywxy

Barely a rise.

Monty Dog

Anything that's about 15-20 miles from home...plenty enough time to bonk and grovel your way back but annoyingly only 45 minutes away when you're on fresh legs. There's quite a few 'climbs of death' I've endured over the years in the locale, so much so that I deliberately avoid them due to the previous psychological trauma's endured...

Nuggs

There's a stretch of road between Streat and Plumpton in West Sussex that is just pure horrible. It's a false flat and averages 5%. I always feel that I should be going faster and over-cook it; it looks like nothing at all but it feels like pedaling through treacle.

Coach H

Leaving Grimsby for the Lincolnshire Wolds is Ashby Hill.

Its a nothing hill with a bit of a false flat before it but I hate it.
Riding up it the other week I had picked up a far more experienced riding companion who stated that he would rather ride up Mont Ventoux!

There are worse hills at the entry to the Wolds in this area, but this always feels the hardest. Can't explain why

bristolpete

Frocester Hill up near Stroud and Draycott Hill near Cheddar. Hellish.

I blame lay lines and bad vibrations. Brian Wilson used to talk about it, then wrote a song about good ones.

petejuk

Great thread, I thought it was only me that had a hill that shouldn't be hard but is. This one is on my way home and about a mile from my house. It always hurts no matter how fast or slow I attempt it:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?vps=2&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=200950665663931452432.0004b387c563f42609c94

markos1963

Furze Hill at North Walsham where I live, it's on the Happisburg road just as you come into the outskirts of town. Looks gentle as you approach but ramps up quickly. As it's always at the end of a ride you are usually shagged out when you hit it.

davelakers

Dumail Raise on the A591 out of Grasmere towards Keswick. Looks nothing, hurts me like hell.

crispybug2

Southchurch Avenue in Southend-on-Sea, absolutely nothing to write home about (100/150 metres ish long, about 5% or so) but the first few times I went out on my bike, 3 and half stone ago, I really struggled up it, in fact walked up the last bit first time! and I've got a real mental block about it now and always find it difficult.

fnb1

A404 past Winchmore Hill, should not be hard, but always feels hard

Pross

Another one of my nemesis 'hills' is the railway bridge on Station Road in Caerleon as it comes towards the end of most of my rides. Again it is fairly steep but only about 100m or so in length yet after a long hard ride I can end dropping well into single figure mph up there and as it is fairly narrow and with a tight bend over the top I invariably hold up traffic :oops:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&biw=1186&bih=703&q=station%20road%20caerleon&gbv=2&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=741l5891l0l6122l21l20l0l8l3l0l232l1560l4.6.2l12l0&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il

beverick

1) Dewsbury Road in Leeds from the city centre to the "Tommy Wass" junction. It's only about 2 miles, and not particularly steep, but it just nags at your legs - especially on a mountain bike or hybrid.
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/60255720

2) I always found the A63 from Selby to Garforth a complete pain. An averagely fit rider can cover the 14 miles or so from Garforth in less than 45 mins on a decent road bike but the same rider would take getting on for twice that length of time for the return.
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/60255444

Bob

mingmong

DavidBelcher wrote:

sfichele wrote:

The first 5K out of Sheffield alone the A57. Its a false flat. It gains around 200m by the time you get to the Strines, but it doesn't look like a climb. Really grinds you down

I remember it well from my undergraduate days in Sheffield. Between Rivelin Valley Post Office and Hollow Meadows (where just to rub it in the landscape was pretty bleak too) that road seemed to drag on for an eternity!

David

+2

The steady pull to the Strines is an ache.

cwm

from right to left after the pub,
and its not even a pimple lol

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Glynnea ... m&t=h&z=17

paultheparaglider

Pross wrote:

Another climb I find tougher than it should be is Clytha cutting near Raglan which again is only a couple of hundred metres in length and around 8 to 9%.

Don't know what you are complaining about. That one has a great pub at the top for a few beers to help you recover.

DavidBelcher

MingMong wrote:

DavidBelcher wrote:

sfichele wrote:

The first 5K out of Sheffield alone the A57. Its a false flat. It gains around 200m by the time you get to the Strines, but it doesn't look like a climb. Really grinds you down

I remember it well from my undergraduate days in Sheffield. Between Rivelin Valley Post Office and Hollow Meadows (where just to rub it in the landscape was pretty bleak too) that road seemed to drag on for an eternity!

David

+2

The steady pull to the Strines is an ache.

Oh, and just to add - the road up from Malin Bridge through Rivelin Valley to the A57 was, although not very steep, also not much fun.

David

Whitedown Man

Not just Sawyers Hill in Richmond Park - Broomfield Hill too. It just ain't that steep, but something about it catches me out every time.

Off topic a bit, but Toys Hill too. Yorks Hill is tougher in theory, but Toys Hill p****s me off in a way that Yorks Hill just doesn't.

robbo2011

Not really an innocuous hill so a bit O/T, but it is usually the last climb on my various routes so I am already tired. I have bonked a couple of times on it so I am growing to hate it.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/60281452

Isn't really that difficult providing you are fresh and you pace yourself.

Frank the tank

All of 'em. Innocuous or otherwise.