Failed going up Edge Hill

jagx400

Well had my first attempt up Edge Hill today and failed. Rode out there in a headwind, ive also got a head cold, but these aint excuses as I wanted to try riding up it and felt I might be able to do it regardless.

I managed halfway then stopped and walked a few yards, got back on then stopped after a few more yards. Then thought sod it and went for it and got up the last quarter. I started cycling in March and have gone from 18 st 6lb to 14 st 12lb. I can easily cycle 100 miles and have never got off on difficult hills, but this one beat me.
2 others with me made it up but have been cycling a lot longer than me. They said I hadn't failed as I had a go at it. Why do I feel so disappointed in myself.

By the way not looking for a pat on the back, if any one knows the hill what was your first time like

Monty Dog

sometimes you have an off day ; put it down to experience get over your cold and next time you'll be fitter and stronger.

proto

I guarantee that if you did it again tomorrow, you'd get up without stopping. Climbing nasty hills is as much in your head as in your legs. You'd mentally quit before you started, but now you know you can get up, you'll find it do-able next time.

PS I know the hill, Oxon/Warks border. It is a shocker, watched a women's road race there earlier this year, think they went up it four times?

jagx400

proto wrote:

I guarantee that if you did it again tomorrow, you'd get up without stopping. Climbing nasty hills is as much in your head as in your legs. You'd mentally quit before you started, but now you know you can get up, you'll find it do-able next time.

PS I know the hill, Oxon/Warks border. It is a shocker, watched a women's road race there earlier this year, think they went up it four times?

4 Times, they must be superhuman

ugo.santalucia

Did Edge Hill many times, always from Kineton, which is the steepest side. Fantastictarmac which invites to fly down and do it again. I like the climb a lot... It is testing... Simon Warren gives it a 1/10 which is very harsh, considering similar hills get 7 or even 8/10.
I would say 6/10 is a fair assessment... Very similar to the many climbs in the Chilterns.. Kingston hill, Kop Hill etc...

proto

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Did Edge Hill many times, always from Kineton, which is the steepest side. Fantastictarmac which invites to fly down and do it again. I like the climb a lot... It is testing... Simon Warren gives it a 1/10 which is very harsh, considering similar hills get 7 or even 8/10.
I would say 6/10 is a fair assessment... Very similar to the many climbs in the Chilterns.. Kingston hill, Kop Hill etc...

Arghhhhh !!!!!!!! Kingston Hill, trying to blank it from my mind. We do that every Wednesday night on our chain gang route. It's horrible. Never been up Kop Hill, but the adjacent Whiteleaf is a bit of a b*astard

MountainMonster

I wish we had climbs like that here, I miss the challenges. Cambridge is just too flat

Monty Dog

When I lived in Warwick and before the M40 was built I'd head out through Bishops Itchington, over the top of Fenny Compton and then across to Edge Hill. If we were feeling good, we'd go over Chipping Camden and Fish Hill - about as hilly as you could get in those parts.

exlaser

Monty Dog wrote:

When I lived in Warwick and before the M40 was built I'd head out through Bishops Itchington, over the top of Fenny Compton and then across to Edge Hill. If we were feeling good, we'd go over Chipping Camden and Fish Hill - about as hilly as you could get in those parts.

great route, know it well !!!!

skyblueamateur

Being from Coventry this is easily the hardest climb around these parts. I'm sure you'll get up there next time 8)

johnny25

Must give it a go in the New Year. Only live 10 or so miles away and have never cycled to Kinton/Edge Hill. Tend to cycle the quieter roads between Warwick, Stratford and Alcester. It sounds tough. I like them tough.

ugo.santalucia

proto wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Did Edge Hill many times, always from Kineton, which is the steepest side. Fantastictarmac which invites to fly down and do it again. I like the climb a lot... It is testing... Simon Warren gives it a 1/10 which is very harsh, considering similar hills get 7 or even 8/10.
I would say 6/10 is a fair assessment... Very similar to the many climbs in the Chilterns.. Kingston hill, Kop Hill etc...

Arghhhhh !!!!!!!! Kingston Hill, trying to blank it from my mind. We do that every Wednesday night on our chain gang route. It's horrible. Never been up Kop Hill, but the adjacent Whiteleaf is a bit of a b*astard

Due to the conditions of the Tarmac, it is always better to go up Whiteleaf and down Kop hill, where on a good day you can clock 50 mph... Whiteleaf is too rough and twisty to be a fast descent

Bustacapp

jagx400 wrote:

Well had my first attempt up Edge Hill today and failed. Rode out there in a headwind, ive also got a head cold, but these aint excuses as I wanted to try riding up it and felt I might be able to do it regardless.

I managed halfway then stopped and walked a few yards, got back on then stopped after a few more yards. Then thought sod it and went for it and got up the last quarter. I started cycling in March and have gone from 18 st 6lb to 14 st 12lb. I can easily cycle 100 miles and have never got off on difficult hills, but this one beat me.
2 others with me made it up but have been cycling a lot longer than me. They said I hadn't failed as I had a go at it. Why do I feel so disappointed in myself.

By the way not looking for a pat on the back, if any one knows the hill what was your first time like

Probably the headwind was the straw that broke the camels back. I know on my horror climb having a tailwind help enormously so the opposite must be true with a headwind.

Kneesaway

This hill used to beat me a few years ago. I think it is the left bend about half way up. I always thought I was getting near the finish, turned the corner, saw the hill looming for another eternity and gave up. I'm a better climber now so will often incorporate it into a loop with Burton Dassett and Priors Marston. Getting up onto the Edge via Tysoe hill is a bit easier but I think up Sun Rising is tougher, mainly due to the rubbish road surface.

Border Cyclist

Hi - at least you were out cycling...

For a hillier day (when it is warmer and more pleasant), Burton Dassett and Edge Hill is a good combination. For a nasty climb, the climb out of Ilmington takes some beating - and I can say I have ridden to the Cotswolds and back

jagx400

Gonna give it another go in a few weeks time, I aint gonna let it beat me. Signed up for the Cheshire cat sportive, the one with the mow cop climb, so got to conquer Edge so as to give me some confidence for the Killer Mile.

ugo.santalucia

jagx400 wrote:

Gonna give it another go in a few weeks time, I aint gonna let it beat me. Signed up for the Cheshire cat sportive, the one with the mow cop climb, so got to conquer Edge so as to give me some confidence for the Killer Mile.

Yep, Mow Cop is a lot harder... Simon Warren gives it a rather generous 9/10, which is the same he gave to Porlock... completely different beasts in my view, but hey oh...

Lycra Man

I had been wanting to do this climb for a while, and planned a 200k DIY Audax route with it at half way, last December 30th . Managed it, although it was tough.
Lycra Man

rich164h

Kneesaway wrote:

Getting up onto the Edge via Tysoe hill is a bit easier but I think up Sun Rising is tougher, mainly due to the rubbish road surface.

Edge Hill is pretty tough but I'd also say that Sun Rising (only a few miles south of Edge Hill) is harder. It certainly feels steeper, although not quite so long.

To the OP, if you can comfortably do 100 miles and have tackled difficult hills int he past (as your post says) then I'd just put it down to having a bad day.

paul_mck

got a garmin log for the hill? curious to see what its like now

we were doing hills on a sportive last sept were hitting 25% on the garmin, had to stop many times to get breath back was torture. Didnt walk though!

turbo_hamster

If I meet someone who claims never to have failed to get up a hill, I will be guessing they never challenge themselves. Or possibly that they are a professional cyclist.

Thanks for the thread, it reminds me how long it has been since I rode out to Edge Hill. (Resolves to challenge herself asap!)

BobScarle

I remember a few years ago a hill in Clent beat me and I ended up walking it. I use that route now quite often and get a special buzz from climbing that hill. If you climb a hill that has beaten you it feels special no matter how long ago or how difficult the hill seems now.

Keep at it.

gpreeves

turbo hamster wrote:

Thanks for the thread, it reminds me how long it has been since I rode out to Edge Hill. (Resolves to challenge herself asap!)

+1. Despite living in Warwickshire and riding (road bikes) for the past few years I'd never actually ridden up here, thanks to this thread my friend and I took in Edge Hill on our ride yesterday afternoon. Must admit to being fairly skeptical when I first read how difficult people thought it was, but they certainly weren't wrong. We both somehow struggled up, but definitely couldn't brag about how long it took us to get up there.

Due to work and other sporting commitments I'm pretty much constrained to rollers and a Sunday ride at the moment, all the same am going to make sure I ride up here every couple of months as a very approximate gauge of my fitness level/progression.

jagx400

Had a second go yesterday.........Failed again, but did better than last time, so the training is paying off. I got to within a roads width of the top and my legs just stopped on me, was I gutted.

Now I know I can get that close, the next time is a certainty, I hope :-)

Had a good ride (67 miles) so all was not lost, I can manage all the hills around my area, even did the Phill Cooke challenge, which had a few testers in it, but this is eluding me.

slowbike

proto wrote:

Arghhhhh !!!!!!!! Kingston Hill, trying to blank it from my mind. We do that every Wednesday night on our chain gang route. It's horrible.

Pah - I used to ride up that one everyday - sometimes twice ... digs at the bottom, uni campus at the top... oh, and this was on a touring bike - usually with some books/kit with me too ...
I'd probably struggle now!

goonz

Could someone please advise on what distance and gradient would be classed as a good hill?

E.g. how long is Edge hill and how steep?

Its been a while since I hit any hills and on Sunday I did hit a couple but they were not overly massive, a little steep but not very long, E.g 50-100m is this comparable?

Im guessing no!

crapaudthepitbull

I rode a road race that included Egde hill in the early 1990's(got a pic of myself cresting the summit alongside Roger Hamond in the local rag). Thats as good as it got im afraid and i can vouch that the hill is a absolute b****rd! Never thought that area would be so tough but yet again i was proved wrong.

kettrinboy

paul_mck wrote:

got a garmin log for the hill? curious to see what its like now

we were doing hills on a sportive last sept were hitting 25% on the garmin, had to stop many times to get breath back was torture. Didnt walk though!

Just use Google Maps then you can get a view as if you were riding it, the left hand bend halfway up looks about 15% ish but it goes on for a fair way after that until the junction to Edgehill village.

johnny25

I live not far from Edge Hill. It is certainly one of the toughest in the area.

I'm yet to try it though. According to Strava its 10.8%, but hits 16% in places.

http://app.strava.com/segments/781198

seanorawe

Garmin or strava link anyone?

skyblueamateur

Went up Edge Hill yesterday and had forgotten how tough it is. The hardest climb round these parts by a good way.