• Paradise Street
• Length: 0.04 miles
• Avg gradient: 9%   Peak gradient: 9.2%
• Difficulty: 1/5
• Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 1/5
• Elevation gain: 19 ft
• Strava

A silly little climb in the city and a taste of the cobbled Paris Roubaix.

Recommended to me by a member of the CycleSheffield Chat forum, Paradise Street is a slightly ridiculous little cobbled hill just north of the cathedral.  Clocking in at a grand total of 0.04 miles, it’s not a foreboding challenge but don’t underestimate the impact of that cobbled surface and don’t get cocky like I did, try to sprint it, and end up more exhausted than climbing The Dale.

Starting at the junction of Queen Street, you can see the full extent of the consistent 9% hill in front of you. It’s not far. Normally, on short sharp hills you can blast it but the surface here really plays havoc with those plans. I’m glad that I’ve got suspension on mine, I can’t imagine what it’d be like on a fancy road bike. The only thing to be wary of is that, despite its single car width, Paradise Street is a two way road, so if you encounter a car coming the other direction, you’ll probably need to move out of the way. Still, it’s not far to return to the start and try again.

All you can really say for this road is head down, pedal away, see how quickly you can get up.

• urban