Tag: climbs

Lodge Lane

Lodge Lane
Length: 0.7 miles
Avg gradient: 9.3% Peak gradient: 15%
Difficulty: 4/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 2/5
Strava

A few miles westward, out of the city, along the fairy nasty A57 Manchester Road you’ll find a couple of cheeky challenging climbs, escalating either side of the Rivelin Valley: Rails Road and Lodge Lane. Rails Road will take you north up to Stannington, and Lodge Lane, south, to the green and pleasant lands of Lodge Moor.

Like many of the roads that climb the Rivelin valley wall (see also: Hagg Hill), unless you’re lucky with oncoming traffic, you’re pretty much going to lose all of your momentum turning 90 degrees onto the hill. Lodge Lane isn’t quite as a brutal start as Hagg Hill but you are straight into a 10% incline and a sharp left corner to begin. The steepness gradually increases as you follow the road round a right-hand bend and are presented with a straight stretch open in front of you.

As you pass the campsite, the incline drops to around 7%, which feels comparatively flat, so use this section to ease off a bit before you prepare to dig in again. As the road heads to the next bend the gradient is back in double figures and although it’s only 0.1 mile I find this part tough because I know what’s around the next corner. Since you’re now well above the valley with some lovely views towards the Peaks, it’s tempting to think you’re almost at the top. You are not.

As the tree line returns and you round the next bend, I always expect to see the top of the hill, when all Lodge Lane offers you is more of the same. In the distance, it’s not the end of the hill you can see but, at 15%, the hardest of the climb’s numerous bends. If you get round that, once you reach the roadside bollards you’ve made it and just need to pant on a few more feet to the end.

Now turn around, drop down at speed, and tackle Rails Road on the other side of the valley.

Blake Street

Blake Street
Length: 0.11 miles
Avg gradient: 14% Peak gradient: 17.4%
Difficulty: 3/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 2/5
Strava

Look on any list of Sheffield’s steepest hills and Blake Street will be in there, so it was with some trepidation that I finally got around to tackling this one. Any road that has had a handrail for pedestrians, you know is going to be steep and Blake Street has one running its entire length.

You’ll feel the hill’s impact from the the moment you put your pedal down to begin the unwavering climb. However, you’ll want to make sure that you’re in the right gear from the off, not do what I did and end up losing any momentum I had as I attempted to drop into my lower gears too late while trying to start climbing. From there it’s just head down, breathe deep and push up as fast as you can. You’ll quickly understand why this road features in many hill climb races.

Blake Street is a sprint though, not a marathon and, despite its reputation, I found it easier than I was expecting. Simply put, it’s not very long, so it’s over relatively quickly. I guess it’s a far different story if you’re a hill climb racer but if, like me, you just want to get to the top without worrying too much about times, it is perfectly doable. Definitely one to tick off a list but if you’re looking for more of a challenge, give Hagg Hill a go: similar in character but with a higher gradient and slightly longer.

Hunter House Road

Hunter House Road
Length: 0.24 miles
Avg gradient: 12% Peak gradient: 16.2%
Difficulty: 2/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 2/5 (oncoming vehicles could be tricky since it’s always parked up on both sides)
Strava

Featuring in one of the opening scenes of the Jodie Whittaker’s first Dr Who episode, Hunter House Road is a fairly quiet residential road, just off Hunters Bar, an area immortalised by the Arctic Monkeys on Fake Tales of San Francisco. Your biggest challenge here are cars coming downhill, as both sides of the road are always parked up, leaving you little room to manoeuvre without losing your momentum.

The climb begins immediately, starting at 10% at the junction with Pinner Road, and the steepness steadily increases as you climb. You’ll hit a peak of 16.2% at house number 60, which is marked by a garage set back from the road. You’re about two thirds of the way up the hill by now and beginning to feel the strain.

Hunter House Road in Dr Who: The Woman Who Fell to Earth BBC

Continue straight up until the road bends round to the left, at what looks like the hill’s apex. However, looks can be deceiving and you’ll find that the climb continues round the corner. A short distance more and the gradient drastically eases off just as you reach the Hunter Court flats.

Armthorpe Road

Armthorpe Road
Length: 661 feet
Avg gradient: 8.7% Peak gradient: 11.6%
Difficulty: 1/5 (it’s steep but very short)
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 2/5
Strava: So short that it doesn’t even have its own segment. How sad.

Armthorpe Road is a fairly innocuous hill climb in that the only reason that you’d ever find it is if you know someone who lives there. The road itself just loops around, beginning and ending on Hangingwater Road but it’s a short sharp shock. I once did a long and hilly Peak District ride, thought I’d do Armthorpe Road as I was passing on my way home, and it turned out to be the most challenging of the day.

Start by the red house on the corner and head full pelt into this quiet, residential street. It’s not a long hill so you don’t need to keep any reserves but you’ll find that the incline picks up immediately, hitting 9.4% at the junction with Bramwith Road. This is where the hill gets tough, though.

The road bends sharply to the left and, ideally, you’d be able to move over to the right hand side to reduce the impact of the 11.6% turn but it’s a blind bend and you’ve no idea if there’s a car coming so you’ll need to stay left. Once you’re around that corner the gradient eases off as a high stone wall appears on your right. Catch your breath and roll back round to rejoin Hangingwater Road.

Ringinglow Road

Ringinglow Road (from Bents Green)
Length: 2.09 miles
Avg gradient: 5% Peak gradient: 10.6%
Difficulty: 3/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 3/5 (It’s a 50/50 on driver attitude, despite plenty of available passing space).
Strava

Ringinglow Road is a steady gateway into the Peak District. Leaving the suburbs of Bents Green behind, you’ll soon find yourself atop the world, on the edge of some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. While Ringinglow Road can feel a bit of a slog, with it’s arrow straight direction, each turn of the crank gets you closer to some stunning countryside (and extremely fun descents). Keep that in mind and you’ll be at the top in no time.

Starting at the junction of Common Lane, Ringinglow Road stretches ahead, well into the distance. Never appearing too steep, it does have a couple of sneaky lumps waiting for you. The hill’s first, tree-lined, half mile isn’t too strenuous, rarely touching 5% but just as the trees give way to reveal rolling countryside and you pass some farmhouses, a couple of cheeky spikes appear doing their best to pull up the average gradient.

The road briefly flattens out at Hangram Lane (which is a speedy descent) giving you a moment to recharge your legs and power on to the one mile mark and The Norfolk Arms pub. Ignore the turnings and head straight on. Once you’ve tackled a short 10.9% section you’ll soon be crossing into the Peak Distrct, marked by an iconic millstone. From here it’s a steady slog upwards with the Lady Cannings Plantation on your left and ever more sprawling moorland on your right. Shortly passing the byway to Houndkirk Moor (and Lady Cannings’ MTB trails) and you’re at the top of the segment.

A little further on and you are presented with the glorious sight of Stanage Edge (above) in the distance and a couple of very enjoyable options downhill into Hathersage.

Hagg Hill

Hagg Hill, Sheffield
Length: 0.17 miles
Avg gradient: 19% Peak gradient: 24%
Difficulty: 4/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 1/5 (not as bad as it could be but only because they’re struggling just as much as you).
Strava

Hagg Hill isn’t one of the headline climbs around Sheffield and the Peak District but it was my first introduction to Sheffield’s hills when I moved north in 2011. I used to struggle to get up Hagg Hill in my car, it’s even more challenging on a bike.

Hagg Hill is not a long climb at all but it is very steep and unforgiving from the start. To date, I’ve only ridden it four times and only once managed to do so without stopping. It also features as one of the climbs in the annual Magnificent 7 hill climb competition.

You need to turn onto Hagg Hill from Rivelin Road, a blind 90 degree turn, which results in you losing any speed you may have had. From there on it’s just up, up, up. It’s only real redemptive point is that there’s no hidden summit, you can see the top of the hill from the outset. Beginning at a relatively forgiving 14% you just need to drop into a low gear and grind, although you’d be wise to hold a gear in the bank for when the road peaks out at 24%, towards the end.

The gradient continues to increase as you cycle past the allotments, before there is a tiny (so small it doesn’t even register on the Strava segment) relent about 3/4 of the way up. Use that brief respite to catch your breath before tackling the final spike of 24% and reaching Bole Hill Road.

Well done, you’ve just done one of the hardest climbs in Sheffield!

Any sense of achievement, however, is slightly tempered by the fact that, if you’re heading towards Crosspool, you’ve actually only done about a third of the climbing. We’ll save Bole Hill Road / Back Lane for another time though.

Sheffield Cycling Climbs

A compendium of Sheffield cycling hill climbs in both the city and the south Peak District. Some will be hard, some will be easy, some will be beautiful and some will be dull but they’ll all take you up a hill.