Tag: Magnificent 7

Ranmoor Crescent

Ranmmor Crescent
Length: 0.25 miles
Avg gradient: 9% Peak gradient: 11.3%
Difficulty: 2/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 1/5
Elevation gain: 124 ft
Strava

A short, little hill that featured in the 2017 Magnificent 7. Because the road has a broad S-shape, it’s not as steep as some of the other roads in the area.

You begin the climb at the crossroads with Ranmoor Road. The road curves around the the left as the gradient creeps to around 10-11%. This corner isn’t too challenging and soon the road bends back to the right, as you ride up the steepest section, which is only a brief 11.3%.

Admire the big houses here, as the road straightens out and drops to around 6%. You can see the junction with Ranmoor Cliffe Road in the distance, marked by a postbox on the right. As you take the left turn at the junction, you’re back to an 11% climb for the final short stretch until Watt Lane.

A pleasant enough climb but it’s not the challenge I was expecting. If you fancy something nearby that’s a bit trickier, try Ranmoor Park Road. A far straighter climb with fewer bends easing the gradient. I’ll save that one for a later date.

Loxley to Kirk Edge

Loxley to Kirk Edge
Length: 1 mile
Avg gradient: 10.4% Peak gradient: 15.9%
Difficulty: 3/5
Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 1/5
Strava

I was introduced to this road, which featured in the 2017 Magnificent 7, when out with my pizza-and-beer cycling club. The usual ride leader wasn’t able to come so the ride was led by one of the riders who likes to do hill reps. He zoomed up here, the rest of us puffed and panted after him.

If you’re heading from the city, you’ll have probably already climbed almost 250ft up Loxley Road before you reach West Lane and the start of this hill. That’s not too much of challenge but it is a bit of a slog, so make sure you’re not blitzing it up there and not leaving enough in the tank for this climb.

Turning right, on to West Lane, you’re immediately on a 10-11% gradient for the first, dead-straight, 0.3 miles. Just dig in here as the road will eventually get a bit more interesting. Soon enough, you’ll reach the first bend, with a farmhouse on the left, and the one of the the climb’s steepest sections, at 15.9%, shortly after. At the halfway mark, as Meyers Lane joins from the right, the gradient reduces for a short distance before ramping right up again as you pass Green End Farm, and on into the hamlet of Holdsworth.

The road wiggles through farmhouses, barns, and the sounds and smells of the countryside and you’ll soon have fields on either side. With 0.2 miles to go, the road has a bend to the right, then a straight section with an incline of around 7% (my three sources all disagree about the exact figure), followed by this climb’s sting-in-the-tail: a little dog-leg of about 15.9%, the end of which is marked by a telegraph pole.

Once you reach the pole, pootle to the end of the road and turn left towards Bradfield or right for an extremely enjoyable descent into Worrall and Wadsley.

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.

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.