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My thoughts were provoked by a thread about living in Malvern, and I wonder if other riders out there in other hilly areas experience the same feelings of ‘ah, can’t be arsed to climb today’?
To be really frank/honest (as an MTBer Living long-term in Malvern) - the fact that it’s always a long and steep climb from the door has been a creeping disincentive to ride.
There, I said it. And I like/d climbing. But in 2017 I worsened an existing cycling-injury (lower-ab tears) by cold-climbing up from Colwall while seated. So since then I’ve been off-piste and (mostly) gravelbimbling. Some singlespeed hardtailing down from the Hills but I now have to walk/push the bike up there first. I can still go slow and winch up there on the 2x, but I have to do it standing/out of the seat all of the way or I reinjure.
Used to MTB much more often living in the West Mids as used towpath/bridleway-network as a good (usually 3-4 miles) warmup to places like Kinver/Wyre etc. So longer and more varied loops were available from the door.
I always feel (rightfully IMO) like a git if I use the car as an uplift so I don’t do it.
Sounds like an excuse. I’m going to walk up there later and see if that gets me going.
Anyone actually enjoy riding hills, especially without a warmup? Do you ride like this more or less often?
Live at the top of the hill so a climb is always something to look forward too on the way home. It’s the endless wind that puts me off more 😩
Sounds like you need an e-bike.
On my ride in the peak district at the weekend I was chatting to a guy at the top of a brutal climb, and I said if I lived there I'd either be insanely fit... or I'd own an ebike.
If I lived somewhere with propr hills I'd definitely consider an ebike, especially for getting out for an hour or 2 and it not being a single climb and descent.
I'm local, the first climb always feels a bit of tough one but once you've got a descent done they seem to feel progressively easier.
Over the years I think you just get used to it, I'd take shorter steeper climbs over long fire-road slogs any day!
Living at the top of the Amman Valley, right on the edge of the Beacons I entirely sympathise with all that has been said above. Coupled with a buggered hip and general wear and tear when the time comes, and it is coming soon, I'm going to become one of the ebike brigade.
Living in sheff it's always a fair climb to the trails. But it's off-road mainly so I can't complain. It doesn't deter me from riding from home. Still quicker than driving out somewhere. Just happy to have good options from home, especially when lockdown hit.
The climb is a great warm up, which works well for me.
Everywhere I ride starts with a 10 minute climb. I like it, I almost always race to see if I can get to the top in record time.
Occasionally I wish I could do a road ride without 500m of climbing, just to maintain a decent average speed for once. But I certainly wouldn't swap living here for somewhere flatter.
Sometimes, never as bad once you're out though
Over the years I think you just get used to it
Ironically I did, after the first decade I’d fly up there blowing out my lungs like a hot gale - but finally injured in a gym overdoing it on a spinbike + rowing machine. BAD GYM STOLE MY MTB-LIFE was the headline in the tabloid of my head.
ebike
Financially out of the question even if I sold everything I own, and even then I’d instead buy Mrs R a dream holiday, as she recently got the much shorter straw regarding mobility
Everywhere I ride starts with a 10 minute climb. I like it
Sounds similar. I get a 10 minute climb from the door, then a 15-20 minute (steeper) climb from the top of that climb, and then the real climbing begins!
@Malvern Rider
When I feel like that and it's just the thought of the climb that's putting me off, I reach for a bike with gears. I just regard it as a sign my body is trying to tell me something.
If I seriously can't be arsed at all, I respect that. There's no law you have to ride your bike. I usually find a week of walking instead helps.
If bikes aren't fun, leave them in the shed.
(I am surrounded by stiff climbs, I live on a hill, and if I go for an "easy ride" then I have a gut-buster to get home)
I live at the top of a hill and always finish a ride knackered.
Can be frustrating always having leave some energy in the tank, or knowing that the last bit is always going to hurt like hell
Yeah I moved to Sheffield a few years ago and it's a double edged sword. Quality trails everywhere but so many miles of road and bridleway separating them. I only really like the fun bits so I get about 30 seconds of gnarly descent for every 30 minutes of featureless grinding.
I need to retrain my brain to enjoy just riding along and not concentrate on only enjoying the wild bits of trail. Usually my natural laziness wins and I'll find something else to do.
Yes I'd have an e-bike. Then I could fly out of town and have a genuine off road ride after work without it feeling like a big deal or spending all day on it. Unfortunately a decent one is twice the amount that I'd usually spend on a car.
Yep, I hear you. I live in Calderdale, I can easily do a 5-6 mile loop from my door that has 500m of tough climbing. and if I want to do anything like a longer ride, then it's 1500m plus, and it's mostly 9-10% climbing for a mile or so and 25% climbing for some sections.
Mostly you just learn to get on with it, sometimes...No. I just can't be arsed.
This is a regular route, I’ve been doing it for so long that I don’t even know if it’s supposed to be tough or not. It feels it.
It’s currently the injury that’s the biggest disincentive, then the boring grindheat + my extra weight since inactivity
- but would this be a fun regular ride for most MTBers? It’s downhill all of the return leg 👍🏼
Well I live across from the Malvern hills by the Cotswolds always a climb up to them not to bad as goes for the Malvern hills they are nasty climbs from peak to peak they are great hills to walk and you cant beat the views not that interesting to ride I find much more over the Cotswolds going one end to the other and back good workout out but limited plus there are hell of a lot of walkers on them lovely area.
I go out the front gate if I don't want to climb straight off, doesn't really get away from climbs, just delays them or I find something else to do.
I have at least 200m a of walking elevation a day with of dog laps, he is scared of roads so don't get a choice.
If I go out on the bike I normally have to do an extra when I get back with dog no matter what state I'm in, so need to save some legs for that.
Wife has ebike...
28:51 gearing ❓
Yea my local riding short sharp climbs of 100/150m ascent, I prefer to get a mile or two flat along the canal first to warm up a bit, but sometimes it's just straight up.
they are (Malverns) nasty climbs from peak to peak
Not IME, as I found that once on a summit it’s pretty enjoyable (shhhh)and not so taxing to ride end to end along the ridge (another reason to do at night) with possibly Perseverance Hill (ha!) a slight exception.
But the climb from below Town (or from Colwall Village) turns me off as I’ve got little energy/can-be-arsed remaining by the ‘start’ of the ride once on the ridge. ymmv
I think walking up there instead is a good idea as someone said. But sometimes this feels like The End as far as personal MTBing is concerned. Am still fighting for it these last 4-5 years but I can feel the enjoyment diminish along with my punch-strength
yep, it can be a little disheartening to launch straight into a gut busting climb. riding form my door i've got a 2 mile / 850ft of ascent climb on tarmac an double track before it starts to level out and get more enjoyable. may not sound like a lot to some, but when your'e time short, knackered from a manic day or the weathers crap, it can certainly erode motivation to ride. my solution was to buy an e-bike, which is perfect to remove the dis-incentive and get out for after work blasts
That's a fair old heave up, straight from the door, are there alternative routes with a bit more on the road to get loosened up?
My local evening mtb rides tend to be ~1500ft in 10-12 miles in the south lakes for comparison
I moved up north from the home counties, so I suppose I never take the hills for granted.
More likely that I can't be bothered with a flat ride if it's sloppy, at least with hilly ones you get gravity's help on the way back down.
We were in the lakes the other week for a week and just within the week i was already thinking to myself 'I just need an easy non hilly ride for him'?! so I can see why someone who lived there constantly may get fatigued from the constant hills! My 20 mile road ride that i do after work has only one small hill so it allows me to just chill and then I can aim for hills when I want to.
Sounds similar. I get a 10 minute climb from the door, then a 15-20 minute (steeper) climb from the top of that climb, and then the real climbing begins!
I suppose it depends how fast you ride. I don't know the Malverns at all really, but are there really climbs that take more than half an hour? It's not the Alps! My riding is Peak District but I'm struggling to think of a climb that takes more than 20 mins actual riding time around here. This is not intended as some sort of brag BTW - 20 minutes of uphill can certainly seem like a slog but it's over soon enough.
My (perhaps not immediately obvious) point was that a 10-20 minute climb is not really that much in the grand scheme of a 1-2 hour ride, even if 20 mins of immediate uphill seems like a lot.
I'm in the Midlands. A 15 mile local "MTB" ride has less than 500ft of climbing. I know the grass is always greener, but I'm jealous of people who have actual hills nearby. Not least because when I do get to Wales or the Peak/Lake District for a 'proper' ride I'm just not prepared for steep climbs.
Pretty much what Superficial says. I'm W. Sheffield and have a choice of climbs from the front door, all of which end up being (from memory) about 350m of vert. The only times it really becomes an issue is in the depths of winter when my body doesn't want to wake up with the cold.
The upside is that I always end up with what can seem like endless descending back home again - on or off road.
I'm getting 2-5hrs+ a day, 6 days a week at the moment, split between road, gravel and MTB to mix it up and its been bloody marvellous.
(and you could live in Bourg d'Oisans and have 1120m of climbing on your doorstep before you get any descending done!)
My local routes include at least 500m of climbing and an EWS Downhill. All of that for less than 12 miles.
Like today where temperatures are above 35c, it is too much to do 1 up and 1 down. So probably put bike in the car, drive to top of the mountain, cycle down, stop for a beer or two, and go get the car with the wife.
I suppose it depends how fast you ride. I don’t know the Malverns at all really, but are there really climbs that take more than half an hour? It’s not the Alps!
This is partly why I posted this thread, I’m an old fat and injured knacker of late and have ridden mostly solo hereabouts for years so have nothing/no-one to compare with except for a very occasional regular riding buddy who isn’t so much into the climbs so I usually have to wait for him 🤣
Someone may do it in 15 mins for all I know!
If you look at the route/elevation data that I posted above that’s the climb to the nearest summit from my door.
How long would that take a half-fit MTBer? 3 miles/1200ft, gradient from the off constantly increasing from say 5% to nearabout 20%?
are there alternative routes with a bit more on the road to get loosened up?
Yes, I did figure a longer loop with better warmup section (see below) which is a not too steep (road) climb from town then 5 flatter miles along the A449 (fine at night and there are usually empty footpaths by which to escape the rare speeding ****chback) and then along the Hillsides via climby twisty up/down singletrack and some steep uphill switchbacks.
That works out better for initial warmup but is a much longer route - so yes I burn easily x2 the calories, but it also easily doubles the time away from home/work. Not undoable but not ideal ie a quick 40-60 min blast. I’m sure if I was fitter it could be an hour and a bit (?) but could use some estimates from fitter/more able riders?
I live in a village where the second word in the name is "Hill". However the hills where I live are minor but regular so lots of small up and downs. I am geared accordingly though and run an extremely low fixed gear of 56 inches.
Ride the other way out of the door for 20 minutes, you'll be warmed up for the climb then.
Ride the other way out of the door for 20 minutes, you’ll be warmed up for the climb then.
Only if I had a fixie! It’s downhill... 🤣
It would make the overall climb longer though...and shallower to begin...so maybe could work in a weird way!
To give some perspective - a few streets up from me (and on my route) is the Old Wyche road which
rises at an angle of 17.54 degrees, is second only to Vale Street in Bristol's Totterdown district, which is nearly 22 degrees.
Coming third behind the Old Wyche Road is Blake Street in Sheffield (16.6 degrees), fourth is Steep Hill in Lincoln (16.12 degrees), and fifth is Gold Hill, in Shaftesbury, Dorset (16.09 degrees), where a famous 1970s TV commercial for Hovis bread was filmed.
Have long thought it’d be a good idea for a short hillclimb event to raise funds for a good cause/promote local cycling. Must at some point run the idea by some residents. There used to be the Edward Elgar Up Hill Bicycle Challenge (a short 150m sprint up Church Street) which was good family fun. Don’t know if it’s still going but to be fair it is/was a piece of piss compared to getting up to the Hills via Wyche. The Wyche is more ‘can do/can’t do’ vs a speed record!
For ref, black Coombe, one of our regular rides is 600m of climbing over a couple of miles and takes 40mins-1hr including plenty of pushing (depending if the wind is cataclysmic or merely biblical). 5-6 mins back down again!
How long would that take a half-fit MTBer? 3 miles/1200ft, gradient from the off constantly increasing from say 5% to nearabout 20%?
To be fair that is a pretty big climb. 400m in 5km or thereabouts (the famous HC Sa Calobra climb is only 670m in 9k). But on the map the actual hill is only 200m of climbing so I don't know where the other 200m comes in. Is that height data accurate?
I'd say 30mins for those stats would be good going, most would go slower than that I guess. It'd be much easier if you rode along the road and up Beacon Road rather than going directly across all the contours.
Calderdale is home for me, and yes, as Nickc above, sometimes the half hour grind at the start of a ride is a disincentive......
But the canal towpath is a bigger disincentive so onwards and up.....
back when I grew up in malvern, we lived pretty close to Dyson's school. it was a fairly steady warm up to the tank clock (apart from one short steep bit) which i didn't mind.
moving back post undergrad, my parents moved to the bottom of the link. Even though I was fairly fit then, I loathed the climb to my old starting point at the tank clock.
had to get my head round steadier routes up that would cut ou some of my old trails and would end up starting on the hills closer to the wyche road than anything. mostly I'd warm up along abbey road, then across to the twisty footpath to St ann's well, then a traverse along the contour path, joining where you start to climb up to the hidden lake off wyche road.
I'd more often drive to FoD, unless I could manage a steady ride out locally.
If I really didn't want to, I'd just go out on the lanes past castlemorton. That's one of the good things about the malverns. up and over and hilly one way, relatively flat the other.
so no, you're quite far down the hill, I'd get fed up of a direct climb all the time.
I'm sure there's one gradual climb in Calderdale.
Probably just the one though.
Living down the road from Barnards Green it's always up, up, to start with but once I get to the Beacon it's downhill all the way if I want it to be.
I dislike climbing but it's a necessity living here.
To be fair that is a pretty big climb. 400m in 5km or thereabouts (the famous HC Sa Calobra climb is only 670m in 9k). But on the map the actual hill is only 200m of climbing so I don’t know where the other 200m comes in. Is that height data accurate?
Not sure. I just put almost identical route (few streets in town I do differently depending) into Cyclestreets and it says 419m (Basically from Great Malvern Station area to Worcs Beacon via the Wyche Rd (or Earnslaw if I’m feeling extra-stupid) and Summer Hill
*Edit
Living down the road from Barnards Green it’s always up, up, to start with but once I get to the Beacon it’s downhill all the way if I want it to be.
I dislike climbing but it’s a necessity living here.
Hi Steve good to know you’re still at it! 30 mins climb?
Almost every ride starts with a climb for me - the perils of living at sealevel. to ride to the nearest hills and up to a decent point on them is a 1300 ft climb - 800 of which is / can be done in under a mile.
Hills are just a necessary evil to get descents
Edit
Lat ride to and then around the pentlands was 32 miles ( 10 of them on the city roads) and 3500 ft of climb
I live in Brixham at sea level and every ride is a major hill fest. I do sympathise ..but not much as once you're up..you get go go down 😉
800' in under a mile is >15% that's a warm up for sure!!!
On my ride in the peak district at the weekend I was chatting to a guy at the top of a brutal climb, and I said if I lived there I’d either be insanely fit… or I’d own an ebike.
You get used to it. I've never really got mountain bikers who don't like climbing. You're always, in hilly places, going to spend more time climbing than descending - unless you're incredibly slow downhill - so you might as well learn to love it.
just get yourself a really easy gearing and accept 15mins of leisurely spining at the start of the ride. Pushing it from the get go is a huge disincentive.
I hit the Hill at Rose Gardens/ Unicorn pub area, up to St Anns, over to the switchbacks above Tank Quarry, round the back of North Hill, up to the Beacon, drop to the Wyche, to Malvern Hills Hotel along the east side of the hill and then back in about 1h 15 door to door. This is on a carbon hardtail XC bike and not hanging about. I tend to ride it on my own.
You've chosen a bit of a grind on the way up. I've climbed that way a fair few times and I'd say there aren't enough features to distract from the fact you're climbing for ages. The tight switchbacks up to St Anns and the route up from there are nicely diverting and over the past 14 years or so have become my preferred way of starting off.
I have a 200m climb straight from my door for any of my local trails. I would hate to have it any other way. I hate the thought of flat trails from my door - that sounds terribly dull when you’re used to being able to hoon down a trail to get home.
But that would likely all change if I had some kind of chronic injury. Having said that I’ve worked through ruptured Achilles’ tendons, a broken elbow and broken shoulder. In each case, I was able to get back to biking as soon as rehab allowed.
I suppose the grass is always greener.
I live on the edge of the fens, so I can do 30 miles of riding with easily <100m of climbing.
I would love to live somewhere with a bit of hilly variation.
It starts to get hilly if I venture about 12 miles or so west so is OK for long rides, but I can't really get there & back plus ride any hills on an evening blast.
This is referring to the road bike too - the bridleway network/trail options around here are abysmal so I seem to be turning into a bit of a reluctant roadie.
I can understand the attraction of some flat terrain if I had an injury though!
Try some daft low gears to make it easier. I ride in the Malverns now and again and know how steep it is. But that means the DH's are also steep, no point in pedalling down them. So fit the smallest front ring and largest cassette on the rear.
Used to not mind hills at all (and even enjoy pushing myself up them) but my fitness is pretty low just now and I can see how easy it would be to get lazy and slide, which at 51 I don't want to let happen.
Burnside - yes that’s one I do from time to time, almost to the letter. Agree the switchbacks are more fun but I jump on by the comms mast rather than Happy Valley. Whole loop takes about 1hr 30 on a good day. I need some good days!
Now - up Church St - most the way up Happy Valley then left to the Worcs Beacon is about the most direct route from town, but that is arguably masochistic.
Am thinking the commons and lane bimbling are still the way to go until I drop some weight and try get some healing core-strengthening done. Maybe some walking on the hills. I’ll be back! Cynic-al - too right. Am a year or two older and feel the same way.
Hi Steve good to know you’re still at it! 30 mins climb
Hi 👋
I wish...
Why don't you get an e-bike malvern rider? You could spend years trying to get over / ride around a serious injury (guessing lower abs means a hernia of some sort?) and end up just not riding much, or swerving the hills like you've been doing.
We'd give you a wake, send you off in style - most of us will face the great e-divider at some point.
Need a bit of a climb to clear my lungs out. The alternative to living in a hilly area is much worse.
Going uphill's fine. Trying to keep up with younger mates who race and train, somewhat less so.
Pretty much what Superficial says. I’m W. Sheffield and have a choice of climbs from the front door, all of which end up being (from memory) about 350m of vert
Ilkley, same (okay 300 unless I want to go to a trig pt). Just start in a low gear for a slow warm up. And it does take me time to warm up these days (gulp, late 50s). My roadbike times on hills from the door are all slow compared to ones further out in the dales as I'm only ever on them cold.
Now live in a hilly area. Legs are always toast.
Have an ebike coming.
A chilled out 20km loop of fun trails is 750m. If we ride everything it can be 3 times that climbing in 40km.
Literally cant wait for it, will still pedal the analogue bike, but when i'm wrecked, I can still go out and have fun.
wouldn't see the point of a MTB in a non hilly area. i ride for the descents, do enjoy seeing how well i can do on a techy climb though as well.
can set of and be climbing for a couple of hours from the start( well 90% climbing and a bit of pushing) but the descent more than makes up for it.
vertually every ride will be 2000ft plus sometimes in as little as 10/12 miles.
thats in the lakes.
I only ride park. No issue.
But on the map the actual hill is only 200m of climbing so I don’t know where the other 200m comes in. Is that height data accurate?
I’d say 30mins for those stats would be good going, most would go slower than that I guess. It’d be much easier if you rode along the road and up Beacon Road rather than going directly across all the contours.
Thanks for the feedback. It helps! Yeah I go along Beacon Road 😬 and still slow! I solved yr height data query. You’re almost right. I was being an idiot - Worcs Beacon is of course 425m above sea level, not 425m above my house 🤣. I’m beginning the climb at about 80 metres asl. So approx 335m climb over 5k with an average 6.7% slope rising to over 10% for the last section (or much steeper when I skirt the quarry and climb Midsummer Hill)
It’s not heroic at all, point being finding it a dull grind as a regular ride from the off/difficult when injured and so is disincentivizing. I used climbbybike.com to generate the new data. It’s free to use if anyone fancies creating some climbs.
https://www.climbbybike.com/climb/Gt-Malvern-Station-to-Worcestershire-Beacon-easy/21427
I live at the foot of the Malverns but it is the crowds of red socks or litter dropping numptees that put me off climbing to the top. Sometimes I even prefer the the road bike!
Usually I could be confident of a quiet ride on a week day but, alas, in these crazy times even the Ledbury end is constantly busy.
^
-No walkers after dark
-Very few at 5-6am, mostly runners and the odd hound-enthusiast
To be honest it’s pretty clear at dinner hour ie 6-7pm ish except for main weekends of summertime (Whatever that means nowadays)
Why don’t you get an e-bike malvern rider? You could spend years trying to get over / ride around a serious injury (guessing lower abs means a hernia of some sort?)
ebike financially out of the question at the minute with it would definitely consider if/when things look up but still at bottom of household list if/when.
Yeah injury is ‘more complicated‘ than hernia according to specialists. Which I think was shorthand for ‘very expensive to fix, not offered on NHS’. So advice was to ‘completely rest it and not overdo it’ whatever that means.
Had to get a chest freezer from back of car a month back and popped it again with much swearing. Such a reoccurrence always then affects my cycling (specifically climbing, especially in saddle) and then if I start riding too much too soon it tears again. Have had to lower seatpost an inch from normal otherwise it just reinjures even on the flat. So it’s like a perpetual nightmare. Am convinced I can one day limit/protect it a good deal by stretching and core-strengthening so need to get on youtube and have a look.
As someone else who lives somewhere with low rolling hills, this thread has been a bit of an eye opener for the flipside of bigger hills. Makes me feel a bit better about our 200m "peaks", so thanks for that 🙂
We moved from the flat lands of East Anglia to West Yorkshire specifically for the hills, work was secondary.
I relish the climbs because I know a descent of awesomeness awaits and I remind myself of how boring it was riding around the flat paths.
Get an ebike as others have said.
tjagain
Hills are just a necessary evil to get descents
Whereas to me descents are a necessary evil if you like hills.
The top of a hill is where the magic is. 🙂
The only way to avoid climbs round here is towpath bashing, which is abit boring TBH. Usually get between 1.5-2k ft of climbing into a normal shortish ride, much more if I head over Hebden way. I find climbing rewarding, not only for the descents but for the views/the sense of achievement at clearing a good old lungbuster.
If I lived somewhere with propr hills I’d definitely consider an ebike, especially for getting out for an hour or 2 and it not being a single climb and descent.
Don't understand this.... How about doing two or three shorter climbs and therefore two or three descents?
My riding is pretty much 100% alpine. Yes, we can climb 1000hm for two hours or we climb halfway and take in two descents.... Although we generally climb for 1000hm and take about three hours because we stop to admire the view, get a stone out your shoe, take a piss we're old and unfit.
Personally I prefer a long slog up as it means I get a nice long dh. Plus, I'm usually a sweaty mess regardless of whether I'm at the top of the climb or the bottom of the hill.
We tend to try and park where the trail ends rather than where the climb starts to get a bit of a warm up before hitting the climb and saves on a slog back to the van. Also has the added bonus of being able to quaff an Augustiner sooner.
Yep, pretty brutal where we are. Either get the choice of parking at the bottom and facing a long 20 - 30 min steep climb off the bat, but finishing with a cracking descent, or parking at the top but finishing with the brutal climb. My rides usually consist of climbing for 15 mins or so, then a 2 - 3 minute descent, repeat for as long as we can. Great fun but alot of work on the climbs and the climb to descent ratio is crap. sometimes covering about 8 - 12 miles with 1800ft or more ascent. You certainly know you've been out by the time you're done. My next bike will be an ebike!
22x34/36 - triple? Still current? Good for going up and an old fashioned 42/44 x 11 for going down....
So fit the smallest front ring and largest cassette on the rear.
You’d think that would be the answer but...I can’t really climb ATM when seated, so if almost spinning out in grannymode when standing it becomes a real chore climbing 1000ft from the off. Weirdly (or maybe not so weird) I had more luck on the single-speed, combining bodyweight and bar-hauling to crank the pedals over the top, taking it slowly (currently 32/16), getting off and walking up the mad bits such as The Dingle. Maybe get that SS back up and running. A plan.
Choose the less steep routes up and take in more of the side paths through the trees. I rarely just go up to the tops unless I'm using it for access to another part of the hills or I want to have a look at the view.
I would say Singlespeed is the wrong choice for malvern, I keep thinking about building one up again but then I look at gearing and it just wouldn't work for me.
We used to live at the bottom of Peachfield Common, now on the side that gets sunsets.
A lot of my local routes start with an initial climb of about 150-200m over about 4km, starting straight from the door with roughly a 50:50 split between tarmac and off-road (with an average of 4% gradient but with some bits into double figures). It's never much fun doing that with cold legs but the upside is that once it's finished that's the worst of the climbing done as it's about half of the total climbing on that route, and the rest is mostly pretty gradual.
I would say Singlespeed is the wrong choice for malvern, I keep thinking about building one up again but then I look at gearing and it just wouldn’t work for me.
I rode singlespeed in the Peak pretty much exclusively for a couple of years. It was less than optimal in terms of efficiency, but you did, eventually get used to it and it created some interesting new challenges.
To be fair, despite my earlier hard line on climbing, I do use the stuff around the Longdendale Valley as an easy day, mostly flat alternative to the local Peak hilly routes.
I'm Calderdale, bottom of the valley. Yes every ride starts with a climb but I tailor my rides to suit (ie, I use the easier drags up and out rather than going straight up the stuff I'd normally ride back down). Never thought about not being arsed - just get out and do it regardless.
Never thought about not being arsed – just get out and do it regardless.
^ Best attitude, agreed.
For anyone unfamiliar with Great Malvern/ride up to the Beacon and thinking about having a bash here’s a visual I cobbled together of the switchback route mentioned upthread.
The section at green line is the top end of Church Street (pictured below,in both directions)
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/3785/10308336706_8f3b2e9b41_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/3785/10308336706_8f3b2e9b41_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/gGUVnd ]Church Street, Great Malvern[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/richardaldred/ ]Richard Aldred[/url], on Flickr
Church Street was home of the Malvern Fringe Festival’s ‘Sir Edward Elgar Bicycle Challenge’ - a fun time-trial hillrace that ran circa 2006-200? Both the festival and the race vanished (pressure from local grumps) and town has been dead since (until last year new Pride Festival 👍🏼 ) Could also do with some new cycling-events though, IMO.
As can see, the approach is quite unremarkable compared to the hills above, but can still be a slog if you’ve come up from the Severn Valley
If you fancy having a bash I’d recommend arriving by train and doing it from the Great Malvern Station (or by car then park up at bottom of Peachfield Common by the railway, ride straight up the Common, then switchback lanes and trails to St Annes Well-North Hill)