Midland Cyclist: Sheffield (Again)

Sheffield November 2013

I went to Sheffield and rode the route I'd ridden in March 2012 again. Actually I went to Sheffield for a long weekend with my wife, partly for her birthday and partly to see one of our sons who is at Sheffield University.

I got agreement to spend a morning cycling and I'd wondered about doing something else route-wise but having done the route once before it meant that (a) I was pretty confidant that the roads were OK, (b) that the time was realistic and most importantly that by doing the route again I sweep up a load of Stava achievements!

Here's the route:

and here's a link as for some reason the code to "embed" the ride in a blog gives a corrupt image: http://www.strava.com/activities/94293681

It started in Low Bradfield. Plenty of parking at 9am on a Sunday and, in an improvement from 18 months ago, working public toilets - an increasingly rare sight in Britain these days.

I got the bike out of the car, put the wheels on and got changed into my cycling clothes (I already had my shorts, baselayer and jersey on from the hotel). The forecast was for sun, with a light wind but temperatures around 2-3Deg C. It was the latter I was more concerned about as on the radio it has reported that Snake Pass was closed to traffic due to ice. However given the sun I decided that baselayer, jersey and long sleeve "over jersey" would be fine on the top and for my legs a pair of bib shorts and Aldi's finest leg warmers, with 2 pairs of socks and my BBB Hardwear overshoes (I get cold feet).

Once I was ready I set the Garmin to follow the route and set of. The disadvantage of Low Bradfield is, as its name suggests, its low, and every route out is a reasonable climb. Last time I got caught out but the first climb, it being quite step and within the 1st 1/2 mile. This time I turned left by the pub and rode along Dungworth Reservoir for a mile or so to try to warm up a bit. I then returned and went back down the hill slightly to ride the full hill. However given the temperature this was not enough and I was puffing and panting again at the top. What's more I still have not really got to grips with the route following on my Garmin (after 3 years!) and because I deviated from the route at the start it wanted to return me to the end. So I had to stop and reset the route.

It's then a long undulating drag for s number of miles to join the A57 and then descend down towards Ladybower Reservoir. Last time there was road works making it single track - this year I kept the speed down as I was not sure how slippery the road might be - there were small ice patches in puddles at the side of the road up to that point in the shade where the sun had not yet reached. Its a fantastic descent and I'd like to go again in the summer when its dry. Fortunately despite being a relatively major road the traffic seems pretty light. You then skirt the reservoir and drop down into Bamford - again another quite quick stretch.

Then there's a sharp right to head back on yourself and towards Brough. Once through the village this is the second long and undulating climb onto the A623, this is a generally rolling road for a few miles and then another long and fast descent. At the bottom is a left back on yourself again towards Grindleford which marks another long climb upto the A6187. This is probably, of all the climbs on the route, the one I find the easiest - whilst it's long its a pretty steady gradient with a few places where it briefly flattens to give a respite.

Then I turned on to the A625 for a fast gentle down hill run to "Long Line" - a dead straight road with an increasing gradient to the end. It was about here that I was beginning to feel a little tired and I knew that there was a climb last year that made me get off so I was trying to conserve some energy as well.

There's then some meandering miles, with some short sharp climbs to Lodge Lane near Rivelin. This is a monster descent - as last time I spent the whole descent down riding the brakes. I saw 3-4 riders coming up and it looked an absolute beast. Its not helped by the fact that near the bottom there is a sharp left hander followed by a short straight that stops at a T Junction - the road goes from a 10-12% gradient to the next road - there's no taper or flat - it's a really nasty junction. I am pretty sure that I would not make the climb the other way as its so steep quite long and these are not my strength - I much more a long drag person.

On the descent I could look across the valley and see the climb that was my nemesis last time. This is (on Strava) "Rails Road". I got in a low gear and rode up - it was much easier this year I found. I also vaguely remembered that there was a 2nd climb after this one that I gave up on as well last year, but again managed to ride up without great difficulty this year. From here it was basically to Stannington, Hill Top, Dungworth and back to Dungworth Reservoir and Low Bradfield.

I found the ride almost as hard this time as last time. However I was about 10-15 minutes quicker than last time and on all the climbs got a PR which I was very satisfied with. I think I was quicker because I was on my very best best bike (the Scott) whereas last time I rode the Giant with its original Giant wheels. These wheels are very heavy (almost 3.5kg from memory with tyres and tubes) compared to about 2kg for the Shimano RS80 wheels. This meant I was riding a 8kg bike this year versus a 11.5kg bike previously. Also and probably more relevant, last time I rode in March with relatively few miles in the preceding months, whereas this time I had done a lot of miles up to September so was much more ride fit. Its a great route but is very challenging.

As a bonus the Village shop was opening and served a half decent cup of coffee and some cakes so an even better finish to the ride.

Compared to the recent ride in Wales it was very similar in distance and total height gained, but in Wales it was mainly 4 steady climbs whereas in Sheffield its a relentless climb and ascend for the whole distance with some very short, sharp and hard climbs on the route. I am a much stronger climber on the long steady climbs between 5-8% gradient - the steeper ones I find very hard for some reason.

Here's some pictures (not great as they're from my phone):