100 Greatest Climbs #54 & #56 - White Horse Bank & Boltby Bank

Disappointed after the failure of Rosedale Chimney I had a couple of other possible climbs pencilled in over the weekend if weather and time permitted. These were White Horse Bank and Boltby Bank. Both were graded at 7/10 so I hoped that these would be possible successes. Whilst there was a definite plan to do Rosedale Chimney there was no plan for these - other than I had prepared a short route (~14 miles) which was a "there and back" route that did both of them starting in the village of Kilburn in Yorkshire

On the Sunday we sort of did all we wanted to do in the day and there was going to be just enough time to drive over and do the ride, so we did.

We parked in the car park opposite the village pub and I got changed as quickly as possible. The pub was about 1/2 mile from the foot of the White Horse Bank climb so I rode in the opposite direction for a mile or so before turning round - I needed to be at least a little prepared for the climb. Just outside the village you can see the White Horse:

I took this with my phone hence the grainy quality

Here's a Wikipedia article and picture:

It was about 1/2 mile from where I took this picture to the foot of the climb, and like Rosedale Chimney went straight up one it started:

This climb was quite different to Rosedale Chimney - it had several switchbacks to ease the gradient and this meant that the gradient flattened quite a bit in a few places. Here's the Strava segment in detail:

 The bigger bend about 1/2 way up was a car park for the hill and just before this I sailed past a mountain biker:

Like all mountain bikers his lowest gear made my 34-28 look like a pro on the flat. This was a 1x10 I think with what looked like a 26-34! We exchanged a cheery word and I left him spinning up, slightly jealous of the gearing but not of the weight and rolling resistance. The hill was hard - well deserving of the 7/10 but I felt confidant and strong as I got to the top.


The climb time was 9:45 (vs 9:00 from the book) and I was 371st of 1394. Given I had minimal warm up I was quite pleased with the time and position (~top 25%).


I made another video with my Garmin Virb:

And here's a link: http://youtu.be/WeIptGh2phM 

Flushed with confidence from White Horse Bank I pushed on the 5 miles or so to Boltby Bank on the other side of the A170. There was a strong headwind towards the hill that was wearing but almost before I knew it I was at the top of the climb and descending. The first thing was - wow it was steep and second - how bad the surface was. I had the back wheel locking and bouncing all over the place and got sore hands before the bottom trying to hold the brakes to get the speed down to a safe level before I got to the bottom. Once the gradient eased so road surface improved as well and I rode far enough along to make sure that I had a chance to warm up again before the climb really started

I turned round and started back up - and even at the bottom it was hard. I pushed on and there were a few areas where the gradient eased and I thought I'd be OK. Once past the last left turn (to a farm) the gradient started to bite and I realised that it was going to be tough. The gradient kicked up to around 20% and the road was dead straight. It was Rosedale Chimney all over again. I kept pushing and kept going slower and my heart rate kept getting higher and higher. I was determined not to fail again and kept pushing - but just like Rosedale Chimney I was absolutely in the red and I had to stop and walk again. I got up to the right hander near the top and got back on a carried on riding - but there was no way I could have ridden the whole climb on the day. Here's the segment:

I did in 8:34 (vs the book time of only 6:30) and placed 322nd of 875 so further down the list. It was a tough climb - harder than 7/10 in my opinion. I also made a video of yet another failure:

The strong headwind over to the climb was now my friend and I had a good pace back to the A170, so good that I picked up a 2015 KOM and a few 2015 top 2 places:

It was then a relatively uneventful ride back to the car. The descent of White Horse Bank was also interesting. Again, like Boltby, the surface was poor and the back wheel was locking and bouncing all over the place. The bends also needed a lot of care to slow properly and safely for them. Some deer ran across the road 100m or so in front of me in one place as well!. I left the video running once at the bottom for the run back to the village and my car.

I was disappointed with another failure -  I managed only 1 of the 3 attempted climbs over the weekend. That these 3 hills were beasts is no argument. I had planned to fit a 12-30 cassette for the weekend but thought that I was up for the task - only to have been bought back to earth with a bump. Was it worth doing them? Absolutely. Am I disappointed to have had to walk? Again - absolutely. But have I ticked a few more of the hills off - again absolutely .