Hill Climbs in the Cotswolds - Sunday 5 June 2016

Hoping for glorious weather as forecast I cycled down to Broadway in the Cotswolds. About 4-5 miles north of Broadway are 3 reasonable sized hills. In order of my route there is Dovers Hill, followed by Saintbury Hill and finally Fish Hill. I have done them all before but never on the same ride, so today would be a first.

First up was Dovers Hill.

This is #13 in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book. Its quite tough - it steepens after 1/2 way to ~12% and the average is 8%. I was hoping for a faster time than the previous time I have climbed as I was on my Scott with its 34-32 lowest gear. Unfortunately whilst my fitness has continued to improve through the year it still was not where it needed to be - a maximum heart rate of almost 180bpm shows this. It was hard work. The first attempt I made last year was the best at 8:02 - I am currently 474th of 233. Today's effort was much slower at 8:58.

Here's a video of the climb and immediate descent:

Next up within not much more than 2 miles is Saintbury Hill:

Saintbury is a bigger and longer climb than Dovers Hill. The maximum gradient is nearer the bottom and the gradient eases 2-3 times meaning its not quite as tough. I still made the slowest ascent today compared to the other times. I pulled a 8th plave on the descent but I think thisis down to GPS error more than any thing else!

Here's a video of this climb and descent

The final climb was Fish Hill. This is actually the A44 to Oxford so is a much busier road than the other two earlier climbs. Its definitely a Sunday morning climb only although the road is dual carriageway (on the ascent) so there is room - but its still not the most pleasant climb:

Two miles at an average of 6% - easier although the first mile is less steep and the last mile (the twisty bit is around 10-12%). However the descent is super fast because of the wider road and sweeping bends and I just managed a Strava PR on the descent - average speed of 31.8mph.

Here's a video of the climb and descent:

An excellent ride with the 3 climbs but the headwind all the way back from Broadway just about did me in

Here's the full route:

 
I chopped the top off (where I live) as the Cotswold part is hopefully more interesting. The full route is here on Strava