Union Hall Road
- Wheelygood Rating: Easy/Medium
- Length: 0.60 miles
- Avg. gradient: 7%
- Strava Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/10244277
Sometimes these climbs take a circuitous route to their intended destination. Sometimes, however, they take the direct route – and this is one of those. Straight up the side of the hill. At least you know what you’re getting into right from the bottom!
There is traffic on this one, although I’ve never found it onerous. Yes, as you’ll see in the video, you do the get the odd closer pass and you can run into difficulties with buses stopping for passengers, but, in the main, it’s not really an issue. There was also the instance of the very nice man who let me across the roundabout even though he actually had priority – chapeau!
It’s also very simple in terms of how to tackle it: make sure you can keep the effort level that you pick at the bottom for about five minutes and you’ll be fine. The gradient does change a bit as you head up, but doesn’t really relent. The only interesting bit from that point of view is the last hundred metres, or so, before the traffic lights where it really ramps up into the low teens.
Technically, the climb ends at the roundabout that you can see from the traffic lights. I have never, once, managed to get past the lights without stopping (call me old fashioned, but I’m just not one for riding through red lights – it’s not cool, it’s not big and it’s not clever) and, indeed, this was the case when I took the video so I decided to let it be.
If you’re up for a challenge, though, then how’s about trying to get from the junction at the very bottom to the roundabout at the top with an average speed of greater than 10mph? Enjoy!
If there are any other road climbs you’d like me to take on, the more ridiculous the better, then please pop them in the comments, or send me a message on my FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/wheelygoodcycling/ or email me on wheelygoodmail@gmail.com and let me know…
