Button’s Bank – Simon Warren Cycling Climbs of the North East
- SW Rating: 3/10
- Wheelygood Rating: Easy
- Length: 0.69 miles
- Avg. gradient: 7%
- Category: 4
- Strava Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/16241264
- Route: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1024660
Starting in the village of Waterhouses, this pull winds its way through the trees pretty steadily to the top of the ridge. Once you’ve crossed the bridge which marks the bottom of the ascent, it ramps up steadily into its preferred position of about 11%. I know the video shows it hitting well over 20, but that’s a trick of the weather conditions on the day as it really doesn’t get that steep. It was pretty windy which was fooling my Edge’s barometric altimeter something rotten. I know I could elevation correct the data, but with the other problems of the sun glare and scraping chain noise I’ll go back and ride it again. [Any excuse! – Ed] Once it’s reached its preferred gradient, it pretty much stays there for the majority of the climb and you just have to work with it. Think of it as a good indicator of the ramps on the Passo Giau, the middle section of Ventoux from Bedoin or the top of the Galibier: if you can ride this, then these three are just a matter of stringing a few of them together1.
Unlike a lot of Simon Warren climbs, this one’s on a reasonably busy road so you’ll need to keep your wits about you as the traffic isn’t really expecting to find a cyclist riding up at an order or magnitude lower speed than they are. That said, so long as you keep to a proper position towards the left of the road and don’t wander around in the carriageway you should be fine.
There’s not a lot more to be said, really – turn the pedals knowing that it’s not going to get any worse and, as you bear around a right hander, the gradient will slacken a little. And, then, around the final left hander, it slackens completely and you’ll know you’re done. If you need a rest, though, please keep going to the small turning on the left where I stopped – it’ll keep you out of the way of the traffic. It’s not a bad spot for taking the odd photo on a nice day too to remind yourself of another successful ascent!
If there are any other road climbs you’d like me to take on, the more ridiculous the better, then please send me a message on my FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/wheelygoodcycling/ or email me on wheelygoodmail@gmail.com and let me know…
Um, yeah. ‘Just’. ↩
