Cowlishaw Road – Simon Warren Cycling Climbs of the North West
- S/W Rating: 6/10
- Weelygood Rating: Easy
- Length: 0.74 miles
- Avg. gradient: 8%
- Category: 4
- Strava Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/19639248
This was the first climb I’d every tried in close to Manchester and, let me say up front, it was worth the trip. Any climb where there’s a climb to actually get to the bottom of it is automatically worthy of attention!
You start off along a pretty flat section of road. Yes, it drags up a little bit, but it’s nothing really to speak of, really, at least not in comparison to the main event, which you can see over the hedge from some distance away. And, yes, it certainly looks the part!
Winding around the edge of the fields the road slowly begins to ramp up … and up. And, then, it really kicks and, without a lot of warning, you’re into that 20% section. To add to the fun, the road surface is covered in high grip, which is great if you’re travelling downhill, but less for us climbers: it has quite a rough texture and, as such, tends to rob you of that rolling momentum which adds that little extra piquancy. Now that your speed has been cut down, it’s time to work for every extra inch of forward motion as you battle both the incline and the recalcitrant surface. There are no short cuts with this one – the road is busy enough that tacking across the carriageway is a bad idea so you’ll need to keep your concentration up, and your steering pinned so that you can make your way up and around the right hander which marks the end of the really steep section.
Don’t think that you’re done, however. Yes, the road flattens considerably, but you’re still going uphill and there’s another ramp to come so make the most of this opportunity to catch your breath and shake your bits out before settling down to the final push.
Rounding the curve to the left, the road begins to ramp again. Not so much as before, but enough that you’ll really know about it. At least there’s just tarmac under your wheels this time! The happy news is that if you’ve made it this far then the odds are excellent that you’ll make it to the summit – after all, you’re so close now!
Another 100m further on and you can see the top, so just keep cranking out the watts until your front wheel stops being higher than the back one! And, thence, to the small gateway entrance on the left which you, like me, can use to stop and take a look around you. The vista opens up considerably at this point and, on a clear day, you get some fantastic views across the landscape. It’s well worth the trip up here just for this, especially if you’ve earned them by riding to the top!
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…
