Hedley Hill – Simon Warren Cycling Climbs of the North East

• SW Rating: 6/10
• Wheelygood Rating: Medium
• Length: 1.13 miles
• Avg. gradient: 7%
• Strava Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/17847688
• Route: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/993202

Also, affectionately, known as MH11 to those who race, this was the scene of the 2017 British National Hill Climb Championships. It’s also the annual Club hillclimb location for the GS Metro club. It’s got pedigree, this one.

It begins innocently enough, like many of these climbs do. You start winding your way ‘along’, before beginning with the serious ‘up’.

You can get yourself up the first part without really noticing it, before hitting the first major obstacle which is the ramp that’s about twice as long as you think it is. It’s a bit of an illusion created by the shape of the land around it – essentially, you can only see the bottom section of the ramp as you approach and, to add to the entertainment, it does look like it flattens off. Thing is, it gets steeper again almost immediately afterwards.

Hairpin next and, whilst it’s a nice period of respite on the climb, please be careful if you’re descending. There’s an amount of farm traffic uses this road and it’s almost invariably got mud of some flavour on it which tends to render the surface greasy.

Once around the hairpin on the way up and your next task is a straight ramp, which is OK, apart from having to play ‘dodge the cowpat’ (and, sometimes, horsepat) as you go. I’m not sure it would enhance your gut flora to become too acquainted with it, that’s for sure.

There’s then a short respite before the Main Event – make the most of it, because it ramps up pretty quickly. There’s a short introduction, then the steepest corner on the whole climb followed by a 75m of constant 10% drag to pull up. Imagine you’re in the National and that there are hordes of rampant lycra wearing men on your tail screaming at you to go faster. Well, it worked for me…

Around the left hander and … you’re almost done. This is where you could tell on Nationals day who’d paced things well and who … hadn’t. Those going well put the hammer well and truly down at this point, whereas those struggling just looked like they wanted to curl up and expire right there and then. In our case, we’ll take it steady along the flat, before applying a little more pressure up to the town signs where you can sit up, relax and know you’ve done a Good Job!

Hedley on the Hill - Simon Warren Cycling Climbs of the North East