Ripponden Bank Hill Climb

Thanks to PJ for first two photos, you can see more at Ripponden Hill Climb PJ
The last race before the National Championships next week was a 1370 yards climb in the Pennine town of Ripponden. It’s very similar to Dover’s Hill, except slightly shorter and perhaps slightly steeper. Good preparation for next week.

That’s quite a climb

Good views of Ripponden to enjoy (at least on the way down)

Ripponden, near Halifax is the kind of place where there seems to be a potential hill climb on every road. It was a beautiful but cold day, though it proved an early start for me – left Oxford at 6.15

A car was parked on the start line, so the start was moved forward, saving a couple of meters as the start.

The start of the hill looks really steep from the car park by the church. In practise it is probably about 15%. Once you get around the bend, the gradient slightly levels off for the second half, but, there seems another steep bit by the pub on the left. It would be a good hill for fixed as I hardly changed except for near top where I got tired.

It was cold (3 degrees by car thermometer), there was perhaps a slight headwind. I finished 1st in a time of 3.38. 2nd place, was PJ in 4.02. The day before PJ had finished 18 secs behind Mike Cuming in another hill climb – Holme Valley Wheelers.

Thanks to Paul Brierley and Huddersfield R.C. for putting on race.