Nugent Hill -the uphill

Good cycling route, as it has little through traffic, especially now that they added a physical build-out to back up the no-entry sign.

The road was closed with the ice; looks OK now.

For the Bastard Hills of North Bristol ride, the plan is to go partway up then cut left, descending down to the start of Ninetree hill. The alternative option would be up to the top, turn right to get to Cotham Brow, then descend Cotham Brow a bit before looping back towards 9-tree. That would add more suffering, but it would also add a right turn onto Cotham Brow, then another one off it.

We're trying to avoid both right turns -they make it trickier to manage a group of cyclists- and the main roads. The goal here is to have fun exploring the hills of Bristol, and it's less fun when you have a bus or a minicab driving six inches behind you getting impatient with the group. Here, by skimping on a bit of Nugent Hill, we avoid lots of traffic for only a bit of lost climbing. And that we will catch up on elsewhere.

St Andrews Road Summit

Coming up from Richmond Road, this is surprisingly hard work.

We plan to do that, then loop round and descend St Andrews Road, that being the end of the Montpelier hill section. There are a few more that could be done, but you have to pace yourself for what is to come

View from the top

This isn't on the itinerary for the Bastard Hills Ride, but it was checked out anyway for completeness.

What a lovely view on a winter afternoon. To appreciate it properly: climb up from the harbour first.

Granby Hill

Probably do this one as a downhill, walk over the footbridge to the far side of the A4 portway, en route to Bridge Valley Road

Steep. Visibility OK until this junction here. Cars pulling in from the Portway have to be moving fairly fast or something hits them from behind; they don't always expect cars to be coming down the hill as they turn in.

Clifton Vale

Committing Corner at the top, used to be pretty hairy at night before bike lights got decent.

Now the lighting has got better, but there are cars on both sides of the road, so it's trickier to get past things coming in the other direction.

Plan: downhill

Its good for the constitution

Coming up from the left: Constitution Hill: 1 in 6 and long.

the right hand fork: Clifton Wood Road brings you out of Clifton Wood, on something steeper.

Which are the options here?

1) Constution Hill

2) Clifton Wood Road

3) Both?

To find out, meet at Picton Square Montpelier, 10:30 am, January 10, 2010.

St Michael's Hill - it's a bit of a bastard

Here is one of the climbs in the planned Bastard Hills of North Bristol event: St Michael's Hill.

Rest assured, it's a bastard.

If you haven't done it yet, get out and do it five or six times in a row. Turn round where it levels, off, by the zebra crossing, and descend.

It's a good descent too. This is the road someone was skiing down in February.

The current plan is to do it both directions, somehow.