Snow status

Some of the hills we've planned to cover are currently fenced off and only for use by skiers, snowboarders and sledgers.

This is making the Sunday event somewhat doubtful. The big concern is not just snow, it's ice. The Montpelier roads usually become safe quite quickly, as long as you only travel in the two grooves cut by cars. Nugent and Nine-tree hill ice up and as they don't get much sunlight, stay icy. the others, well, it varies.

We will take a look at the route and the forecast and make a decision on Thursday, announce widely. If its postponed, it will be until later on in the year, maybe make a big event of it.

Routeplan

This is the draft route. Kingsdown and Cliftonwood are the hard bits; the rest are just glue

View The Bastard Hills of North Bristol in a larger map

Cotham Vale: a secret little bastard hill

Hiding in Cotham is this short but steep bit of gradient, one with lovely views over Redland.

As a downhill, when it isn't fenced off after a snowfall, the primary problem is the sharp corner at the end. You cannot take the turn with speed as there may be something coming in the other direction.

It has fairly little traffic though, not even school-run parents, just people hoping for somewhere to park. As these cars are moving slowly or waiting for someone else to pull out, they are slow moving: no sprints to get to the school before 8:45 here!

As an uphill, well, it's a bastard. The gradient is between 20% and 25%, no letup. But short, wonderfully short. After Ninetree and Marlborough Hills, this one will be over before you've even noticed that you are suffering. That is, assuming your legs are working after the St Andrews and Kingsdown bits of the ride.

Bastard Hills of North Bristol Entry Forms

Entry forms for the hill ride are now up online. It's free for Bristol Cycling Campaign members, £1 otherwise. If you join the BCyC in January, we will subtract £1 from the membership fee.

1. Here is the form: please print and fill in in advance, if you can, as it will save on paperwork on the day.
2. If you aren't a member, bring a pound, preferably exact change. Money will go to the cycling campaign to support our campaign to make Bristol a better place to cycle.
   
3. The ride leaves at 10:30 am sharp. Get there early if you need to fill in forms, pay, etc. Then do some stretching before the tour of Montpelier opens up the day.
   
4. We also plan to hit a cafe in the city centre. Bring some spare change for that too.
   
5. And we finish by the Water Tower Cafe on the Downs: if you want to finish off with some food or drink there, bring some more money. Otherwise, you are free to go home -it should be a downhill for nearly everyone.
   

Having checked out the whole route, it's steep. This is not a speed event, it's a "will my inner quad muscles survive" event. Anyone who has ever toured Cornwall or North Devon will know the feeling.

Ten days to go: not too late to get some training in by picking a hill in Cliftonwood or Kingsdown and doing it 6-8 times in a row!

See you on the Sunday!

Montague and Marlborough Hills

Before the infamous Dove Street redevelopment, Montague Hill would have carried on all the way to the top of Kingsdown -today there is a bit of it at both ends. Just a bit though.

Here at the bottom, we can go up it and take the first left, which brings us to the base of Marlborough Hill

This is probably the toughest climb in the area. A One in Four gradient, sustained for at least forty metres of up. It's one way, but on weekdays cars ignoring the no-entry signs are still a bit of an issue. On a Sunday it should be quiet, with no sound but the suffering of cyclists. There will be suffering, that we know.

Where to go at the top? A left turn leads to Horfield Road, which drops you down to the bottom of -wait for it- St Michael's Hill.

Ninetree Hill

This is Ninetree Hill, or Nine-Tree Hill, depending on your spelling. Steep, sustained. And today, covered in ice.

In these conditions, walking holding on to the bike is the only tactic that makes sense. We really hope that it is not so icy on January 10, as this will be one of the uphills: all the way from the bottom to the top.

It's not as long as you think, only about 20-25 metres of uphill. It can be ridden non-stop by most people. What is nice about it as an uphill is the complete lack of passing cars, especially on the final section. With only a bike exit at the top, nobody is going to overtake you then pull straight in.

Check it out on a weekday morning: it's busy with pedestrians as well a cyclists, especially schoolkids walking up to Cotham School.

For our ride: up to the top then, after a bit of flat, down Dove Street to Dighton Street. Leading to another uphill. A worse one

Technical Kingsdown

These hills aren't going to be part of our ride, as in the great 1960s redevelopment of the city, they took away the bottom half and put some fences in.

Somerset street is still there, and quite nice in the ice, as the cobbles drain well; only the gaps between them are icy.

Spring Hill, this hill calls out to the mountain bikers. Once you get past the fencing and Dove Street, there is a very steep and long flight of steps down to Kings Square. Were someone to organise an official MTB Downhill Event in the city, this would be the place. Space at the side to watch, a good finish location, and a lot of altitude to be lost, by turning it into motion.

The fabled Mountain Biker Boxing Day "Steps of Bristol" ride may have done this hill; we lack the specifics. It is nice to think they did.