Sunday, 7 February 2016

A bit of a delay

Tonight was supposed to be the first report on the hills I have climbed. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite feeling up to it, so I have another week to build up those nerves.

And nerves they are. I had a bit of a "restless night" after foolishly looking up Blake Street on Google Maps. It looks unbelievably steep, and much longer than I had imagined. I suspect that lack of sleep may not have helped me feel right for this morning!!
Do you see what I mean?! Note those railings on the left to help people walking up!!


Anyway, since there will be a bit of a wait for any actual hill action - I thought you might like a map. My in-laws will certainly enjoy it; the whole family loves a good map. This one is of the hills that I plan to climb (they are listed on the right in the order of difficulty as suggested by my spreadsheet), and it is a great map in that it makes the whole planning process a bit easier.

What the map makes clear is that the hills appear to be arranged in groups:
   - Group 1 is around Rivelin Valley and includes Hagg Hill
   - Group 2 is Walkley (including Blake Street)
   - Group 3 is NE of the city and includes Jenkin Road
   - Group 4 is Broomhill area, including the second hardest hill on my calculations, Highcliffe Road
   - Group 5 is the Heeley area with Myrtle Road as the feature road
   - Group 6 is Woodseats/Bradway and is my local area - this also includes Cobnar Road which has the highest maximum gradient on the list at 30%.


Since I cannot imagine being able to do all of these in one trip, but hope that I can manage a few each time, this map has pretty much set my initial plan. Six groups, six weekends.

The plan is fluid, as I have no idea if I can get up more than one of these in any single trip. Six would be great, but if it takes 26 weekends, then so be it!

I have also decided on how I will measure and assess the climbs.
  • Toughest: I have bought a Heart Rate Monitor, and will record the average heart rate for each climb. The hill with the highest average will be the hardest hill to climb.
  • Steepest: I will also record the average speed, and the hill with the slowest average speed will be the steepest.

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