I log all my rides on Strava, and in an attempt to get accuracy for each climb, I started Strava at the bottom and then stopped it again at the top. This gives pretty accurate readings for distance and elevation - but the average speed can be slightly misleading as it takes me a few seconds to put the phone away and then get up from zero to a comfortable climbing speed for that particular hill. For shorter climbs, this can have a disproportionate effect on the average speed. Still, I plan to use all three measures plus average heart rate as my way of attempting to determine which of Sheffield's many steep climbs is the hardest. In addition, I will also add in how they felt to me.
Sheffield Hill #01
First up is one that was technically not even on the list. Smithy Wood Road was the hill I was aiming for, but when I got there I realised the actual road is split into two, which basically goes up one side of a climb then changes name to go down the other side - Smithy Wood Road is one side, and Aukley Road the other. Aukley Road is clearly the steeper of the two (although shorter), so that is the one I recorded first. This is the Strava summary screen:
As you can see, it was pretty short at 110m, but with 15m of elevation gain that gave it a gradient of 13.6%. So, tough but easy enough to cope with for 34 seconds. My average speed was 11.7km/h.
I should at this point mention that in the interest of consistency I had decided that every climb would be done at the highest assistance level (since I figure I would need it at some point, so needed to use it for all of them even if I felt it wasn't necessary), and all would be done sat firmly in the saddle - so no big bursts of speed from standing on the pedals.
Sheffield Hills #02
From Aukley Road, there was a slow climb up to Woodseats and on to Scarsdale Road. I had a quick rest here as I needed to time setting up Strava and getting going so I wouldn't sit at the traffic lights.
Scarsdale Road is one I have cycled up before on a regular bike, and barely made it to the top. However, the new e-Bike made mincemeat of it!
One of the benefits of Strava is that you get some really nice analysis charts. Did I mention I am accountant? Accountants like charts!! This is the elevation chart for Scarsdale Road:
The summary details are that Scarsdale Road was 350m long (I only went to the top of the steepest part), and with the elevation shown above of 32m that meant the gradient was 9.1%. So, quite a bit less steep than Aukley Road. However, being three times longer definitely made it feel harder overall. I think the length of the climb definitely has a disproportionate impact on how difficult it is. My average speed was only a little higher at 12.8km/h.
Sheffield Hill #03
Next up was another hill I have climbed on my regular bike - and was actually the first sense I got of just what a difference an e-Bike can make. My wife and I went up it on her test ride for her bike. That is the first time she rode a bike in about 10 years. Obviously, she got up it much quicker than me (though I did manage to keep within a hundred metres of her), but the key difference was that at the top I was breathing like I was in the middle of a serious asthma attack, and she was only slightly out of breath and chatting happily about how easy that felt!
The hill is Myrtle Road, just off Queens Road near the centre of Sheffield. It is both long and steep - definitely felt like more of a test. It seems to keep getting steeper as you go up, which I think is shown pretty clearly by the speed chart on Strava.
The speed was similar to the first two at 12.3 km/h, but I clearly slowed down as I went up until getting to the very top. The climb was 590m long, with a 61m elevation, or 10.3% gradient.
Sheffield Hill #04
Next up is Kent Road, which is somewhere near Heeley. It was difficult to find, as it is tucked away in a warren of back roads, but when I got to it I definitely knew that this was the one I was looking for! Very steep indeed, and again steeper at the top - if you look at the picture below you can see that they have put in hand-rails for pedestrians to help them near the top; a sure sign of really steep hills!
Only 170m long (thankfully!) and a gradient of 14.1% after a 24m gain, so the steepest hill so far.
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