Length (m) |
Average Gradient |
Men's CR |
Woman's CR |
Strava Segment |
710 |
14.3% |
Andy Nichols 2:17.5 (2019) |
Lou Bates 3:00.1 (25/09/16) |
|
Long Course |
Value |
Value |
Value |
Length (m) |
710 |
Average Gradient |
14.3% |
Men's CR |
Andy Nichols 2:17.5 (2019) |
Woman's CR |
Lou Bates 3:00.1 (25/09/16) |
Strava Segment |
An absolute classic. I love Pea Royd lane as a hill climb, most recently it hosted the National Championships in 2018, where I won my first and only national title, the Team Prize with Andy Nichols and Calum Brown from my former team B38 Underpin (now Lifting gear Products in Motion).
When I say classic, I mean it. It's 710m at 14.2%! It's hard hard! There's basically no respite and the way the roadside brutally curves around a steep , you can see the top all the way from the bottom. Pea Royd is the perfect theatre for a hill climb. The road carves it’s way up the hillside in such a perfect way that you can see the riders suffer all the way up with the pinnacle the turn with 300m to go.
There are two courses, the short and long, with the former used most recently for nationals and the open event. The long course adds an additional 400m and I imagine would make it significantly harder. The long course has hosted the national championship on 2 occasions in 2009 & 2014 but the traditional hill climb is on the short course.
When I say classic, I mean it. It's 710m at 14.2%! It's hard hard! There's basically no respite and the way the roadside brutally curves around a steep , you can see the top all the way from the bottom. Pea Royd is the perfect theatre for a hill climb. The road carves it’s way up the hillside in such a perfect way that you can see the riders suffer all the way up with the pinnacle the turn with 300m to go.
There are two courses, the short and long, with the former used most recently for nationals and the open event. The long course adds an additional 400m and I imagine would make it significantly harder. The long course has hosted the national championship on 2 occasions in 2009 & 2014 but the traditional hill climb is on the short course.
2024 Event
National championships is shortish in 2024, so I've tailored my calendar to suit. This was my first HC of the season so I was uncertain of form. This year's race was proof of that, my warm up was haphazard and there was some residual fatigue from my particularly hard training sessions during the week. So when I got started, I knew within 30 seconds today was not my day, I was just missing something.
I stuck with my strategy of stand until the bridge, sit over the bridge until it starts to ramp up and then keep it steady until the corner. Then BOOM, as soon as you hit the corner ripped it to the line. This was going fairly well, until I hit the corner, when I was unable to ramp it like I wanted. I think I eased too much over the bridge too, this was apparent when I finished in a time of 2:34.1 in third place. I was never going to beat Andy but Marcus could have been beatable if I was pinging. Still, it's good to wet the whistle and I'm back for another season.
I stuck with my strategy of stand until the bridge, sit over the bridge until it starts to ramp up and then keep it steady until the corner. Then BOOM, as soon as you hit the corner ripped it to the line. This was going fairly well, until I hit the corner, when I was unable to ramp it like I wanted. I think I eased too much over the bridge too, this was apparent when I finished in a time of 2:34.1 in third place. I was never going to beat Andy but Marcus could have been beatable if I was pinging. Still, it's good to wet the whistle and I'm back for another season.
2018 Event
Time heals all wounds, but I can still remember the pain of the summit of Pea Royd in 2018. It was one of my all time best hill climb performances. It went almost perfectly on the day. I’d got my form right, and paced it perfectly. I remember crawling to the line but it a nice, painful, controlled way.
I was one of the last to set off and got to see the winners cross as I was recovering. Calum Brown had the mother of all mares. He was the favourite to win that year, having set numerous course records on the build up. But on the day, excitement got the best out of him and he set out much too hard. At the halfway point he was something like 5 seconds up but when I saw him with 100m to go he was almost stationary. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone crawl to the line like that before. In the end, Andrew Feather, won by 2 seconds. But Calum's performance won me the team prize and my only national title.
Full results from 2018
I was one of the last to set off and got to see the winners cross as I was recovering. Calum Brown had the mother of all mares. He was the favourite to win that year, having set numerous course records on the build up. But on the day, excitement got the best out of him and he set out much too hard. At the halfway point he was something like 5 seconds up but when I saw him with 100m to go he was almost stationary. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone crawl to the line like that before. In the end, Andrew Feather, won by 2 seconds. But Calum's performance won me the team prize and my only national title.
Full results from 2018
How To Ride
I have a good, tried and tested strategy for Pea Royd Lane. This is assuming you are pinging and can leave it all on the road. My strategy is to start quick, and stand all the way to the start of the bridge where I sit. Try and recover over the bridge and start to stand to the corner. This is the key bit. You want to be pressing on but holding back. Then as soon as you hit the corner you want to sprint to the line. Give it everything you’ve got and hold on to the line.
My Efforts
Year |
Time |
Power (W) |
Placing |
2024 |
2:34.7 |
534 |
3rd |
2018 |
2:26.9 |
580 (Old PM) |
11th (Nationals) |
Previous Results
Year |
Men's 1st |
Men's 2nd |
Men's 3rd |
Women's 1st |
Women's 2nd |
Women's 3rd |
2018 |
Andrew Feather 2:18.8 |
Calum Brown 2:20.5 |
Adam Kenway 2:21.6 |
Fiona Burnie 3:05.8 |
Mary Wilkinson 3:06.4 |
Kate Mactear 3:15.0 |
2024 |
Andy Nichols 2:25.7 |
Marcus Cram 2:31.8 |
Jude Taylor 2:34.7 |
Abi Plowman 3:13.0 |
Rachel Galler 3:26.2 |
Lilja Raine 4:11.0 |
National Champ