Brompton in the hills

[rogerzilla]

First, an easy (?) run up to Burnhope Reservoir.  This is at the south-west end of the dam wall.  The little ramp in front is about 1:4, whatever the OS map says (it'll be averaged over the whole hill, not just the bit you can see).  426m ASL.



Now for the big one - an assault on the Langdon Beck road from St John's Chapel, armed only with a silly folding bike and a 45" gear.  This is vaguely ominous, and it's at the bottom.  There's a 30mph headwind, which means I have to pedal even on the little downhill bits - are are they just false flats?





It's a fairly easy drag up to the cattle grid, and I didn't have to stop for a breather.  However, this is only a smidgen of the way up.



Now it gets hard.  I needed about three stops to calm my heart rate before getting this far:



An enlargement shows how long this climb really is:



Audax Australia bottle courtesy of VeloYellow and SandyV.



Finally, after four more stops and a brief period when I was riding a unicycle (couldn't keep the front wheel down), the summit, 627m ASL.  The gradient sign behind says 17%, although at some points it's much steeper and at others it's flat or (maybe) slightly downhill.



You can keep your Yad Moss 

The wind was so strong that I was able to pedal my 80" top gear all the way down the other side into Teesdale.

[Deano]

I love the roads between Weardale and Teesdale.  The roads to the north of Weardale are probably steeper, but less rewarding, since you don't have the wide bowl of the Tees valley to drop back into.   The views across Teesdale to the tops of the Yorkshire Dales make the effort worthwhile.  Actually, I overtook a carful of old dears last year down to Langdon Beck, despite the hailstorm which made the road surface a tad slippy.

If you'd carried on over the road from Ireshopeburn, you would have gone over Coldberry End, which is reputedly the highest through road in England.  I have only been over it once, which was about 15 years ago and on a mountain bike, so it would be quite a challenge on a Brompton...

[rogerzilla]

Our cottage is at Newhouse, and if you carry on up that road it eventually goes to Rookhope, but I lost the will to live after cycling 2/3 of the way up once in a hailstorm.

[Frenchie]

Not quite a brompton but folders are great holidaying machines indeed... Last year in the Lake District, stopping at Wrynose pass:

[border-rider]

Brompton in the hills, you say ?

Is it time for this one again ?

[rogerzilla]

The thing about folders is that they can be packed into virtually any car 

[epa611]

The thing about folders is that they can be packed into virtually any car 

My B goes into the boot of my Smart ForTwo

[rogerzilla]

Mine goes behind the passenger seat of the MX-5.  Just.

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

Mine goes in the boot of a MX-5 mk 2.5.  Oddly, no matter how much I tried I couldn't get the older L5 in at all. The Moulton will fit too (but not at the same time as the Brompton, and half of it has to sit on the passenger seat), plenty of room for odds and ends in both cases.

[mike]

yup, dahon goes into the Z4* too.





*sorry

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

Where's the sticking-out-tounge emoticon when you want it?   

[MercuryKev]

Another couple of Brompton in the hills shots - the road up the side of Hallin Fell at Ullswater in the Lakes:

[Tewdric]

My B goes into the boot of my Smart ForTwo

As a proof-of-concept, I have found that my new Brommie bungies nicely onto the rear of my FJR1300.