I drove up to Arkengarthdale yesterday to have a go at the Stang hill climb. Despite being only 40 miles as the crow flies from Menston, my Garmin satnav managed to make the journey last nearly two hours. I seemed to go through every hamlet in North Yorkshire. It wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say I could have cycled 40 miles quicker myself. I suppose it was good to get a frustrating road journey out of the way before the big event. I came back on the A1 – the journey was further in distance, but quicker and much less stressful than doing 15mph behind a horse box. I’m considering selling my Garmin satnav, it too often sends me on very slow country lanes.
Arkengarthdale really is quite remote. I parked on the road in the village near the CB inn, very few cars went past – which is a good job because I imagine the road will be quite busy with parked cars for the national.
There happened to be a headwind yesterday. It was dry in the village, but once you had climbed the first leg, it was very misty and wet. I got a few photos of the climb, and think have worked out where start and finish are.
The start
The start is opposite Northern gate post of entrance to field situated on the East side of unclassified road Stang Lane, leading to Barnard Castle, approximately 100 meters North from Eskeleth Bridge, and just past the turning on the left of the road to Eskeleth.
The Finish
finish at Southern tip of lay-by identified by the County Durham and Welcome to Teesdale sign at the county boundary on the crest of the hill.
I did a trial run; it was quite hard into the headwind. I also used clip on tribars, though as soon as you get on the tribars you seem to need to change gears fairly quick. I’m not convinced how useful they were. Though I suppose aerodynamics must count for quite a bit on the downhill, especially with a headwind.
There is the odd stray sheep and very few cars. The road will be closed to traffic on the day so you will just need to keep your eyes peeled for wandering sheep.
Related
I’m inclined to say any hill climb where you could consider using aero bars should be discounted as not being a hill climb . . . .
Hi You may have your Garmin set to ‘shortest distance’ rather than fastest or optimised.
Good luck
Chris
yes, i did check this, unfortunately not!
Congrats on the win, did you record a GPS track of the hill climb? Cos youd be KOM lol