Training hills - Hendon, Mill Hill, Barnet

Let's be honest, North London is hardly endowed with fearsome climbs. Even nearby Herts only throws up the occasional rise longer than 2 or 3 km.
This means when it comes to climbing, I often go for hill repeats, which are a great way of learning how your body copes with constant climbing, whilst allowing for a little bit of recovery after each ascent.

I thought I would share some images of the few little hills that I regularly train on when I don't want to have to travel too far to get some gradient in my legs. I will try and put up some better images another time, but unfortunately this evening I was pushed for light, as autumn brings the sunset far too early.

We start in Hendon, with Greyhound Hill:

From the bottom of Greyhound hill as it starts to gently climb

Greyhound hill is probably about 550m in length, so short but sweet. It starts very gently, rolling uphill at about 2% or 3% for 300m, then it starts to curve upwards for the last couple of hundred metres, rising through sections of 4-6%, before it reaches its steepest slope right at the top, probably about 8-10% at the very maximum around the bend, before flattening out by the Greyhound pub.

About 10 minutes riding away we get to Bittacy Hill, in Mill Hill East:

Bittacy Hill is probably about a kilometre in length, with a similar anatomy to Greyhound hill. It starts gently rising from Mill Hill East station. This photo is taken from just past the traffic island where it ramps up to about 3-4%, which continues for a few hundred metres.





Just like Greyhound Hill, the steepest part of Bittacy Hill is right at the top, where it probably ramps up to 10-12%. It's always fun to look back at the top and watch the double decker buses almost come to a standstill as they struggle up. Here we are at the top of the steepest part, looking back down. The road carries on rising very gently as false flat before panning out into the beautifully flat Ridgeway, all the way to our next hill.




The next little rise is Highwood Hill, somewhere inbetween Mill Hill, Totteridge and Barnet, which rises up towards another pub (see a theme developing here?) the Rising Sun:

Highwood Hill, typically busy with school parents

Highwood Hill is very short and sweet, no longer than 400m and probably no steeper than 10-12% at its very very steepest, again right at the top. However, this photo is very representative of Highwood Hill on a typical day. Busy! I always have to navigate my way through a traffic jam on my way up, which often involves coming to a standstill behind one lousy driver or another. Never used for hill repeats but often provides a little sting in the legs as I try and sprint up at the end of a long ride.

From Highwood Hill, I turn right, then left along Hendon Wood lane, at the end of which is another 700-800m rise:

Hendon Wood Lane is an enjoyable little climb which takes you up to Arkley. It is never really that steep, probably 6-8% at most, and it is really nice to sprint to the top in the hope that there is a green light and you can take a fast sweeping 90 degree right hander onto the fast and flat Barnet Road. Again though, I rarely use Hendon Wood Lane for hill repeats, it isn't really steep enough. It is far far more enjoyable going the other way, where its shallow bends and consistent gradient make for a very short but exhilarating descent towards a very sharp bend.

By far my favourite little climb in the area is Milespit Hill. It looks about 600-800m long on the map but I have clocked it at exactly 1km. It starts at Westminster Cemetery, with its steepest ramp right at the beginning, a section of about 200-300m at what must be 7-8%, seen below:

The first ramp up tree-lined Milespit Hill

At the top of this first ramp is a false summit, as the gradient drops to around 4% for 100m or so, before then ramping up again to about 6% through a shallow S bend, right up to a beautiful little green and a pond at the top of the hill.

The leafy road climbs through an S bend

Then summits at a pond by a little church

Though again, not particularly long, steep or hard, I really liked this road and used it as my hill of choice when I was training for the alps. It is only about 10mins riding from my house, yet it feels like it is right out in the country. On a beautiful summer's day, it even has an almost alpine feel as it is lined with trees and log fencing and the road is so immaculate and traffic free that it could be French! In any case, 20 times up here leaves you feeling pretty exhausted and there's no pub at the top!

When I'm looking for a really tough climb I head over to Highgate for Swains Lane, which needs no introduction as it recently made Simon Warren's immensely popular '100 Greatest Cycling Climbs', and is a proper climb in the middle of the city, hitting ramps of 15%. Here's a link to the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Greatest-Cycling-Climbs-Cyclists/dp/0711231206