March 2018| 35
We went down to Dartmoor to explore some of these fearsome ascents and – perhaps foolishly
– tried to ride four of them in one day, with 160km of ‘rolling’ terrain in between.
Rundlestone – 8.7km at 4%
Starting in Th urlestone on the south coast of Devon, the fi rst and last 30km of our ride did not take place
on Dartmoor, but rather in the undulating, narrow lanes that head inland from the seaside. Th e eff ect of this
is that by the time we reached the fi rst of the ‘climbs’ we had already notched about 1,000m of elevation.
Rundlestone is a rare thing in the UK – a climb that takes more than twenty minutes to get to the top. To
describe it as an alpine ascent would be going a bit far, but on an island where mountains are in very short
supply, this sort of climb is rare and hugely enjoyable. Th e character of the climb is prett y typical of Dartmoor,
with wild landscapes on either side, plenty of heather and the odd catt le grid to sap and speed you might
have been carrying
.
Th e other thing about Rundlestone is it contains within its 8.7 kilometres a good bit of descending or fl at
riding – allowing you to suck back some air and recover a litt le bit. Th is also means that while the average
gradient is 4%, virtually all of the uphill riding is well in excess of this.
Th ere’s enough of a fl att ening off at the summit that you should be able to dig out a litt le bit of a sprint to the
fi nish. And then there’s the stunning view across the Moor as a fi nal reward.
Dartmeet – 1.1km at 11%
Catt le grids feature again in the next climb on the route – this time placed cruelly at the bott om of the
incredibly steep Dartmeet. You can try to carry as much speed as you like on the descent towards the foot
of the climb, but as soon as you pass over that horrible metal grid then you’re basically doomed to a long,
slow slog all the way to the top.
Dartmeet is probably just as scenic as the other hills around this part of the world, but we must confess to
struggling too much with gett ing down into the right gear to take much of it in. Pro tip; get into the small
chainring well before you hit the climb, as as soon as you reach the lower slopes there’ll be too much strain
on your chain to even think of switching down.
At just 1.1 kilometres, on paper this climb shouldn’t take too long, and yet we managed to make it last 6
and 7 minutes respectively. Not fun.
Widecombe – 1.3km at 12%
Just what you want aft er the leg-sapping, back-breaking toughness of Dartmeet – a virtual carbon copy of
the same climb, only a litt le bit longer and steeper.
Th is punishing road out of Widecombe-on-the-Moor was used as the course for the National Hill Climb
Championships in 1990, when a certa