I got the front wheel back on my bike yesterday and brought the tyres back up to pressure so was able to make my first local ride – down to church for the morning and then into town for a library visit before heading home.
Towards the end of that journey is Thorpe Hill – pretty steep although I wondered if it was any steeper than Barracks Lane by Tyndale School, which used to be on my trip home in Oxford.
I did make it up but, combined with the wind and freezing drizzle, it felt like pretty hard work. However, it is fair to note that it’s over three months since I was regularly doing my cycle commute and I’ve not been on the bike much since then. Give me a few weeks and I probably won’t give Thorpe hill much thought.
BTW, I did a quick check on Google maps – the old hill was a 66′ rise over 0.2 mile and the new one is 52′ over 0.1 mile. However, that’s on the fuzzy side, so I got more accurate lengths using the measurement tool, giving 0.05 (1 in 20) for Oxford and 0.08 (nearer 1 in 10)… so I won’t worry if it takes a bit longer to master it.