Cycling / News
The world’s steepest climb on a bike is in Bristol
Where is the world’s steepest climb that you can ride up on a bike?
If the team at Global Cycling Network are to be believed, it’s right here in Bristol.
Despite Vale Street in Totterdown holding the distinction of being the steepest residential street in the UK, it’s not that.
Instead, it’s a piece of rock 100 metres-long known as ‘the slab’.
The question is: can it be ridden up on a bicycle?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCaiUh-T4U0
The slab is located at the bottom of Leigh Woods and is accessed through a small tunnel underneath the railway line adjacent to the Pill Path on the other side of the Avon Gorge from the Portway.
It is made from limestone, is known in geology as a bedding plane and sits at a remarkably consistent angle of 37 degrees.
You might know it from the words and phrases that have been painted on its surface over the years such as ‘go vegan’, ‘abolish the monarchy’ and ‘RIP Dan the van’.
The slab seen from Bridge Valley Road – photo: Martin Booth
“I’m feeling properly nervous actually,” says former pro road and mountain biker racer, Simon Richardson, before he attempts to ride up the slab in the GCN video.
“You look at that and you just think there’s no way on earth that you can ride up on a bike.”
“But it is possible,” the Bristol-based rider adds. “I just can’t see how!”
Find ‘the slab’ off the Pill Path opposite the Portway – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Cyclists and pedestrians rejoice: Bristol does know how to build segregated paths
- Three-quarters of people do not feel safe cycling in Bristol
- The egg rolling tradition on England’s steepest residential street
- ‘How can removing cycle lanes ever be justified?’
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