Never having been along that road, I have had a look on Google streetview. Compared to some examples of the steep-hill-with-a-sharp-bend-at-the-bottom phenomenon that I have ridden, it looks fairly innocuous; which I suppose may be part of the problem. With that long, fairly straight descent from the east, Noel would be among a minority of cyclists if he was going at less than 40mph. And the road is quite wide . . . until you get to that bridge at the bottom.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
Apparently the bridge here: https://www.google.com/search?q=53.1...hrome&ie=UTF-8
is tricky as it's
a)at the bottom of a long hill and
b)the exit bend from the bridge is deceptively sharper than the entry bend.
We know the people who live at the house just on the corner. They periodically have to pull cyclists with broken collar bones out of the field only to be bemused that the riders are more concerned by the state of the bikes post-impact with the dry stone wall.
When I did the White Rose Classic a few years ago there was also a large pot hole just in front of the bridge - to add to the fun. The organisers had stationed a man there waving a big red flag. This was 2018 I think but I presume it has been repaired since then as I didn't notice it in the car when I passed that way last September.
I think there are also barriers on the bridge these days to stop cyclists plunging 30 feet over the edge. I've done that descent a number of times and never felt that troubled. But saying that. I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat on steepish downhills generally so don't gather enough speed for it to be an issue.
Last edited by Muddy Retriever; 24-03-2021 at 03:30 PM.
I once watched le Tour high up on the Tourmalet (it was snowing!) and then I descended back to St Luz when the road was still closed to traffic allowing hundreds of cyclists to use the full width of the road on the sweeping bends to go berserk. I must not have got my aerotuck quite right because riders were looking at me as they passed and I am sure they were thinking "why is he going so slow?"
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
I did a road ride today on the gravel bike, 52k and 1000m, same route as 10 days ago but quicker.
Strava gave me 18 achievements for this, I was quite happy with the single achievement of a better overall speed.
Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.
I know that one well Noel and as you say tricky. Sometimes can be made trickier by a liberal sprinkling of gravel after heavy rain, which nearly caused my downfall on one of my earliest visits.
And don't start me on the road surface on that little rise under the trees by Manor Farm which ruins what little momentum one has left after slowing for the bridge!
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
Fitted new front pads on disc brake this morning, as they were binding I decided to ride to the top and come back down to wear the brakes in. 17k and 400m, surprising how much harder it is riding uphill with the brakes on!
It didn't work.
Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.