NEMESIS

This is what it was like to ride

“Do you know what ‘nemesis’ means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an ’orrible hill…” (toparaphrase Snatch character Bricktop). Never before have I let a climb get under my skin like this one – NEVER. For a period of 10 days last September it consumed my every waking hour.

Over the years I’ve had many a nemesis. Hardknott Pass beat me the first time but I went back the next day and took my revenge – as I did on Rosedale Chimney after snapping a chain at the first attempt. The mighty Angliru in Spain defeated me the first time and I had to wait four years to exact my retribution on its slopes. Even Abdon Burf, until recently Britain’s steepest hill (see box), couldn’t beat me. Then Bamford Clough arrived. This vile, near-vertical tarmac ramp appeared out of the blue to lay claim to being Britain’s