That’s a question we heard a lot last week in the lead up to the weekend, but for any rider based outside of the Calderdale Valley, it’s a totally valid one. For Calderdale residents, The Buttress is a well-known cobbled laneway that extends up the hill from the town centre of Hebden Bridge. It’s a very old piece of infrastructure that contains the steepest known climb in the area. How steep? Over the course of 300 metres of so, the Buttress has an average gradient of 25%, and that includes a flat bit. So basically it’s really freakin’ steep.
Once a year, Singletrack hosts an event called Up The Buttress, which sees competitors taking on a timed hill climb to make it to the top as fast as possible. It’s absolutely bonkers, but the riders and the spectators (mostly the spectators) love it. We were there over the weekend gone to host another round of riders silly enough to take on the Buttress, and we have both photos and results here for all ye to view!
We’re not sure Mark actually requires amplification, but somehow he brought along a megaphone to Up The Buttress.Hopefully some of these photos get across just how steep The Buttress really is. The first section in particular is brutally steep, and will leave your legs burning and your lungs gasping for oxygen. And we do this for fun??There were all sorts of bikes turning up for Up The Buttress. A fat bike is actually a really good option if the cobbles are wet and slippery, as you’ll struggle to find traction without some kind of low-pressure grippy rubber on hand. Fortunately the weather was perfect on the weekend, and the cobbles were bone dry. There were even some road bikes tackling the bumpy climb!At nearly four years old, Louis Spencer was the youngest and smallest rider to tackle Up The Buttess. Despite running out of low gears, Louis did what his Dad told him, and jumped off the bike to push up all the way to the top. What an absolute legend!Pain face! There’s likely some hallucinations going on here too.This guy brought help along. A custom tricycle-trailer attached to his bike provided two extra hands to help push the freak bike up the climb. Matching team kit too!Plenty of cheering and heckling going on from all the spectators lining the 300 metre long climb.Mark took his megaphone up the climb to let some riders know what he thought of their efforts.The finish in sight! Boy was this a sight for sore eyes. And legs. And lungs. And cardiovascular systems.The winners!The spoils of their victory was an actual piece of cobble from the Buttress itself.
If you raced Up The Buttress yourself or you had a mate of family member take on the hill climb, then you’ll be able to check out results in the table below. There’s also a full gallery of images available from Craig Shaw Photography, who was snapping away on the day to capture everyone’s pain faces and jeering from the crowd. We all had an absolute cracking day out at the event, and we hope we’ll see more people around next year to take on The Buttress!
Louis Spencer – legend indeed! What a fantastic performance 🙂
What no OutToLun.ch photos? ! ; ]