Just come down this in the car and it's proper steep. Who's climbed it on a bike then? PS It won't be me that's for sure 😉
Do you mean just east of Hebden?
If so, err, go take a look at the climb out of Kettlewell to the east!
That's it.
dibbles bridge aint steep really. i have ridden it a few times. once at the end of a 200km audax.
park rash out of kettlewell in in another league. walked up the steepest bit 4 times iirc.
More worried about descending it safely (from the east) than climbing out. Dangerous bit of road with high consequences if you misjudge your braking.
It’s a good solid climb that, but yeah a few steeper nearby. The full ascent from Hebden to Greenhow is glorious with a tailwind. It’s a notoriously dangerous descent, chap died last year when his disc brakes failed and there have been 2 fatal coach crashes there too, both involving brake failure.
I found one report of a coach crash that killed 33 people back in 1975, certainly no margin for error if you lose brakes on the way down!
It's not steep, it's just a fast B road traffic speeds along, and can be dodgy going downhill in the Grassington direction, being dead straight with good lines of sight, so bikes go easy over 40 mph if the usual westerly isn't blowing too hard. Trouble is that there's a bend at the bottom of the fast bit for the actual bridge where I've heard of two cyclists being killed after going over the edge. There's a mesh barrier there now as a result.
Just googled (goulish as it is most locals will know a couple of associated tales) and it looks like quite a few folks have come to grief there on bikes https://www.google.com/search?q=cyclist+dibble%27s+bridge&rlz=1C1GCEA_en&oq=cyclist+dibble%27s+bridge&aqs=chrome..69i57.7824j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
partly reflects just how many bikes there are on that road I guess
We are up here for a few days so not locals and it just struck me what a hazardous section of road it seemed. Obviously if the appropriate care is taken it's not a problem but since when do we all do that 100% of the time?
Back home I finish my local mtb ride with a 40mph doubletrack descent which is brilliant but the potential for injury if falling onto the hard flinty surface isn't lost on me when I get to the bottom. Doesn't stop me pedalling like mad at the top though.
I was heading towards Stump Cross caverns over the bridge and some poor guy slammed into the mesh fence right in front of me coming the over way. Not a nice sight, fortunately he was part of Fat lad at the back sportive and there was lots of people around. I had to climb up to the top of the hill to get phone signal. Air ambulance job but I believe he was ok.
