We have a plan, improve our climbing. Simple. Sandy and I had agreed that we needed to do some serious work on our climbing ability. We both need different things, I’m more of a steady slope climber whereas Sandy likes the short sharp climbs. Don’t get me wrong, neither of us are climbers. I for one carry way too much timber to worry Messrs Froome and Quintana.

It is with this in mind that Sandy came up with an ingenious challenge. We search Strava for local climbs that cover two criteria

• It’s longer than two miles
• It averages more than 4% gradient

First one to reach 25 climbs wins the challenge.

I suggested doing Mennock pass again, but realised that although it is 7.1 miles long, it only averages 3%, but I suggested it anyway. Although it would not count toward the challenge, it would at least be a good test to get us going. I mentioned, in passing, that we could do the Radar Station climb if we were feeling up to it as it comes directly after the Mennock pass climb.

I made one fatal mistake, I mentioned on twitter that I would be heading over the Mennock pass. It doesn’t take much for WhiteleeWarrior to make the most of a situation and he didn’t miss this one. ‘You have to do the radar station this time’ he said. In fact he went further and tweeted a challenge to all his followers to ensure I ventured up to the ‘big golf ball’.

So Saturday duly arrived and as I was eating breakfast I got the ill-fated text message from Sandy. Without going into detail, the crux of the text was that he was felling less than 100%. A climb is difficult at the best of times, but when you’re unwell sometimes it’s best just to pull out and save yourself for another day. I told Sandy this and we agreed that he should take the day off. This left me with a decision to make, should I stay local and do some training on lesser hills, or take up WhiteleeWarrior’s challenge. I decided that since I had already made plans to do Mennock pass then I might as well go get it done. The weather looked like it was going to be kind to me anyway, so I packed the car and set off for Sanquhar.

Mennock pass, in itself, is a good climb, albeit the climbing is mostly packed into the second half of the hill. I managed up with no real issues, feeling better than I had for a few weeks. As I reached Wanlockhead, I noticed the clouds rolling in and some spots of rain beginning to form on my sunglasses. ‘Ah well, I’m here now’ I thought. So I lifted my bike over the small gate and set off up to the Radar Station. Easy enough, I thought, as the start of the climb seemed fairly sedate in gradient. I quickly realised that this was just to suck you into a false sense of security. It’s a twisting ascent with a short downhill section early in the climb, but this is there simply to mock you. As soon as you pass this, the gradient rises with each corner until for the last 3/4 of a mile it settles at a pretty constant gradient of 12%.

I was hurting now, but on I went. My mind was telling me I’d be quicker walking and looking at my stats afterwards that may well have been true, but I kept going. Speed was slow, cadence slower, but I wasn’t going to give in. I was now telling myself that the next corner was the last, just a few more pedal strokes, it wasn’t, there was another section of tarmac and more of the same gradient. Will this ever end?

Eventually, after what seemed like hours, I was there. The big golf ball was right in front of me. The rain had stopped and the sun came out. My reward was some great views and some sore legs.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, except for dodging what seemed like an endless amount of sheep. 3 Hours almost to the minute and I was back at the car. Exhausted. Radar Love it wasn’t but I can look back with a great sense of achievement.