Generally, the steeper the gradient the more it's going to hurt to get up it. That pain, in the case of "the kicker" for example, can be mercifully short-lived or it can just go on & on seemingly forever, like "the long drag". Sometimes "the long drag" doesn't need to be that steep to earn its' reputation as being awful, and my primary example demonstrates this phenomenon perfectly. The 'king' of the local "long drag" climbs has to be Cragg Vale. Now I know what you're thinking - 3.2% average, that doesn't sound daunting at all! And you'd be right, apart from when you take the weather into consideration. The first half of the climb kicks up to about 8% as it winds up

Going uphill is much, much harder than going downhill. This is an accepted truth. Except when it isn't, of course. Without getting too bogged down in my thoughts on my local, sketchy, (normally) wet, traffic-laden descents with awful rim brakes, then throw in some blind bends and side roads spewing impatient motorists into your path, it is also true that there is (in my mind) definitely something more 'zen' about going uphill - It's a lot harder to experience a high-speed 'off' whilst going up a 10% incline for starters, so store that thought for future motivation. Going up really is a state of mind, and as practically every blog on the subject on the world wide web will state very early