I echo Craig Griffith who speaks of the steepness of some of the roads in South Wales. While living in Cardiff in the 1980's, a Liverpuddlian friend and I used to do some 'short sharps' out of Cardiff up the former coal valleys. These were never long rides - 50-70miles max., but at times these were some of the nastiest rides I have ever done. We would head out of town - up one of the valleys towards Caerphilly or Pontypridd. Although the opening stretches were gentle climbs they were not all that taxing. Where the fun and games started was when we climbed out of one valley over the ridge and down to the next valley for a run back into town. It was those climbs which sapped just about every bit of energy as they were not only ridiculously steep, but as they were old coal roads, the surface was usually pot-holed or broken up. They were one-lane and always an interesting experience when encountering a car coming down towards you - clipped in and climbing at walking pace (usually had to take the path of least resistance and end up in the ditch!). Added to that, as you got closer to the top there was usually a fog which left the road slick and dangerous.
My mate - who used to Club race always fared better than me (at least he never showed discomfort - although after one of these rides apparently he was sick to his stomach). I used to creak up those hills (on a 42-52 - 13-23 Raleigh) and just when I thought I was winning there would be a switch-back and it would start again. Many a time I found myself grinding to a halt just past one of those turns and occasionally I would have to get off the damn bike and push it the remaining distance to the next flat stage. On one of those roads I punctured twice - and had no patches with me for some reason (I guess that I thought the spare inner tube would be enough). Dave who was on tubs - and never seemed to puncture - had to ride an extra 15 miles to the nearest town to get me a new tube.
We had never tried those some of the roads before hand and never knew what to expect. It was always a lottery but worth it when we got to the top and had a run through the foggy moorland of the valley ridges - dodging sheep - before a nightmarish ride down a similar road on the other side - hoping again not to encounter any other moving vehicles. The final run back into town was usually along very busy A roads - uneventful but a little hairy in itself. While not glamorous these were memorable rides.
Paul "still have nightmares about the grade of some of those hills" Williams, Kingston, Ontario