It had been nearly six months since I’d last ridden up Linton Hill, in Kent, so on Tuesday night I headed that way. The climb is the A229, the main road south from Maidstone, and truck fly-bys come with it. They can certainly make the ride more interesting 🙂
It was a cloudy 7.8°C with a light east-north-easterly, and I kept it easy, the night after a loop nearly twice as long, with my heart rate averaging just 106. The first three kilometres lost more than 100 m off the Greensand Ridge towards Hunton.
Then came the flat lanes through Chainhurst, along Green Lane to Collier Street and south down Sheephurst Lane, before looping round to Marden. Pattenden Lane took me north out of the village and Underlyn Lane east to the A229, where I started up Linton Hill.
It climbs 104 m in 2.7 km, gently at first, with the last kilometre or so at around 6%. Partway up, the 30 limit and the Linton sign stood out under their lights, and a few trucks came past on the way up. The climb took me 10:40 at 191 W, with my heart rate peaking at 146.
From the crossroads at the top the road runs almost level along the ridge for the last couple of kilometres. Nearly six months is too long to leave a hill this close to home.
The numbers
- Ride: #1136 on Strava, ride 265 of 2026, day 145 of the streak
- Distance: 25.1 km
- Moving time: 1:12:59 (1:15:50 elapsed)
- Elevation: 179 m
- Average power: 102 W
- Heart rate: 106 bpm average, 146 max
- Cadence: 88 rpm average
- Calories: 549 kcal
- Highlight (Strava segment): Linton Hill – 2.71 km, 104 m, 10:40 at 191 W
- Conditions: dark and cloudy, 7.8°C (feels like 6.4°C), 86% humidity, a light east-north-easterly
- Year to date: Distance 21,373 km, Elevation Gain 217,899 m
The route
● Favourite Garmin segment ● Shorter segment inside a longer one The numbers match the Segments table below. Hover over a segment for its time and rank; click or tap for a link to it on Garmin Connect.
Download the GPX (start and finish trimmed for privacy)
11 favourite Garmin segments. Best placed: Sprint to 30, 0.88 km at 0.1%, 14th of my 16 goes (from km 14). Time and power are from this ride; My rank places this ride among all my own goes at that segment. The numbers match the map, and each segment name links to Garmin Connect, where you can save it (you’ll need a Garmin account).
Segments table
| # | Segment | Starts at km | Length | Ascent | Avg grade | Time | Avg speed | Avg power | My rank | My best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hunton Hill Down | 0.9 | 0.79 km | 0 m | -8.0% | 1:17 | 37.1 km/h | – | 39 of 39 | 0:47 |
| 2 | Chainhurst Hill | 3.9 | 0.51 km | 9 m | 1.6% | 1:43 | 18.0 km/h | 153 W | 41 of 41 | 0:52 |
| 3 | Green Lane | 6.7 | 1.90 km | 4 m | 0.0% | 5:06 | 22.4 km/h | 148 W | 22 of 22 | 3:07 |
| 4 | Green Lane Sprint West to Longend Lane | 6.7 | 0.77 km | 2 m | -0.2% | 2:08 | 21.6 km/h | 144 W | 22 of 22 | 1:11 |
| 5 | Collier St School to Sheephurst | 8.6 | 1.51 km | 3 m | -0.1% | 4:10 | 21.8 km/h | 172 W | 30 of 31 | 2:34 |
| 6 | Sheephurst Lane | 10.3 | 3.14 km | 15 m | 0.2% | 9:00 | 20.9 km/h | 159 W | 30 of 31 | 5:26 |
| 7 | Sprint to 30 | 13.6 | 0.88 km | 9 m | 0.1% | 2:21 | 22.4 km/h | 157 W | 14 of 16 | 1:18 |
| 8 | Pattenden Lane | 15.2 | 1.01 km | 0 m | -0.4% | 2:38 | 23.0 km/h | 133 W | 27 of 30 | 1:26 |
| 9 | Pattenden Lane Sprint | 15.2 | 0.67 km | 0 m | -0.5% | 1:45 | 23.1 km/h | 137 W | 27 of 30 | 0:56 |
| 10 | Underlyn Lane to Maidstone | 16.2 | 2.10 km | 6 m | 0.2% | 5:36 | 22.4 km/h | 172 W | 4 of 4 | 4:12 |
| 11 | Linton Hill | 19.7 | 2.86 km | 110 m | 3.9% | 11:36 | 14.8 km/h | 214 W | 70 of 74 | 7:47 |
The profile and climbs
1 climb: 1 Cat 4. Biggest: 2.8 km at 3.7%, 104 m of climbing (Cat 4, from km 20). Together the climbs account for 104 m of the ride’s ascent. Garmin and Strava measure climbs and segments over their own start and finish points, so the figures here can differ from the Highlight above and from each other. Climbs are the ones Garmin’s ClimbPro found on earlier rides of this route, matched by GPS; length, ascent, time and power are from this ride.
Cat 4 Pins mark where each Garmin ClimbPro climb starts. Hover or tap a pin for details.
Climbs table
| # | Climb | Category | Starts at km | Length | Ascent | Avg grade | Time | Avg speed | Avg power | My rank | My best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linton Hill | Cat 4 | 19.7 | 2.80 km | 104 m | 3.7% | 11:49 | 14.2 km/h | 186 W | 72 of 74 | 7:36 |
My rank places this ride among my outdoor rides over the same climb on Garmin up to that day, matched by GPS, and My best is the fastest of them at the time. Time and speed include any stop on the climb.
Every town, café, beach and landmark from my rides is collected on the Links page.