Rob3rt
Man or Moose!
- Location
- Manchester
A few days late as I have been recovering 
Little bit of a race report from the RTTC National Hill Climb Championships
To finish up my racing season, I entered the National Hill Climb Championship which was to take place on The Stang in Yorkshire, running North from Langthwaite up toward Barnard Castle.
As it was quite a long way from Manchester, I travelled up on Thursday evening to stay with family. On the Friday we drove out to the climb and I did 3 reps, just to figure it out, work out some pacing strategy etc. It is a nice climb, starting at about 16-18% for the 1st 0.75 miles, then undulating for a mile then a 10-12% kick for the last half a mile. In my practice runs my times were at around 11 minutes, which was not particularly quick, but I knew I could go a lot faster on race day as I did the 3 reps at about 40W below my expected race power. To finish up I had lunch in the CB inn, in Langthwaite (the location that the event was using as race HQ), I had a monster burger with home made chutney and chips!
Saturday I had a conservative bash about the lanes local to my parents house, 30 miles @ 19 mph average, encountering only 2 sets of traffic lights, one set being temporary and getting through the others on green, blissful!
Sunday was the big day, we drove out to arrive around 11:45, my start time was set for ~13:30. My aunt and cousin went into the pub for some soup, my mum sat in the car and my dad lifted all my stuff out of the car where I set up on the turbo and started warming up, at which point @totallyfixed and @dr_pink came over and started chatting to me. Shortly after, my family, bar my dad walked up the climb to wait for me passing, I got off the turbo, my dad put it in the car, I put my race wheel in and set off for a little road warm up while he walked up the climb. Almost immediately after getting off the turbo I was frozen solid and soaked through! I saw one of the female riders crying and looking very cold which did not fill me with confidence, I headed off to warm up on a small hill nearby until 5 minutes before my start then went to the start.
Given the conditions (absolutely horrible, I actually like climbing in bad weather but this was something else...), I had decided to smash it up the 1st 0.75 miles, then recover on the rolling section, using the wind assist to allow me some recovery, then to explode up the top section. The starter held me up and counted me down, at the count of 2 I started my Garmin and stood up, then the starter said, GO and shouted good luck as I set off! I immediately started sprinting up the hill, but something was wrong, my rear wheel was slipping lots, to the point one slip nearly had me off, so I had to sit down and grind up. I figured I would be moving a bit slower, but not risking a major stall. I got across the cattle grid at 0.5 mile into the climb and stood up and pushed over the top of the steep section. Whacked it in the big ring and absolutely caned it over the rolling sections in the 53:12 at ~35 mph, this section was okay, although the strong winds did blow me around a bit on the road but I managed to stay safe. For one of the intermediate lumps I dropped back to the small chainring and at the summit tried to shift into the big ring again and the chain just didn't go, so I shifted back down and up again, this time the chain went up, I sighed a sigh of relief and picked up some good speed once again. I could see my minute man up ahead and I was gaining on him rapidly. I passed him just before hitting the final 0.5 mile ramp. At this point I seemed to slow and he came back alongside, I was really starting to suffer at this point because I had not let off as much in the rolling sections as planned, but his near re-overtake spurred me on and I stood up and sprinted away from him, putting another 30 seconds into him over the last half a mile and crossing the finish line in a time of 09:32.7 and in 53rd place which was a top 1/3rd finish (180 riders entered, 161 started).
Distance: 2.3 miles, Elevation Gain: ~850-870 ft, Average Gradient: ~6.5% (the rolling section in the middle reduces the average gradient quite a lot, the actual uphill sections, i.e. most of the course are 12-18%), Average power: 401W, Average Speed: 14.6 mph, Heart Rate data was corrupt.
Photo courtesy of Cycling Weekly.
Photo courtesy of Cycling Weekly
I was smashed at the top, but couldn't risk staying up there in that weather to recover so set about the descent straight away proceeding back down the hill, which was as difficult as the ascent on exploded legs and given the brutal wind and rain, it actually took longer to descend than to go up! I got cleaned up and dried up and had a coffee and slice of cake in the pub with my family while intermittently chatting to other riders, including my minute man who I had caught and waiting for all of the results to come in.
Little bit of a race report from the RTTC National Hill Climb Championships
To finish up my racing season, I entered the National Hill Climb Championship which was to take place on The Stang in Yorkshire, running North from Langthwaite up toward Barnard Castle.
As it was quite a long way from Manchester, I travelled up on Thursday evening to stay with family. On the Friday we drove out to the climb and I did 3 reps, just to figure it out, work out some pacing strategy etc. It is a nice climb, starting at about 16-18% for the 1st 0.75 miles, then undulating for a mile then a 10-12% kick for the last half a mile. In my practice runs my times were at around 11 minutes, which was not particularly quick, but I knew I could go a lot faster on race day as I did the 3 reps at about 40W below my expected race power. To finish up I had lunch in the CB inn, in Langthwaite (the location that the event was using as race HQ), I had a monster burger with home made chutney and chips!
Saturday I had a conservative bash about the lanes local to my parents house, 30 miles @ 19 mph average, encountering only 2 sets of traffic lights, one set being temporary and getting through the others on green, blissful!
Sunday was the big day, we drove out to arrive around 11:45, my start time was set for ~13:30. My aunt and cousin went into the pub for some soup, my mum sat in the car and my dad lifted all my stuff out of the car where I set up on the turbo and started warming up, at which point @totallyfixed and @dr_pink came over and started chatting to me. Shortly after, my family, bar my dad walked up the climb to wait for me passing, I got off the turbo, my dad put it in the car, I put my race wheel in and set off for a little road warm up while he walked up the climb. Almost immediately after getting off the turbo I was frozen solid and soaked through! I saw one of the female riders crying and looking very cold which did not fill me with confidence, I headed off to warm up on a small hill nearby until 5 minutes before my start then went to the start.
Given the conditions (absolutely horrible, I actually like climbing in bad weather but this was something else...), I had decided to smash it up the 1st 0.75 miles, then recover on the rolling section, using the wind assist to allow me some recovery, then to explode up the top section. The starter held me up and counted me down, at the count of 2 I started my Garmin and stood up, then the starter said, GO and shouted good luck as I set off! I immediately started sprinting up the hill, but something was wrong, my rear wheel was slipping lots, to the point one slip nearly had me off, so I had to sit down and grind up. I figured I would be moving a bit slower, but not risking a major stall. I got across the cattle grid at 0.5 mile into the climb and stood up and pushed over the top of the steep section. Whacked it in the big ring and absolutely caned it over the rolling sections in the 53:12 at ~35 mph, this section was okay, although the strong winds did blow me around a bit on the road but I managed to stay safe. For one of the intermediate lumps I dropped back to the small chainring and at the summit tried to shift into the big ring again and the chain just didn't go, so I shifted back down and up again, this time the chain went up, I sighed a sigh of relief and picked up some good speed once again. I could see my minute man up ahead and I was gaining on him rapidly. I passed him just before hitting the final 0.5 mile ramp. At this point I seemed to slow and he came back alongside, I was really starting to suffer at this point because I had not let off as much in the rolling sections as planned, but his near re-overtake spurred me on and I stood up and sprinted away from him, putting another 30 seconds into him over the last half a mile and crossing the finish line in a time of 09:32.7 and in 53rd place which was a top 1/3rd finish (180 riders entered, 161 started).
Distance: 2.3 miles, Elevation Gain: ~850-870 ft, Average Gradient: ~6.5% (the rolling section in the middle reduces the average gradient quite a lot, the actual uphill sections, i.e. most of the course are 12-18%), Average power: 401W, Average Speed: 14.6 mph, Heart Rate data was corrupt.
Photo courtesy of Cycling Weekly.
Photo courtesy of Cycling Weekly
I was smashed at the top, but couldn't risk staying up there in that weather to recover so set about the descent straight away proceeding back down the hill, which was as difficult as the ascent on exploded legs and given the brutal wind and rain, it actually took longer to descend than to go up! I got cleaned up and dried up and had a coffee and slice of cake in the pub with my family while intermittently chatting to other riders, including my minute man who I had caught and waiting for all of the results to come in.
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A like for the write up and I hope the next one is a bit more relaxed.
. Planes was indeed very good, we laughed, we cried, we rejoiced. On the way home, we stopped for sausage rolls & cake and a much need very large coffee for me, so we had to push part of the nasty uphill home until we came to the play park, so we stopped there I drank coffee, small people got very muddy, we pressed on up hill.
