Well i made the trip over to do Bridlington Cycling Club's 2 stage club hill climb. The weather said it was going to rain and it did.
Got there in plenty of time so that i could have a look at the climbs and get a good warm up in. The first climb out of Wold Newton was a straight drag up on to a plateau. The climbs length was about 1km but only about 200m was steep. I managed to get warmed up for about an hour until people started to turn up so i went to the start to sign on. I was going off number 10 out of a field of 11. It was about a 45min wait before i went off and had cooled down and then the rain came so i was a bit cold on the start line. As always with a climb i have never rode in anger i always struggle with gear choice. I started in the 39x17 which was ok for the first 3rd of the climb then i dropped it in to the 39x19 for the steeper section and as i hit the plateau and knocked it up 3 gears for the final sprint. Felt ok but should of put it in the big ring for the plateau section i think.
Everyone waited at the top as the times were worked out and the clothing was brought up in the car from the start. I managed to win it by about 6 or 8 seconds so was fairly satisfied. Then it was down the other side to climb up the other side. This climb was about 10% for 2/3rds of the climb until you hit a longer flat section.
It was probably about 20mins from finishing the 1st climb to starting the second and i had got very cold.
Started of in the 39x19 and then when i hit the steepest section i dropped it into the trusty 39x21. As i hit the top section i put it in the big ring and by the time i crossed the finish line i was in full sprint going 43.2kph. On reflexion i didn't try hard enough on the second climb and should of started my sprint about 100m before i did but i think i had got to cold between the two. So as we waited for the results in the fine drizzle i was a little bit disappointed that i had not got everything right. I managed to win the second climb as well by about 6sec so over all 2 wins on a wet night.
So a not a bad start to my 2011 hill climbing campaign. Big thanks to Bridlington Cycling Club for letting me ride and i am looking forward to doing their open event which is on 25th September at 11am.
Learning points
Need to still work on my warm up.
Keep Positive
Always look up the climb
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