Tuesday 4 October 2011

OTLEY 2 STAGE HC

Both myself and Paul "tall" Smith made the trip over to Otley to take part. There is just one thing to say about the day and that is that it was hot very hot. This is not the weather for trying to go up hills as fast as possible.


Stage 1 V8910 Guise Cliffe ( Pateley Bridge )


I got there in plenty of time as the numbers where being given out at the bottom of the climb. Park up about half a mile away and cycled to pick up my number. The ride to the so called base of the climb was hard enough in the heat. As i was doing my warm up Paul parked next to me. He is always late. I was off number 25 so got to the start just as number 18 was going of so had a little time to wait but with the heat you didn't cool down. I did this climb 2 years ago when it was cut short due to high winds so was unsure how i would go on the full climb. I rode it on the fixed and maybe that was a mistake as it felt like a struggle to turn the pedals. The climb is very step for just over 2 thirds of the climb before it goes into a false flat for the final third. My legs were shot after the step section and struggled to get the speed up.



Results

1.Tejvan Pettingter Sri Chinmey Cycling Team 3.24.8

2 Matt Clinton Mike Vaughan Cycles 3:29.9

3 Gunnar Gronlund RST Racing Team - Trigon 3.30.7



11th Andrew Pearson HSW 4:09.5

15th Paul Smith 4:17.8

Once i had seen the results i new it had been a mistake to ride the fixed but its a learning year where the fixed is concerned.


Stage 2 V897 Norwood Edge

I had planned to ride both climbs on the fixed but after the mornings ride and with about 5 riders either in front or just behind me i chickened out and rode the race bike. The legs felt heavy after the first stage and i think my age is starting to catch up to me and the recovery between stages is not as good. Norwood edge is a climb that is ideal for fixed but as i had not been up and practised i just couldn't take the risk. The first 20seconds of the climb felt very good but then i just seemed to hit a wall. I got to half way and felt like death the heat was a big factor today. I just felt like i was over heating. Looking down at my average speed at the half way point i was way down on what i had done 2 years ago and i actually felt like just cruising the second half of the climb but i had forgot that it is the second half of the climb that is the fastest so the average speed started to increase and my morale picked up. It felt like i finished strong but only everyone Else's time would see if i was right.


The winner was Tejvan who was only 4seconds of the course record which has stood since 1994. The boy is flying this year.



Results

1. Tejvan Pettinger 4:46.5
2. Gunnar Gronlund 4:59.1
3. Matt Clinton 5:02.7

6. Andrew Pearson 5:56.6
16. Paul Smith 6:21.7

so after seeing the results i think i made the right choice but could i have gone faster on the fixed who knows.




Overall


1. Tejvan Pettinger 8:11.5
2. Gunnar Gronlund 8:24.8
3. Matt Clinton 8:32.6

6. Andy Pearson 10.06.1
15. Paul Smith 10.34.5

So it was a tough day in the saddle but after my second ride i was fairly happy. It didn't make any difference to my overall position riding the fixed in the morning as the top five were head and shoulders better than me but luckily for me my second ride clawed back enough time to move up to 6th overall.



I big thanks must go out to Claire Jessop of Otley Cycling Club who put on a great event with a field of 51 which is a very big field for a yorkshire hill climb.

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