Bridlington CC Open Hill Climb V491 Flixton Brow

Today i was hoping to get my first open hill climb win but it was not to be. It was going to be a long day as i was also doing the Scarborough Paragon club event in the afternoon. The Brid climb is mostley just a long steep climb which you can see just about all the way to the top. It had rained in the morning so the road was wet and there was a head wind.

I rode the fixed bike again but this climb was a lot more suited than last weeks. I felt good until the last 30meters of the steep section of the climb and the legs just seemed to lock up. As i crested the hill the wind hit you straight in the face so trying to get the speed up on the false flat was tough. I knew i had gone slower that last year but hoped that was down to the wind.

So second it was going to be today as a Brid rider powered up the climb after me and took the win.

Top 3
1. Miles Flather Brid CC 3:15.73
2. Me 3:32.18
3. David Thompson Scarborough Paragon 3:35.7

Then it was over to the Scarborough Club event in Hackness. This event is going to be an open event next year. The climb has 3 step haipins in it and a good gradient all the way to the top. It is tree lined until you reach the last 200m. There was a lot of leaves on the road and it was very wet but i knew this was going to be a climb that i would enjoy riding and it was ideal for the Fixie.

Top 3
1. Me 2:48.61
2 David Thompson 2:53.61
3.Chris Turner 3:05.06

This is going to make an excellant open event next year and is one i will definatly be doing again.

Thanks to Bridling Cycling Club and Scarborough Paragon for putting on 2 great events.

ABC CENTREVILLE HC J9/11

Another sunday another hill climb. Today i was doing a new climb. Rode out to check it out in the week and thought on my recce run that it was fairly hard. So i got there early today as i wanted to ride up it on my fixed bike to see if this was the way forward. I have to say that it felt prity easy so i thought that the gear was probably a bit to low but didn't have the one i needed but decided to stick with the fixed and ride that.
The start so i thought was flatish for about 200 meters so new that i would lose time here but riding fixed is a compromise. I finished my warm up in the car park at the top of the climb. Then rode down. This is where i realised i had made a big mistake. The start was actually a further 300/500m further down the road which was prity flat so new i would lose a bundle of time but thats life.

I felt good today even tho i knew that i should have used my geared bike. Once i was on the hill proper the fixed bike rode like a dream. The tubs felt good and the cadence was good and high. My finish time was 8:53.8 in 7th place. The winner was Dan Evans (Rhos on sea CC) with 7:57.5. The start cost me a good chunk of time but it would have only moved me up 1 place but was happy with the fixed.

Buxton CC Hc Long Hill Sept 11th 2011

So today was Buxton cc open hill climb. A dry run for the national later on in the year. This is a climb i haven't been up before so on arrival i got kitted up for a slow ride up the climb to check it out. On reading a few reports on the climb i was expecting it to be flattish but the gradient is not to bad. It will defiantly but a strong testers course. The wind was a head wind for most of the climb which meant speeds would be down on last years time's. The climb is roughly about 4.5miles long with a gradient of about 3%average.

The hq was Whaley Bridge bowling club which has a very large car park which is needed as there is very little parking on the climb and only a few viewing spots so i think that crowds will be sparse at the national.
I felt that my warm up was ok but was still unsure how i was going to tackle the climb. I was on my road bike but i did where my tt helmet. I had planned to keep my cadence above 95rpm and try and keep an average speed of between 28/29kph.

I started ok and quickly got into a rhythm with a good cadence and the speed i was hoping for. Certain sections had a terrible head wind and the speed did drop. There is one slight down hill section but the headwind was so bad i was actually going slower than on some of the uphill section's. After this section you turned to the left and hit the only tail wind and it felt good to get the speed going again. Even tho i had been up the climb once i was a little unsure how far to the finish from here so just keep ed it going but this is were you really need to push on and i didn't quite do this. At the finish i averaged 27kph so was semi pleased but felt i didn't give it 100%.

My finishing time was 15.57.1 in 20th place.
Winner Tejvan Pettinger 13.49.3
Total starters 70

http://connect.garmin.com/activity113483595

Thanks to Buxton CC for putting an excellent event on.

Glossop Kinder Velo Hill Climb (Snake Pass)

My first open hill climb of the year. I did this race last year and really enjoyed it as this is one of my favorite climbs. Conditions this year were ideal as it was mild and very little wind. A stark contrast to last years head wind. The event had 50 starters, 20 up on last year.
Some big hitters had made the trip to glossop. Peter Tadros, James Coleman and Dan Evans as well as a few of the Blackburn Ctc and Buxton Cc lads. Myself and Paul Smith from Huddersfield Star Wheelers. My warm up went well but a problem with resetting my garmin didn't help me go of with a clear head. I am the sort of person who needs everything to go well or it just lets the negative thoughts enter my head.
I felt my pacing was good all the way up the climb and my cadence was around the 88 to 90rpm mark and my heart rate was a consistent 185bpm. I finished with a time of 14:47.1 and 11th place.
I was a little disappointed with my finishing position but it gives me a platform to work from and close down on the people in front for the national.
1st Peter Tadros 13.19
2nd Dan Evans 13:27:2
3rd James Coleman 13:34.2

Holme Valley Wheelers Club Hill Climb 2011

So tonight i was breaking out my hill climb weapon for it's first outing. A local club hill climb is always a relaxed atmosphere but for some reason i was nervous all day. This was probably due to the fact that i won it last year and i was using fixed for the first time. My warm up was ok but i did go half way up the climb twice on the fixed and it made my legs feel crap.

These are some pic's of my fixed the Racescene had made up for me.
So i did go of as hard as i normally do as after reading Matt Clinton's hill climbing guide i thought maybe i have been going of to hard. My legs felt like crap after about a third of the way up and i thought that maybe i had a to big a gear on but pushed on through to finish with a time of 2:23.6 which as it turned out i beat last years time by .1 of a second. I was a little disappointed with my ride but lets hope i push on from hear unlike last year when i felt that i went backwards.
I finished second this year to a cracking ride by Jacob Scott. But its was close from me down to 5th. Two other Star Wheelers also took part and Tom Broadbent took over 10seconds off his pb and Richard Facey but in a good effort for an old man (only joking richard)

Matt Clinton - Occasional Racing Cyclist: Hill Climbs and the lack thereof.

Matt Clinton - Occasional Racing Cyclist: Hill Climbs and the lack thereof.: That's pain, pure pain!
First things first, hill climbs hurt . Now that's been put forwards, you can understand why many people don'...

FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON

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