Almost exactly two years ago i took to the startline for my third ever time trial, the Rudy project event run by Bath CC. There were cakes for prizes and the field was stacked with scary men and women sitting astride a range of scary bicycles and riding them at obscene speeds. I came 16th in the seniors on my Condor Acciao with TT extensions. I had a set of veloce wheels and averaged 21mph. i was optimistic that i could improve, firstly by spending a shedload of hard-earned cash on aero-erotica, and secondly by doing some proper training. those first few races were quite telling, the best placing i achieved that year was in the Dursley ‘mega’ hilly, a tidy 7th.
i rode the Bath event again today, and so did Alec. The course record prior to today’s event was a 57.48. I went off early and got back to the HQ after 57 minutes and 55 seconds of suffering, average around 24.8mph. I was pleased to get within 7 seconds of the CR, but fully expected both Alec and Rob to smash it to pieces on a balmy day matched perfectly to the sport of cycling. They didn’t disappoint, Alec turned in a 56.22 and Rob a 56.51. It was a quick day. I also improved on last year’s time by a full 4 minutes. I was particularly pleased to beat Ben Anstie who is a very accomplished rider and someone who i’ve never got anywhere remotely near in the past. He is a nice chap and it was his birthday, so i felt a bit bad. and he’s been ill. But what the hell, cycling is a brutal sport for hardmen, he knows the drill. If you’re worried about losing on your birthday then don’t have a birthday.
The gains have come about in 24 short months. after making huge strides last year i genuinely didn’t expect to be making similar, if not more pronounced, improvements this year. i think it’s an accumulation of various things, rather than the proverbial magic bullet. maybe i’ll list them in a future post.
The cakes were extra-special. Alec bagged the chocolate one which we were all eyeing up. Rob took an apricot number and i went for a cranberry sponge cake. It is very tasty. my eye was first taken by a smutty looking piece of ‘scottish parkin’, but i didn’t know what parkin was and suspected that the scottish element might be lard, or irn bru, maybe some tennants super, so i erred on the side of caution. Penny Gardiner bagged it for being first lady and apparently it was very tasty. Giles Oakley rode well to take 10th place and i’m sure he’s had a small slice or too.
I’m now taking a bit of a break (apart from a midweek circuit thing) and will be missing the next WTTA event. I have a prior event lined up this Saturday, sign-on is at 3pm. It’s perhaps best suited to a tandem, starting the journey with a partner for support, rather than the solo steed. I’m really excited.
i spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to avoid spoilers, but failed spectacularly because i accessed the limitless power of the internet. anyway, if you haven’t seen it yet, Wiggins won with an awe-inspiring display of uphill time trialling, if that doesn’t sound too euphemistic. the interesting thing is that it’s a hill climb of sorts. they really should have more uphill time trials on the continent; they had one on alpe d’huez a few years back. it’s a world of short TT extensions, confusion over what to ride, and a weight limit of 6.8kg on the bikes. it’s hard to even imagine what’s going through the riders’ minds in the video below. the crowd is oppressive and overwhelming. armstrong has his cap on backwards like a true hillclimber. his speed is unreal.
On the Col D’Eze Wiggins was turning over the gear remorselessly. it’s a really astounding sight. He’s the first British winner since Tommy Simpson in 1967 and is staking a claim to being one of the greatest riders this island has ever produced.
When i first started getting into cycling i remember watching the tour and trying to see how Max Sciandri was doing, a half-italian, half british rider, or whether Robert Millar still had the legs (his powers were on the wane). this year we’ve got one of the world’s pre-eminent stage racers, the world champion and a stack of gifted riders across several teams. it’s hard to believe just how much british cycling has changed, but if you want a point of comparison i recommend ‘wide eyed and legless’, by Jeff Connor. It describes the problems faced by the ANC Halfords team in the 1987 tour. it’s a fantastic book.
After last week’s cyclonic descent into hell, this week’s race was played out in beautiful conditions. There was some lingering mist across the tops of the hills, but it was warm enough to dispense with the kneewarmers and the heavy duty overshoes. it helped the scarring memory of last week to gently fade into the ether. Dennis and Paul are two of the timekeepers that appear regularly at district events, they are very friendly. i usually chat to them on the startline, it takes my mind off the torturous effort to follow. Dennis remarked that i would have nothing to write about on the blog – something like: ‘clement weather, riders happy, cycling done’. i was secretly flattered that he read my blog. in all the chit chat i forgot to set my garmin so ended up fiddling with it on the way up the climb.
very nasty start, very fast finish
There were a number of bristol south riders on the start sheet, 6 in total. Reinforcing our presence was the magisterial wonder of Allen Jane’s car with its custom BSCC paint job. It rounded out the picture beautifully. It was great to have so many clubmates, there is a solidarity amongst those of us brave enough climb onto the hilly time trial carousel (and an even more pronounced solidarity amongst the VOTCH – veterans of the chippenham hardrider – brigade).
Dan, Allen and the team car. there is a lot going on in this picture.
the gillingham course is relatively short, coming in at 19 miles. it starts with a 1.2 mile climb up and out of bruton which the organisers designated a ‘prime’, with a prize going to the fastest ascent. once over the top it’s relatively straightforward for a while, before hitting a series of morale-destroying false flats and 1/2% climbs. not unlike a night out at the Vauxhall Tavern: exhausting and beset by unnecessary and intense drag. these sections link together to form a sort of 6 mile ‘super drag’.
unnecessary super-drag
Gillingham Hardrider Course
once up and rolling i enjoyed most of it, except for the long and drawn out false flat. it hurt a lot and i felt that i wasn’t going fast enough. in my head i think i managed to convince myself that i was, and that everyone else would be experiencing similar issues. this sort of relativity is helpful and stops me worrying and getting ground down by the tougher sections of the course. A hill is always a hill, you expect it to take a toll, but a false flat into a headwind plays a deceptive and damaging game with your perception.
I managed a 46.36 last year, good enough for 7th and a really promising ride. This year i wanted to get as near to 45 minutes as i could. this meant i would have to do a 25mph ride on a really hilly course. i figured it was possible and i would have to manage it if i was going to get 2nd place which was my ‘A’ target. I try and avoid fatalism, but Rob Pears is really very fast indeed and unless the road climbs without end for the whole 19 miles it’s unlikely i’ll catch him.
the hillclimb threw a bit of excitement into the mix. i knew i’d go for it and wouldn’t really be able to not take up the challenge. it’s essentially my pride as a hillclimber that was at stake. There’s no point referring to yourself, however obliquely, as being ‘good at hills’ if you’re not then prepared to go out and make it happen. With this in mind i opted for a really simple strategy: go really hard at the beginning all the way up the climb to bag the prize then carry on all the way to the finish without stopping. I think it was a successful strategy because these things, these horrible hardrider things, are based on how much you can hurt yourself and how hard you can go for a set period of time. yesterday i went really hard and put in a huge effort all the way round. the result of this was a really quick time of 43.37, coming second to Rob by less than a minute. I made up all of my time on the ups and he stole it back on the last 5 miles, where he rode at a 33mph average to my 30mph. i managed to beat Dave and Derek, (like Derek and Clive, but in lycra) by a minute and a half and two minutes respectively. It was a very good day, made even better by just how close I got to Rob. He sportingly said that I ‘was getting dangerous’.
I won the hillclimb prime by around 15 seconds from the next rider. This is quite a lot over 4 minutes. It was an ‘unofficial’ prize because it hadn’t been sanctioned or recorded by a CTT timekeeper – club timekeepers don’t carry the same weight. I don’t value it any less and in fact, the surreptitious nature of it feels strangely daring. You’ve got to love the anachronisms of the CTT. It’s like the freemasons, but a bit cuddlier and without the special handshake, conspiracies and blackballing.
shhh!
Next week it’s the Severn Hardrider, then Bath after that. With a bit of luck and some ferocious pedalling i might have a decent points total by the end of the month. If you’re thinking of racing any of the events this year then i’d wholly recommend them as fantastic introductions to time trialling. The details are on the West DC website.
A few people sent me a link to Strava. It’s ridiculously simple and i can’t really believe it’s not been thought of before. Essentially it does what any other training centre thingy does (map my ride, garminTC, etc), you put your garmin/gps thing on when you go out for a ride, record your ride data then upload the ride data to strava.
However, the neat, or fiendish thing about this one is that it then takes segments of your ride, especially climbs and so on, and puts those into a ranking against anyone else ever who has ridden that same stretch of road. it’s really really clever. however, it has the potential to turn any light training spin into an opportunity to top the leaderboard for a specific climb (sorry kieran).
a bit scary
it’ll certainly make you ride harder on the hills, and certainly make you realise there’s always the proverbial larger silverback. it has the benefit of seeing how your times compare with similar riders, thus spurring you on to try and beat those times. today i thought i’d put it to the test and have a pop at burrington – the club run took in the climb this morning. there were a few people on my wheel at the bottom, but after the cattle grid i really went for it and dropped everyone. i was on my 68″ gear with full mudguards and all kinds of shit. it was all i could do get under 9 minutes – the time credited on the website was about 9.30. it made me realise how much harder it is climbing in the cold with lots of layers and carrying excess weight on the bike. i also realised the climb is longer, and i lost time slowing down at the end where i knew the finish to be. on strava it’s mapped slightly awry. anyway, i stuck a time i’d recorded back in may or something up there instead. i didn’t put the 7.33 i managed in october up because i did it without a HRM. it gives me something to aim for for this season…
My season is now over. it started in february on a dual carriageway near Frome, and ended on Sunday on a strange arterial road up and over a hillside in the Peak District. it encompassed several hilly, lumpy events, some flatland bullying and an endless stream of incremental gains. but through all of the gains, the improvements, i knew that the key part of the season was the lumpy anti-gravity stuff that runs from september to the end of october. before i go any further, i’ve borrowed this picture from cycling weekly:
tejvan pettinger gives it everything
it’s near the top of long hill. tejvan is riding to 5th place, 12 seconds behind the winner, Gunnar Gronlund. the image encapsulates the beauty, pain and despair of hillclimbs. it sums up everything that hillclimbs are about: beautiful climbs in amazing places, ridden at pace and in pain. if i have learnt one thing this season, more so than ever before, it’s that to contemplate riding a hillclimb with any degree of success and honesty, you have to push yourself to the limit – in fact, beyond the kind of thresholds of pain and endurance that the modern world typically places on us. so when you see the lone hillclimber locked in savage pursuit of individual glory and a few precious seconds, spare a thought for the physical and existential suffering contained within each moment. and i come back to honesty, because it is a particularly brutal extension of the ‘race of truth’, there is nowhere to hide from yourself, and if you get it wrong, then you know deep down in your battered psyche that it was probably because there was more to give. the finality of the National Hill Climb as the last race of the season means something else – it means that success or failure endures throughout the off-season, and drives or hampers your riding in the winter months to come. it’s like the after effect of a flashbulb, scorched indelibly across the eyes and transferred to your immediate field of vision.
it’s difficult to explain what else the National represents, but I will try to do so. it’s anachronistic, there is no place in this world of instant gratification for the slow burn and training miles needed to achieve even a modicum of personal success. but it’s also an opportunity to take part in an event that has an incredible history. It attracts an enormous field of staggeringly strong riders,and a strong field of enormously staggering spectators eager to witness the gladiatorial spectacle unfold for two and a half hours, within which lie 160 forms of purgatory as each rider battles the elements, the gradient, but always themselves.
i’ve ridden the event twice; this year’s was more tricky, there was a benchmark from last year rattling around the perimeter of my mind, creating doubt and anxiety about my capacity to improve. allied to this was the fear of the hill – or whether it was a hill or not, more a gradual ascent over 4 miles of moorland. it led to, as Ben Lane neatly put it, ‘equipment angst’, whether to use time trial equipment or go for the lightweight hillclimber’s bike. the top 4 riders all used TT weaponry, to some extent. in fact, a clear and sizeable majority of the competitors used time trial equipment, seeking to negate the possible block headwind. i fitted TT extensions, but then removed them on the morning of the race. two trial runs the day before left me confused and edgy about the possible gains, so i stuck with what i knew.
on arriving at the course i drove up to the top – my mum and Ian, her partner had driven down to watch which was a lovely surprise. ian also takes great photos, he has proved adept at capturing the faces of pain.
this really really hurt
Chris Edmondson, Blackburn C+CTC, looks like he is hurting quite a lot too
this chap seems almost haunted by the level of pain in lungs and chest, i'd wager he is hurting more than me and chris put together
from the very start, it felt different. the climb is long – unsurprisingly, but it was full of people, pelotons of club riders heading upwards to seek a vantage point to watch the event, massed spectators in pockets all the way up, and a huge bunch of people by a commentary station about halfway along. it had an atmosphere, it was different. russell downing was watching, as was most of the GB olympic squad and at least one female world champion, wearing the rainbow jersey and matching helmet. i warmed up, riding in and out of Whaley Bridge, and managed to just about stay warm, before heading towards the start and making last minute preparations; loosening brake blocks, chatting to random strangers, that sort of thing.
normally when waiting for the push i’m quite chatty, it helps me relax: I have a laugh with the starters about the impending sufferfest, maybe talk up to about 5 seconds to go, then pedal off with a thank you. like a pitiable addict grateful for the transaction i always make a point of thanking the pushers. this time i just stared up the road (i say ‘up’ quite loosely, the start of the climb is barely noticeable as a hill) and took a few deep breaths. i sat astride the cervelo pensively, and waited for the countdown. i guess i knew that the minute i set off i was going to ride as hard as i could, without any other option. it’s quite a sobering thought. i found the right gear, got out of the saddle and up to speed as quickly as i could, starting in the big ring and moving up through the gears, probably about as high as the 53:19 almost straight away. i tend to push big gears, i don’t really know why this is, i guess the time trialling has something to do with it. as i settled into the climb i dropped my elbows onto the top of the bars and leant forward in a mock timetrialling position, it’s not overwhelmingly comfy but i find it effective. i did similar for the shap and the horseshoe pass. i was also conscious that i was much lower than normal, the headwind meant i spent time getting my head and shoulders down. this is evident in the picture at the top, my elbows are bent and i’m really hunkered down over the machine. i dropped the stem by about an inch the day before.
beyond that, something odd happened. i’ve ridden longer climbs this year and last year, and can account for most of the experiences therein, but my progress up Long Hill is a cognitive haze. i think that it’s because i was riding at the limit all the way. the day before i’d surmised that the one bit to really attack was the long straight into the block headwind, because this was the section that could really kill your chances, the rest would be rhythm. if i nailed the nasty bit i knew i would be on for a good climb. that’s pretty much what happened. the only other thing i can remember is rob gough and glyn shouting near the bottom, and helen and my mum and Ian giving it a cheer near the top. in between there were cowbells and some shouts, some loud, some more polite. throughout all of it i refused to back off – this is what it comes down to, something very simple: don’t back off. don’t change down. ignore the pain in the legs and the hurt across the chest and the sense of being somewhere else, and keep pushing the gear.
there is though one startling memory. as i rode past the commentary box, i heard David Harmon say over the PA, ‘Number 107, he is going well….he IS going well’, and the repeated second comment spurred me on. i was determined that if David Harmon had said this, then i had better make sure i did go well, and must continue to go well all the way to the top, and not slacken off. it definitely helped. it is also the highlight of my amateur cycling career.
Hutch: as big a big hitter as there can ever really be
when i crested the climb i can genuinely say i had nothing left in the tank. typically, i couldn’t even muster a sprint, i just kept churning over the big gear and rode as hard as i possibly could. i can’t explain how physically intense it is to ride that hard, to keep it going after 14 minutes of climbing, no matter what the gradient. if you’ve ridden a hillclimb (and know you’ve given it absolutely everything) you’ll know what i’m talking about. once over the line my head dropped and I tried to allow the pulsing sensation in my ears and the taste of blood in the mouth to dissipate. i watched the big hitters come over the line; Richard Handley looked incredibly smooth, Gunnar Gronlund seemed almost mechanical, but in a good way i guess, Hutchinson was rhythmic and on the pace, Rob Hayles looked physically spent, Tejvan was chasing as hard as i’ve ever seen, his head up and down, and Matt Clinton looked fresh and almost slow (he clearly wasn’t).
i rode back down, and took my time getting changed. i had no idea what time or placing i had achieved, and felt no urgent desire to find out. this was because i knew i had ridden the best race i could. i couldn’t have found anymore time or speed; before the race i promised myself and everyone else that i would throw everything at it. this is what happened. eventually i got a copy of the results and found out i had come 24th for the second year running. i am pleased with this. i cannot help but think about how strong the field was this year, and how difficult, in an unusual way, the climb was. some small things i am pleased about include:
I was 20 seconds and ten places behind Rob Hayles. I beat James Dobbin for the first time, the twice national champion. i beat all of adeo cadence, the local and very friendly, but hugely talented road team based out of Bath. I was one of 5 or so club riders in amongst the professional and team riders filling the top 25. i also beat several people i have ever got anywhere near before, like Matt Pilkington (11th 2010) and Rob gough (6th 2010). This is in part due to the climb, but i also know that this was a tough climb for all hillclimbers, it didn’t really suit anyone, with the exception of the roadmen like Richard Handley, Mike Cuming and Gunnar Gronlund, who have been racing in Europe on longer, steadier climbs.
and when i think as i am wont to do that it was all a weird dream, and question whether i’m just someone who rides their bike and isn’t even that good, that my results don’t really mean a whole lot in this most esoteric and odd of sports, i have this to remind me…
(skip to 27 minutes exactly).
however, if you prefer to laugh at some shoddy camera work and a vaguely seventies smut-jazz soundtrack, try the CTT video. it’s worth a giggle. skip to 9 minutes, i am all over the bike like a crab, it’s quite disorientating, and a healthy rebuttal to Carl Helliwell who said i looked ‘smooth’ on the Nick, in effect he was suggesting i wasn’t trying hard enough. He may have had a point.
and on that note, the season has finished. god save the bristol south, all hillclimbers, and above all, thank you to belle.
I have put some tribar extensions onto my cervelo r5. i think i’d rather have them on there for tomorrow, when i ride the climb, than get there and regret it. i can always take them off before sunday. pragmatism wins, but aestheticism loses. it looks absolutely vile.
apart from fettling, i have been mostly wrestling with how to get super 8 footage from a camera onto a computer. it turned out to be a process of gradual digitisation, moving up through outmoded formats. firstly, i got the film processed in germany. then i got it transferred to a DV cassette. then i bought a cheap DV camera to convert the DV cassette so i could edit it. however, my new computer doesn’t have firewire, so i had to get a card bus adapter and a cable. i plugged it in last night and the whole thing worked straight away, which was a minor miracle. there is a cautionary tale in here somewhere.
so anyway, in contrast to a rather ugly bicycle, here is a rather pretty super 8 film, unedited. i will be hopefully shooting some super 8 at the national. it will take a while to get the film out though.
this week i don’t plan on doing anything majorly different. i think a gentle taper aligned to a concerted effort to stay at race weight should do it. this morning i spun the legs out with a ride around the hills north of bradford. it was grey and bleak, and the hills were challenging. there is a tough climb that heads up from thornton to queensbury, 2 miles with 563 ft of height gain – it would make a good hill climb course.
i did it a couple of times on a short loop. it was quite exciting, there is a lot going on in these parts.
an experience of utmost terror
i then took in perseverance lane, simply because of the name. i shall rest tomorrow by driving back down south, before doing a virtual hillclimb on wednesday on brockley combe, which is as close in profile to the National as i think i can find, i may have to do it twice though. then it’s proper taper, just some spinning, followed by a ride on long hill on the saturday, then it’s the big day.
it’s been a busy day, one of those days that is packed full of so much excitement that it feels like some time last week that i rode the Nick, when in reality it was this morning. the Nick O Pendle is a real hillclimb: steep, technical and challenging. it’s very different to the upcoming event on long hill.
not hurty enough
it was a painful day, but if anything, i held off a bit too much on the steep sections at the bottom of the climb, and could have hurt a bit more near the top. it was a bit of a judgement, i did ok, but there may have been a bit more there. next year i shall hit it harder and cling on.
real pain for my sham friends
Champagne for my real friends
so, it hurt. although i didn’t have quite the painface at the top; Carl Helliwell said i looked a ‘bit too good’, and he has a point, although i do tend to avoid the pain and vomit and black tunnel of narrowing darkness approach to shorter hills. Carl pipped me by two seconds, making it honours even for the weekend.
Tejvan took the win; his tenth from ten this season, although as i said to him afterwards, i’m sure he’d swap those ten for a single win next sunday. i don’t think he’ll have to. richard handley came second with Matt Pilkington third. Matt seemed to be having trouble working out which side of the road to ride on – this is bad form, but it wouldn’t have made any difference to the outcome. as an event organiser i don’t like to see reckless riding that jeopardises the safety of courses, and repeat running of events.
are we in france?
it’s been a good weekend, hard and fast (said the bishop to the actress). i feel just about ready for the National Flat Climb Championship next week. I am optimistic. i shall throw everything at it and hope for the best.
Some cyclists are superstitious about odd things. Lance Armstrong wouldn’t shave the night before a race, due to the energy required to regrow the hair, apparently.
my hair is currently getting long, although it’s not really long, i’ve not suddenly become some goddamn longhair hippy hipster mulleteer, but it is in need of a cut. my sideburns are getting unruly, inching down my face day by day. i had planned to get it cut along with the beard once the hillclimb season came around, but it’s one of those things, the longer i leave it the more i think i may as well leave it until the last race, thus avoiding any samsonite style catastrophes.
tomorrow is the penultimate race of the season, the beastly Nick O’ Pendle, with it’s varied and horribly steep gradients. it’s been the scene of the national on more than one occasion, and i’m sure will return again.
Boardman and Curran on the Nick
Steve Joughin goes into serious debt on the Nick in 1980, equalling the course record
I’m a bit nervous about the whole thing, but looking forward to it. i warmed up today at the Nelson Wheelers climb on Barley Moor. Strangely enough i just happened to take my girlfriend up north and met my mum when two hillclimbs just happened to be occuring in the near vicinity, for the second year running! imagine! what are the chances!
Mike Cuming
interestingly, last year i remember feeling disappointed that i hadn’t ridden hard enough, not really dug deep. this is confirmed by the blog. this year i was determined to make amends, and whatever happened to just make sure I really pushed the pace and hurt myself. i succeeded in this respect, blasted out of the gate and hit the lower slopes really hard, so much so that half way up i began to have doubts about whether i could sustain the effort. this is what happens on shorter climbs, where it’s about pain management. i tried to ignore the lactic and the climb was over almost before it seemed to have really got started. there were 4 other riders on the startsheet who had beaten me before, including raleigh/orbea rider Mike Cuming, National Bronze Medallist Ian Stott, and Carl Helliwell, the latter two being part of a very strong Blackburn District CTC outfit who have one the national team prize on previous occasions.
I managed a 3.42 for the climb, compared to a 4.24 last year, this is at least in part due to a bit of a gift tailwind (fingers crossed for tomorrow). This put me inside the course record by around 18 seconds. In effect, i held the course record for about 2 minutes, the time it took for Mike Cuming to make it up in 3.30. I took second, beating everyone else. i was surprised and pleased as punch to beat a real quality field, and be within shouting distance of Mike who has been riding in europe with the professional Orbea 20 road team.
it was a great day, but it really hurt, and by really hurt, i mean stabbing lung pain and sprinter’s cough, sore legs, sore chest, the lot. in fact, it was the most hurt i’ve had this year. maybe tomorrow after the Nick i’ll have to reassess this.
This weekend sees 2 out of my last 3 events for the year. I’m racing at Barley for the Nelson Wheelers event, then heading over to the Nick O’Pendle for the North Lancs Hillclimb. There’s a strong field on both days.
Right now i’m ready for a break. I’m ready to eat some food. more specifically, i’d like to get stuck into a pile of cake and a yard of ale. it seems a long way away from my current regime, which has seen me hit race weight this week of 67kg.
so, approximately 20 minutes of racing left – in a season that began on february 20th at the Frome and District 10. crikey.
