Huddersfield SW hill climb 2015

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Jackson-Bridge

This Saturday was the double header of Huddersfield Star Wheelers – Granville Sydney Memorial Trophy (on Jackson Bridge) and Holme Valley Wheelers (on Holme Moss)

Jackson-Bridge
Top of Jackson Bridge

With the National on Jackson Bridge in two weeks time, there was a big entry, with 90+ riders and many of those hoping to be contending for Nat. Champs on startsheet.

Jackson Bridge
Jackson Bridge

It has been quite a good week training. I went to Jackson Bridge earlier in week to test the national course. It was wet and strong headwind, though sun did come out just towards the end. The bad news was my stages power meter finally went kaput. It had been going through  batteries every four hours, but now this is nothing working at all. I’ll have to hope I can get an exchange for this Stages generation one for Stages generation Two, but by the time I’m back in Oxford and get a replacement, it will be too late to use this hill climb season. Still my Quark power meter broke for several months in 2013 – it’s not the end of the world, though there is always a value to seeing your power go up and down.

Today, the weather was quite good, though there was a light headwind at the top – unlike last year where I think there was light tailwind.

I did the course in 4.19. Slower than last year. I thought I maybe held back too much for the first steep section. Though I had brief chat to Adam Kenway at the top. He felt he had gone too hard on the first section and suffered on the rest of the course.

It’s a tough one pacing hill climbs, especially a variable gradient like Jackson Bridge. If you don’t do as well as you would like on a hill climb you can always think you could have paced it better, but sometimes you just don’t have the legs.

I finished 4th, behind Dan Evans, Adam Kenway and Joe Clark.

  • 1st Junior was Tim Home – 4.27 NRG RT
  • 1st Vet – Jim Henderson 4.28
  • 1st Lady – Lou Bates –
  • 1st U/16 – Nathan Allatt

Holme Valley CC 2015-start

After a brief drive over to Holme, it was time to get ready for the second hill climb on the menu. It is a 1.3 mile version of Holme Moss, made famous through the Tour de France climbing it in 2014. It averages 9.5% for the 1.3 miles, and fortunately there was a light tailwind at the top. I went reasonably well; it’s definitely a climb where you can get into more of a rhythm than Jackson Bridge.

view from Holme Moss

I finished in 6.30 which was 3rd place. 1st D.Evans, 2nd J.Teasdale. 3rd me. 1st lady was Dame Sarah Storey.

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Bont zero cycle shoes review

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A review of Bont Zero cycle shoes.

Manufacturer Features:

  • Claimed weight: 220 grams per shoe. (I’ve weighed with Speedplay cleats on, and it came to around 580grams. They were 80grams less than my Mavic Tourmalet with same cleats on)
  • “Fully Heat Mouldable Chassis utilizing Epoxy Thermoset Resin”
  • Sole: Unidirectional Carbon to improve aesthetics of sole and further reduce weight of shoe
  • Upper sole: “Durolite Outer Skin for its extremely durable nature and light weight”

I had a pair of Mavic Tourmalet cycling shoes that had lasted since 2009. They were light, comfortable and got good value for money. But, they needed replacing. In terms of cycling shoes, my criteria are:

  • Comfort
  • Weight
  • Aerodynamics
  • Power transfer (hard to measure)
  • Looks

I don’t need cooling vents (my feet are always cold not hot) Nor do I need any thing to tighten shoes before a sprint.

I did toy with the time trial specific Bont Crono TT shoe, but was put off my higher price, non UCI compliance and wondering whether that would be a problem for CTT.

bont-zero-shoes-pair

I chose the Bont Zero because they were lightweight (claimed 540grams a pair) and also claimed to be aerodynamic shape – negating the need for overshoes.

Another selling point was that they had heat moulding capacities so it promised hope of a good fit.

First off, I ordered a pair of 46. I put them on and they were a bit too tight, so I sent them back and got the slightly bigger 46.5 (this was same size as my Mavic’s). When these came they were still a little tight in the width. But, I didn’t really want to get longer shoes than necessary (no point getting bigger and more weight if you don’t need it)

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Two pairs of shoes

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I have one pair of shoes. I have worn the same pair of shoes every day for the past three years (no exaggeration). There’s never been a day when I haven’t worn them. I like that because it’s simple. You go to the door, and you just have one choice. It’s not like I get to the door and think – which shall I wear today – the brown ones or the black ones? No, there is only one pair. I have shoes without laces because that’s simpler too.

bont-v-worn-shoe

Last summer my one pair of shoes was falling apart. My mother got fed up and gave me £50 to buy a new pair. I had nothing against a new pair of shoes, but I really don’t like shopping. It’s all that standing around and walking – it’s just not complementary to hard cycle training.

I was very bad, and didn’t buy any new shoes (I did buy some superglue to try and fix the holes though). But, I did put that £50 towards the £260 I later  paid for one of the lightest pairs of Bont Zero cycling shoes mail-order. That made me very happy.

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Robin Hood climb

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Cote du Langbar
Cote du Langbar

There’s no shortage of climbs in West Yorkshire. In fact the hardest task is finding a route for a quiet, easy recovery ride. Quite often, my recovery ride ends up going up Langbar (between Ilkley and Bolton Abbey). I’m weaving all other the road trying to avoid going over 200 watts, whilst seated down. I’m sure there are easier ways to do a recovery ride. But, I’d rather be going over Langbar and looking at the magnificent scenery than plodding along a flat and traffic filled A-Road.

I heard a rumour from a friend of a friend there may be a national hill climb championship in Ilkley one day which might use Langbar as the hill.  Though for point of comparison, you can’t do a recovery ride on Park Rash or Rosedale Chimney.

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Otley CC hill climb 2015

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paul-brierley

This weekend was the Otley CC hill climb, with perhaps a record field of 58 riders. It was the ninth time I’ve ridden the event (though 2 of them were in the last Millennium). Still I have a long way to go to catch up with Paul Brierley of Huddersfield R.C. who was making it 28 starts for Otley CC hill climb).

paul-brierley
Paul Brierly on Guise Edge

I was ridding my Trek Emonda, which is getting close to Nat HC weight. My top bike mechanic Andy Sherwood came round on Friday, to make it single chainring (39*) I nearly didn’t make it because I lost a single chainring bolt, but I was lucky because somehow Andy had a spare single chainring bolt lying around his van. That whole operation must have taken at least 250 grams off an already light bike. There’s probably a bit more to come off before National, but not very much.

sherwood

Andy Sherwood of Sherwood cycles

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no talk

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There was planned to be a talk on hill climbs this evening at Beeline bicycles with Paul Jones. But, it is cancelled due to illness. I had an idea to deputise with a short improvised talk on ideal gear ratios for hill climbs, but no chairs have turned up. So it was decided it is best to cancel. Because you  really would need a comfy chair to endure my lecture on hill climb intervals and the merits of a 39 chainring.

It’s just one of those things. The gods of national hill climb championships talks have said no. But, never give  up, there’s always another hill to cycle up. Perhaps we will be able to rearrange at some future time.

 

 

Newbury RC hill climb – Walbury hill 2015

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Today was the Newbury RC hill climb on Walbury Hill.

The start was a very civilised 10am, with myself as last man at 11.20am. It meant I could start the day watching a video of the last 20km of the women’s world race championship. I didn’t know the result, and when I turned it on, it didn’t look too promising for British hopeful Lizzie Armistead. But, it turned out to be a thrilling race, and a really superb victory for Lizzie Armitstead (from Otley, Yorkshire). As the imperious old rugby union commentator Bill McClaren would say:

‘They’ll be dancing in the streets of Otley tonight.”

Back to domestic time trialling in the UK, and there was not quite as much glamour driving down the A34 towards Newbury, but it was a great Autumn day and super views from the top of Walbury hill.
2015-walbury

After last year’s first open, Newbury RC have made efforts to make it an even bigger event. They managed to get a rare road closure (which is great to race on) and a generous prize fund, due to sponsorship from Ridgeway Volkswagen and several others.

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Watford Velo Hill climb – Aston Hill

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Today was a new hill climb organised by Watford Velo on Aston Hill in the Chilterns. It is about 1.3 miles long- gradual at the start, increasing in gradient to 15% near the top.

I often train in the Chilterns. There is a long ridge from Watlington in the West to Tring in the East, where there are innumerable climbs of about 1 mile long. I often use these climbs for training – Britwell Hill, Watlington Hill, A40 Hill (Confusingly called Aston hill too), Chinnor Hill, Bledlow Ridge, Whiteleaf, Kop Hill, Aston hill from Tring. Probably more, but you get the idea there are plenty of hills in this part of the world. I often start in the West and move along the ridge. I don’t often get as far as Tring, but I have done Aston Hill on a couple of occasions in the past few years.

tejvan-matt-jamesPhoto: Matt James, flickr

The hill climb season often involves quite a bit of travelling so it is nice to be able to do a local hill climb on roads that you actually train on.

It was beautiful early Autumn weather and a great day to be cycling. I felt a little guilty to be driving there, when I could have cycled the 50 miles roundtrip. But, it’s always good to treat each open like a big event, get used to using race wheel e.t.c. Testing your warm-up routine e.t.c.

The hill climb seemed quite relaxed, Watford Velo a club of 70-90 riders had an impressive turnout of 25 riders, making up about half the field. I felt a little out of place with supertight skinsuit, NOpinz pouch and every weight saving marginal gain on my wheels. I even still had my tribars left on bike from last weekend. I can’t say this was a scientific decision to leave on to gain aero advantage – more I never got round to taking off.

However, my professionalism and hill climb marginal gain efforts were deeply undermined by riding the hill climb with water bottle in. As mentioned in my ‘Ultimate Guide to Hill climb warmups’ Rule number 47  – is never do a hill climb with water bottle in – always remember to take it out.

Aston Hill is a little unusual, 1.3 miles. With fast start. There is even a little bit of downhill where I touched 31mph, then there is a gradual height gain before you turn left up to Aston Hill proper. Here the hill gets steeper straightaway. But, the gradient is variable. Near the top it reaches a max of 15%. Near the top, there was an excellent crowd of spectators for a local hill climb. There was a great roar as you hit the last 300m. I have done the hill in training, but is really very different to race on. I paced my effort quite conservatively. Averaging mid 350 watts for first half. In last half, there were bursts of 500watts for the steep bits. I may have ridden too conservatively in first half, but I had enough left for hardest bit.

My time was 5.03, which was good enough for first place.

Average power was 404 watts, which seemed a little low compared to training this week. But, I did recalibrate power meter on my rollers.

Thanks to Watford Velo, Cyclopeadia, Watford and all who came out to spectate.

I took some great photos, but left my memory card at home, so nothing to show for the day.

Watford Velo took this short video

Talk on hill climbs at Beeline bicycles

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henderson-National-Hill-Champs

Next Monday, I will be at Beeline Bicycles with Paul Jones. PJ will be giving presentation on his book ‘A Corinthian Endeavour‘. I reviewed the book here

The talk is at 6.30pm. Details at Beeline

Paul will be talking about the National hill climb championship, his book and some of the characters who make up the sport.

For my part, I will be sharing all the secrets of hill climbs. Which essentially boils down to being thin and then cycling quite fast up a hill.