It was a beautiful autumn day, which makes me nostalgic for the hill climb season. I loved travelling around the country at this time of the year. Sunday was also the day the clocks go back, the last weekend in October, which means only one thing. The National Hill Climb Championship weekend. Muckle CC 2024
In honour of the national hill climb championship, I like to ride up a moderately steep hill at a brisk pace. I chose Brill hill which was a popular training route back in the day. I really enjoyed the 32 miles. In, fact, it got me thinking why don’t I try and do this more often?
When I look back at Cycling uphill it has definitely gone downhill in the past two years, with just a couple of posts and most of them are about selling up equipment. I sold all my racing wheels this year and already have a pang of regret. I like to think maybe next year will be the year I can get back into riding and racing. Now that I’ve sold all my wheels, maybe Murphy’s Law will kick in and I will be back. Don’t hold your breath though, I’ve had the same sentiment for the past eight years.
It looked another great race, with great atmosphere. Good job by Muckle CC, nice to see some of their riders do well too.
As a general rule, bike technology is a waste of money. I mean you can spend £3,500 on a Campag 12 speed groupset, but the marginal difference in speed is almost nothing compared to a 2nd hand 10-speed dura ace groupset. Shimano and Campag keep pushing us to more cassette sprockets, but they don’t really make any difference. This ‘Improvement’ in technology can be annoying. I was selling a Zipp 202 rear wheel, and it was so old, it was actually 10 speed hub. For several years I was racing with a 11 speed cassette, but with one cog taken off. It was always a little bit fiddly and gears not super smooth, but I could never justify buying a whole wheel, just to get a 1mm bigger hub.
Anyway, there is one exception to this rule that spending money on bike equipment is a waste of money. When you do hill climbs, weight does make a difference. When I won the national hill climb championship in 2013, the winning margin was 2 seconds. With an elevation gain of 253 metres, I calculated that 2 seconds was the equivalent of 700 grams. If my bike (or myself) had been 800 grams heavier, then physics suggests I would probably have been 2nd. So all the spending on lightweight components was kind of worth it.
For quite a few years, I rode some old Zipp 404 wheels, but for the 2012 season, I splashed out on some lightweight wheels. I got a front wheel from AX Lightness, with a claimed weight of 365 grams. With a Vittoria tub glued on, the actual measured weight is 570 grams.
2012 – Snake Pass
My first race with the new wheels was the 2012 Snake pass hill climb. I had been training in NY during August on a $800 bike, probably weighing around 9kg. The race was the first time I would use the wheels. I think that Trek Madone with racing wheels was in the region of 5.2kg. I couldn’t believe how fast it was. It was such a great feeling. I flew up the Snake Pass and set a new course record 11.40. It was probably a better effort, than 2013 when I improved the course record to 11.34 with the help of a strong tailwind. Snake Pass was always a good event, it was the right kind of climb for me, and I think every year, the wind was favourable.
Anyway, whenever I went from training wheels to racing wheels, there was always a noticeable sense of free speed.
I’m surprised the course record still stands 11 years later. I’m sure the likes of Ed Laverack and Andrew Feather will be able to break the record, when they get the same favourable tailwind I had in 2013.
Post-2016 and selling wheels.
When I started to get injured, and unable to do intervals. I was reluctant to sell the wheels because
a) you always lose a lot of the initial purchase price
b) you always hope you will get over the problem and get back into racing.
Before, you know it – 8 years have passed since you were last in racing shape, and you kind of realise there’s not much likelihood of ever getting back into the kind of fitness, where super-lightweight wheels are going to be the difference.
Generally, I tend to have a Zen attitude to material possessions, if it’s not useful or beautiful, put it on ebay or give to a charity shop. This philosophy can have its drawbacks. Many times, I’ve got rid of equipment only to need it later. But, I hung on to wheels quite a long time, I was surprisingly attached to a wheel, weighing just 570 grams.
Anyway, if you want super-fast wheel, with nice bit of history, it is available here.
It was kind of a mildly irritating phenomena that it was easier to go faster by buying aero equipement rather than training hard or reverse engineering your genetic makeup. Still, it was great feeling to go fast. Here’s an opportunity to get some speed at big discount on RRP.
I haven’t done much cycling this year, but a trip up to Yorkshire, meant an excuse to take the bike. The roads from Bolton Abbey to Burnsall are amongst my favourite.
I never tire of the rolling countryside, even if the slight uphills, feel more like serious hills these days. I was descending towards the river at Barden when something went amiss. I pedalled and nothing happened. The freewheel had gone. The worst kind of cycling misadventure, there’s not much you can do. I walked up to the B road and tried to ring the taxi of Mum and Dad. But, no signal at all. Apparently, the Yorkshire Dales still resist the encroachment of the modern world. I’m all for that, but it was a bit inconvenient.
As luck would have it there was a phone box literally at the top of the hill. I didn’t know they still had things. It didn’t accept coins. Fine. I had a credit card. But alas it was too good to be true, the phone didn’t work and so I was in a bit of a bind. The only thing I could think of doing was running up the hills and freewheeling down the hills. It might be a long way to get a signal (Bolton Abbey apparently).
However, no sooner had I set off on my walking/freewheeling journey than a kindly gentleman stopped his car. He was taking his 90 year old mother for a drive in the Yorkshire Dales, and offered a lift. The car was even equipped with a custom bike rack. I gratefully accepted and John offered to drop me off at Ilkley Station, near where they lived.
John of JD Tandems
It was perfect for me. As it happened, they both had connections to Otley CC. I recognised the Hargreaves surname from my time with the club. (see Sunday Club Run)
John used to run the excellent JD’s cycles in Ilkley. I definitely used many years ago, and always got good service.
Last September I had in mind to write a blog “I love intervals” I had just done a few intervals around Oxford. Short, small hills within the Oxford Ring Road. I even got a KOM on a hill up to a cul-de-sac in Iffley. It took 50 seconds, with an average gradient of 4% – that kind of hill. but It was really great fun to make some ‘big’ efforts.
Alas, I never got around to writing that post because, for the next few months, I paid for this tentative dip back into the hill climb world. I’ve been nursing an old injury. I think it’s an SI joint. I’ve watched a 100 YouTube videos, saying “Do this Stretch it will FIX SI PAIN” etc. but nothing seems to make any difference. I’ve had the same issue for seven years now. I think it was separate but related to the hip impingement. I fixed the hip, but not the SI joint (lower back)
So after seven years of constant effort to find a cure, you realise it’s probably not going to happen. Recently, I went up in the loft and saw three excellent bikes, which look rather forlorn. I don’t want to add up the total original cost of the three bikes sitting in the loft, but it dawns on me it is a little extravagant to keep three bikes, rarely used. I also have many lightweight wheels, which as a hill climber you tend to accumulate – Zipp 404’s and a “Lightweight front wheel – weighing around 300 grams or something ridiculous.
The problem is that they are all rim brake bikes and this makes the bikes very last millenium. I imagine the resale price of tubular rim brake wheels and rim braked bikes has plummeted. I’d like to sell, but you are resistant to sell when you need to accept a huge discount from the original bike. There’s always part of you thinks. “But, if I sell all my best bikes, I’m bound to get better and then I’ll need to buy new ones!” I have a zen-like attitude to personal possessions – I love selling on ebay or giving to charity shops, but with bikes there is a degree of attachment. Funny I have no attachment to my turbo trainer. (see below)
In 2013, the Trek Madone (the bike I used in 2013 National HC) was I believe top of the range, but now manual shifting and rim brakes – show how quickly the bike industry has moved on. The bike industry are very good at creating the old adage “There’s always a better bike to buy!”
Kirkstone Pass 2023
When I was racing, my dream hill for the national hill climb was Kirkstone Pass, the Struggle. Mainly for selfish reasons, it would have been an ideal hill for me. But, it was great to see the event as strong as ever held on closed roads on Kirkstone Pass in 2023.
Turbo Trainers
Remember the days of spending 30 minutes on a turbo in the garage? I never tried the modern-day video game versions. People seem to spend much longer on Zwift and the like. I always found turbo trainers intensely boring and time moved slowly. You had to be super-motivated to do 30 minutes or even an hour. Does anyone still use static turbo trainers? I tried to sell it on gumtree for £5, but I got no takers, so now I’m giving it away for free.
The Trek Madonne is theoretically a deluxe winter training bike. The problem is I never do any winter training these days.
The irony is that I have three great bikes, but I spend all my time on an old winter hack, which I’ve had for getting on 25 years. I’m tempted to consider a disk-brake commuting bike to see what all the fuss is. But, whenever I think of buying a new commuting bike – I’m always stuck in that conundrum, taht given the risk of bike theft in the centre of Oxford – why chance it with a better bike?
Also, I’m selling my Scicon Travel bag. It’s very good. You can read the review here
It’s not all doom and gloom, I still really enjoy cycling 10-15 miles a day around Oxford – there is a wonderful bike path. It’s enough to keep fit and happy.
I have a new fitness goal – training for the “Centenarian Decathlon” – i.e be fit when you are really old. The idea is that as we get older, our muscle and fitness declines rapidly. It means we can spend the last 10 years of our life, unable to move properly. The body fails before the heart and brain. The only way to be fit and mobile in the last decade of our life is to start training for it now.
The idea comes from Peter Attia – a doctor and fitness guru, who has spent a lot of time researching how to combat ageing and improve our healthy lifespan. He wrote a good book – “Outlive” which goes into different aspects of things that make a difference in improving life-expectancy and healthy life-expectancy. An important conclusion from all his scientific research is that if you did one single thing to improve life and healthy life-expectancy – it is exercise. Exercise is the single most important thing that makes a difference. Try to eat healthy, get good sleep, minimise stress and cultivate happiness. But, if there is a magic bullet, it is exercise – aerobic, VO2 max and core strength.
Healthy Life-expectancy
Fall in healthy life expectancy in recent years is expected to get worse. The US is also seeing a decline in life expectancy.
By the way, healthy life-expectancy is the age at which we are physically able to live an active life. Researching an economics video, I found that in the UK the healthy life expectancy is just 51 in Blackpool, but 71 in Richmond Upon Thames (Population problem). There is a regional variation in life expectancy, but an even bigger discrepancy in healthy life-expectancy. The way modern medicine and health systems are set up – we focus nearly all our efforts on treating the symptoms of ill-health, but do very little on preventative medicine. Peter Attia claimed that 70% of deaths in the US are preventable, but only 3% of the health care budget goes towards preventative care. In an ideal world, exercise would be more incorporated into transport systems, schools, even workplaces. But, if we want to take part in the centenarian decathlon, we have to take the initiative and start training now.
Vo2 Max
The good news for keen cyclists. VO2 max is one of the most reliable guides to life expectancy. The higher the VO2, there is a very strong correlation for higher life-expectancy. Even small amounts of high intensity training, can boost our VO2 max and our fitness. VO2 max steadily declines with age, but we can partly arrest the decline through training VO2 max specifically. In my own cycling, this year I haven’t done very much VO2 max efforts at all, just pottering around town. So this is a good reminder to make more of an effort in this regard.
Aerobic Base
As you might expect the more you improve your aerobic base, the more good things happen for our health. It improves our cardiovascular health, but also our general mood and feeling of well-being.
The Harvard professor in this video is very good. One of the most interesting things I learnt was when people are unfit, if they exercise they don’t get the same ‘buzz’ / ‘dopamine’ effect that trained athletes do. This is why unfit people don’t like exercise, it is just all suffering, little reward. But, when you get to a certain level of fitness, then increasingly the body is able to send a reward of ‘dopamine’ and exercise becomes much more enjoyable. This is why it can be so hard to get going with exercise; at the start, it is not much fun. But, if you can get a critical mass of fitness then everything becomes easier because exercise itself becomes more enjoyable. I’ve found that in my own exercise cycles. When you’re fit and firing on all cylinders, you can’t wait to get back on the bike and do more training. But, when you get out of the habit, the idea of doing hill intervals or whatever, appears less desirable.
Core strength
Another really important thing about training for old age is general all-round strength. As a cyclist, I have often been guilty of focusing only on cycling and not doing the more ‘boring’ core strength exercises. If you have ever seen me in a lycra skinsuit (and apologies if you have) you will know my body type is perfect for long-seated hill climbs. But, equally, it is perfectly unsuited for doing pull-ups and push ups. Yet, when you get really old, this kind of upper-body strength could be the difference between pulling yourself out of bed and being bedridden. I spend some time with a friend with Parkinson’s. When it kicks in, the legs stop working and to get out of bed, it requires pulling on bars to get up. It is touch and go, and this is a real motivation for training for old age. You realise every workout and muscle strength you developed – makes the difference of whether you can get out of bed, and being able to do basic tasks.
Modern life
In the pandemic period, I got into the habit of online shopping. It’s amazing, you click on your computer and all your heavy shopping gets brought to your door. It saves so much effort. I used to take a rucksack when travelling, but now replace it with mini suitcases on wheels. Rather than take the stairs at the airport, we have lifts and travellators. Everything is geared towards comfort and ease of use. When we put a backpack on, it is a bit uncomfortable, so we seek ways to avoid lifting and carrying. Everything that used to keep the body in shape is being replaced by technology which does the heavy lifting for us. But, actually walking with a heavy backpack, is really good training for the body. It is why the army use this kind of training.
All this is good in the short-term, but it means the modern homeo sapiens is losing strength and the ability to function like we are supposed to. When things go wrong, it’s either too late or we just seek a solution to the problem of a weak body – not address the underlying cause. This is why we have to make so much conscious effort to keep the body active and avoid the comfort delusion. For example, when my 70-year-old mother brings in the shopping, I feel the right thing to do is go and help her carry the heavy shopping bags. But, actually, that weight training of lifting heavy shopping is the best thing she can do. (Apparently, women particularly benefit from weight training in old age). What I should be doing is inviting my parents down to do some redecorating in my house, keep them busy.
Exercises
My spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy said that once you are over 50 you should try and if possible do 2-3 hours of exercise and stretching per day. Sri Chinmoy used to be a keen runner, but when he got a bad knee injury, he took up weight lifting and sought to inspire the older generation, that we can keep ourselves fit. The idea of 2-3 hours per day exercise seems such a long-time. But, now I’m getting closer to 50, I have a goal to do this. Peter Attia states that many people who come to his clinic spent years seeking to make themselves rich, but when they reach a certain age, they realise it is no use, unless you have the good health to go with it. We just have to prioritise health and exercise and find time wherever we can.
For example, I was taking someone to hospital last week, there is hours and hours of waiting. But even then, there are some exercises you can do. Try stand on one foot with your eyes closed and then try stand on your toes with your eyes closed. Sounds easy? It isn’t.
There are also other exercises you can do in small confined spaces. I’m a big fan of eccentrics. Pretty much all using your body weight. The aim is to try and exercise all 600+ muscles in the body. The exercises seem easy, but the first time I did a 30 minute session, I couldn’t believe how stiff I was the next day! Muscles you don’t use in daily life.
Cycling is great
On average I spend one hour a day cycling around Oxford, Kennington, mostly on the cycle path. It’s a really efficient way to both get around time, save money and keep fit. Oxford is in the news for its controversial transport plans like LTN. But, not so visible are the huge benefits to physical and mental health which will come to societies if we can encourage active travel. So that’s a start, but I will work on improving upper body strength too.
And it is that time of the year to start thinking of VO2 Max Hill climb intervals
I have been cycling around Oxford quite a bit over winter. I try to make up to 100 miles a week if I can. It’s great fun cycling on certain roads and cycle paths.
Although I am not training properly, I am reasonably fit and generally get a little joy from being one of the fastest cyclists around. But, in the past few days, I keep coming across people on electric bikes who seem to be able to do 1-25+ mph in three seconds flat. When I see a bike speeding past, I often see if I can try and keep up. But, last week I was unceremoniously dropped two days in succession. The first electric bike was one of these people carriers, with two small children in the front.
The guy ‘cycling’ the souped-up electric bike carrier looked more like he was doing a criterium rather than a steady commute around town. When it comes to helmets I do think it is worth wearing them. But, I’m not an evangelist, I certainly don’t think it is the main solution to cycle safety. I get slightly irritated by people who fall over and graze their arm and then spend the next 20 years telling you a helmet saved their life. Anyway, I digress despite my conservative views on bike helmets, it always makes me slightly uneasy seeing very young kids in people carriers without helmets. If I were charging them around town at 25mph, I would put a helmet on my young kids, they look very exposed should anything happen.
If I had my TT bike I might have been able to keep up, but a commuting bike with heavy panniers, and it’s pretty hard to get to 25mph on the flat.
But, I do worry these super-powerful electric bikes will give ‘cyclists’ a bad reputation. I was in a pedestrian shopping centre and two young kids were charging up and down on their electric scooters. They were having great fun, but it does add an air of uncertainty about the pedestrian area, I can understand why old people may feel uncomfortable with all these powerful and heavier machines.
LTNs in Oxford
Two years ago, I wrote a post about the pros and cons of LTNs in Oxford. I don’t have time to write another nuanced post about the scheme. It is controversial, and it creates winners and losers which is unfortunate. But, from my personal experience, I think they are great. It is much better and safer cycling around LTNs. I have definitely changed some cycle routes. Divinity Road was never a good place with heavy traffic, but now it is great. I try to stay out of the controversy, it is too toxic. But, there is something great about having neighbourhoods where the car is not so dominant and you can enjoy walking and cycling.
I took my bike to Reg Taylor for annual service and for the first time ever, I had to wait a week to get a service. They have been very busy with bike repairs, ancedotal evidence more are cycling perhaps.
A look at different average speeds in different types of cycling. All speeds are in km/h.
People often ask what is a good average speed for cycling? When I was in Otley CC, we used to have ‘reliability rides’ (think sportive which doesn’t cost anything). Usually, the reliability rides involved riding 50 miles in 3 hours. – 16.6 mph, 26.8 km/h. It was a good test for the club-rider; it could still be done at a non-competitive, but ‘brisk’ pace. I don’t know if people still do reliability rides.
Usually our old club runs would be done at around 14mph (23 km/h) and that didn’t include the three tea stops during the day. Of course, the average speed of a club run will all depends who you go with. If it’s a club run of more than 20mph, I think a chain gang is probably more important. When I went with a local Oxford chain-gang, the average speed was something like 23mph for a flattish course around Otmoor.
Passing traffic on dual carriageways can add an extra 2-3 km/h
A £1,000 road bike will be considerably faster (1-2km/h) than say a heavy hybrid bike.
Very smooth roads – smooth tarmac can add an extra 1 km/h
In a 10 mile time trial, with a tailwind of 20mph, I once averaged 56km/h. Into the headwind on the return, I averaged 36 km/h. Wind is important
If you can average 32-34 km/h on the flat on a road bike, you may find you can get close to 40km/h on a time trial bike on a fast course.
If you cycle in the wheels – behind another rider, you can save 20-40% energy. In the middle of a large peleton, it is said you can save up to 50% of your energy. You can probably ride 3-9 km/h faster. Average speeds for team time trials are often 3-5 km/h faster than individual time trials.
The Old Shoe out of Llangollen is a short, steep climb in North Wales. It runs close to the better known Horseshoe Pass. (main A road). But the Old shoe makes an excellent venue for the national hill climb because it is feasible to close the road to traffic and is significantly steeper (an average for 12.% for 1 mile is a real challenge. The road is quite narrow and has a cattle grid, but is relatively quiet, as most cars take the Horseshoe Pass up the valley.
I remember sitting down with Maciek about two years ago (2019). I always enjoy talking about hill climbs, so was happy to take part. We spent quite a few hours and I think Maciek ended up with quite a bit of footage (as an amateur film-maker, I couldn’t guess at the number of hours Maciek must have spent editing all that footage). It was at a time when I wasn’t doing any competitive cycling, so it was nice to relive the old memories, which seemed quite ‘alive’.
On another occasion, we went out to Chinnor Hill in the Chilterns to do a short photoshoot.
I must admit, I then forgot about it for a year until Maciek thought about publishing in 2020. But, he waited another year and interviewed Bithja Jones and Andrew Feather, which was a good addition to the film.
I think it is very good. I like all the contributions and it gives a good insight into the world of hill climbing. It’s often hard watching yourself speak, but there you go.
After the 2021 national hill climb on Winnats Pass and now watching the whole final version, I’m super inspired to go out and cycle up some hills! I hope my body is as enthusiastic and willing as the rest of me! But, I guess that is part of the film, inspiring you to enter a hill climb 362 days until the Old Shoe in Llangollen, North Wales
The film is made by Maciek Tomiczek supported by Hunt.
