Even though I’ve done a lot of cycling around Yorkshire and Oxford, I still love to spend time looking at map trying to find the steepest possible hills. I know it’s probably more efficient to google and search Strava, but in my mind, it can’t beat the fun of looking at a real map and all those contour gradients. Any double arrow always raises a little excitement, especially if you haven’t been up that hill before.
At the moment, steep hills make great training for the hill climb season and the national championship in particular. But, even if I wasn’t training there is some attraction of battling against the steepest gradients. In one sense it doesn’t make sense to seek out the steepest hills, but there’s nothing like looking over your shoulder and seeing the road snaking below you.
Robin Hood climb near Silsden
Another kind of benefit of going up really steep hills is that you can get magnified power figures. For the life of me, I couldn’t do 450 watts on the flat, but when it’s 25% + it’s kind of hard not to!
The steepest hill I’ve been up is Hardknott Pass in the Lake District, a definite 30%, with the additional challenge of coming at the end of a pretty challenging hill in its own right.
Other really steep hills that have been quite memorable include Park Rash, Wrynose Pass, Bushcombe Lane to name but a few. I keep meaning to go over to the North York Moors, where 30% gradients seem to be a speciality.
Today I was in Menston, West Yorkshire, and there’s plenty of steep hills to choose from. I decided to go over the moors to Silsden. Where just a couple of months ago, I was one of millions lining the side of the road for Le Tour de France.
It’s hard to believe. But, yes this really did happen. Silsden closed down for the day to welcome Le Tour!
Le Tour didn’t go up the steepest hills in the district, the roads would have been too narrow and awkward for the Tour caravan.
On Strava, Robert Gesink is the quickest with 13.59. An average speed of 8.2mph. 399 watts average. A VAM of 1,694.0
The interesting thing was watching the climb unfold on Eurosport. At the bottom Valverde attacked, gaining a 20 second advantage. Froome was dropped from the main contenders and slipped away. But, as the climb unfolded, Valverde blew and Froome came back in contention. Picking off the favourites who had gone hard from the start; on that climb it was Froome who was the best of the GC contenders.
At 12-13 minutes, it’s quite a long climb. Also, at an average speed of 8.2mph, there is much less aero benefit from sitting in the wheels than usual. Therefore, there is less downside to getting dropped and going at your own pace. Froome likes looking at his stem and power meter, but bbviously sometimes there must be a benefit to looking at your power meter in a climb. Or at least be very confident in your ability to pace a climb.
I would say a power meter can be helpful, but it is important training to learn the art of pacing, without looking at a computer.
Blowing up on a climb
Everyone knows that awful feeling of getting carried away on the bottom of a really steep hill and then having to grovel all the way to the top. It happened to me this summer on Bushcombe Lane – with 25% gradient. It takes a certain patience to ride within yourself and make sure you can go all the way to the top at your best pace
Yesterday, after the race, I did some hill efforts, but purposefully kept to a lower power than usual for doing hill climbs. It was a nice feeling to be able to go all the way up the climb, knowing at any stage you can pick it up if necessary.
It all depends on the climb. Take a traditional British hill climb 3-4 minutes, and it requires a very different pacing to a 13-14 minute climb. But, even on a three minute climb, you can still blow up badly, if you get pacing completely wrong. Chris Boardman in his hill climb tips, always recommended riding a hill climb leaving a little for a sprint in the last half.
But, that doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. I dont really have a sprint to speak of. If I wait for a last minute sprint, I would never do my best hill climbs. I need to ride close to the limit for as long as I can.
The only real way to learn how to pace hill climbs, is to experiment and do real hill climbs in practice. Forget intervals on turbo, go out and find a suitable hill and do a few efforts. If you can measure your time, power and heart rate, it gives even more data to work with. Try your favourite hill in different ways. One day go like a madman from the start, another day pick it up after half way.
Pacing long hill on Saturday. Photo Ken Norbury.
Thanks to Ken Norbury for this photo from yesterday. (album on Google Plus)
As I mentioned yesterday, after Snake Pass hill climb, I joined Paul and Ben for a lap of their efforts to ‘Everest’ Snake Pass.
Ben emailed me to say Paul Talbot successfully completed the challenge on Sun 11.30pm after 14 hours ‘moving time’. 16 hours after he started. That’s 181 miles at an average speed of 12.8mph. 27 times up Snake Pass.
Ben says he retired after reaching 5,360m (approx base camp). Everesting is even tougher if you’re the better side of 86kg).
I’m off to New York for a couple of weeks. Hot, humid, intense roads and happy drivers – not the perfect acclimatisation for the upcoming British hill climb season. But, as long as a I can do a few hill intervals I’ll be happy.
There’s a lot of interest in ‘Everesting‘ at the moment. I got invited to speak on BBC Radio Surrey tomorrow morning 8.50am about the ‘Everesting’ of Box Hill. Unfortunately, I will be dipping into my first American breakfast of fried donuts and corn syrup muffins.
In my keyword statistics I see someone is googling ‘everesting Cat and Fiddle’ – Good luck with that one. That would be a lot of miles to Everest Cat and Fiddle. on the 3% slope. (and you have to cycle on the way down.)
Cat and Fiddle. One of England’s longest climbs.
To Everest Cat and Fiddle, you’re looking at 27 times * 330m, which is 13.2 miles per lap (up and down). Total of 343 miles. I wouldn’t recommend with a strong headwind.
Some notes on the rules and laws of cycling. Though, whatever rules are – there’s a lot to be said for using common sense to stay safe and respectful of other users.
Difference between legal requirements and advisory notes
The Highway code reflects some legal requirements.
At night your cycle MUST have white front and red rear lights [Law RVLR regs 13, 18 & 24)] This is a law.
The Highway code also offers ‘advisory notices’ on how you should behave.
You should keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear.
The difference is that there is no legal requirement to keep both hands on handlebars – so it is OK to drink a bidon and eat a banana without risk of prosecution… It could be considered ‘best practise’ to keep hands on handlebars.
Generally, rules and laws are there to promote a more harmonious and safer experience on the road. When people ignore road traffic laws it can be both frustrating and dangerous. But, whilst it’s important to be aware of all the legal issues around cycling – you can’t beat plain common sense. If you cycle blindly through a red traffic light whilst under the influence of drink, you shouldn’t need a law to tell you it’s a dangerous thing.
Also, the next time someone beeps at you for cycling two abreast or 1 metre from edge of road, it is quite a comfort to know that what you are doing is perfectly legal and within your rights, even advised by the department of transport.
Common Questions on Cycling and the Law
Is it legal to cycle on pavement?
No, it is illegal to cycle on pavement (footpath by side of road) unless, it is marked as shared use cycle path [Laws HA 1835 sect 72 & R(S)A 1984, sect 129]. Cycling on pavements can lead to a fixed penalty notice of £30.
Can children cycle on pavements?
No. However, children under 16 are unlikely to be issued with fixed penalty notice. In theory, police and community support officers are supposed to use considerable discretion in dealing with people who cycle on the pavement. This is to reflect the difference between a young children seeking a safe passage on the pavement and others who might be cycling at high speed putting pedestrians at discomfort. See more at: Cycling on pavements
Can you cycle on Bridleways and Footpaths away from the road?
The law specifically relates to footways by the side of a highway. In theory, if you are on a footpath away from a road, it is legal to cycle – unless there is sign saying otherwise.
Can you cycle across a Pelican Crossings?
No. The highway code states ‘Do not ride across a pelican, puffin or zebra crossing. Dismount and wheel your cycle across.’ However, you can cycle across a ‘toucan crossing’ A toucan crossing is a wider version of pelican crossings. It will have an extra light to indicate a green cyclist.
To confuse matters, some pelican crossings have an extra green light for cyclist. A green cyclist light gives the indication it would be OK to cross on the bike.
Can you cycle on Dual Carriageways?
Yes, unless there is a specific sign saying cyclists prohibited.
Motorways are prohibited to cyclists.
A no cycling sign, might appear on some three lane dual carriageways.
Can you cycle in Bus Lanes?
Yes. Most bus lanes are open to cyclists unless indicated otherwise by signs.
Can a Cyclist cycle in the middle of a lane?
watch for car doors opening.
There is no law stating where on the road a cyclist must be. There are different guidelines offered. One guideline is to cycle ‘well clear of kerb. 1 metre on in centre of the left lane (best position on road for cyclists) and (Direct Gov link) However, this would also mean ignoring small bicycle lanes.
I just watched a recording of Dragons Den featuring the cycling company – ‘Fat Lad at the Back’ – (FLAB)
I thought there presentation was quite good and was a bit surprised the grumpy old dragons didn’t get the potential of the label and market segment.
Fat lad at the back on BBC. Photo by BBC
If I was a dragon, I think I would have taken a punt, I think the cycle-wear has a lot of potential. It can carve a niche, amongst those MAMILs who will enjoy the irony of riding the label FLAB – not everyone’s cup of tea, but I suppose it makes a change from Rapha and Sky replica jerseys.
In a way being rejected by the Dragons, is probably one of the best bits of advertising they could get. I think people will like the label even more, now that the Dragons have said it won’t work. There’s nothing better than proving a few millionaires wrong.
Perhaps if I play my cards right, after the hill climb season, I could get my first official brand endorsement deal with ‘Fat lad at the back’. It would be the ultimate post-modernist irony – whatever that is.
Fat Lad at the Back (FLAB) is a Yorkshire based firm which offers cyclewear to riders with up to a 60inch waist. Founders Richard and Lynn Bye appeared on TV August 2014. One motivation for Fat Lad at the Back was the difficulty in getting good clothes for cyclists are bigger than the typical ‘cyclist dimensions’.
(though I could add, I’ve never been able to get arm warmers thin enough to stay up! though I can’t see a specialist cycling company being created to meet that niche…)
About Fat Lad at the Back
“1 long weekend, 3 fat lads, 4 alpine hills.
This was the alcohol infused challenge we set ourselves.
Our own Etape du pain, conceived of some misguided idea that 3 middle aged men in lycra, collectively weighing in excess of 280kg’s, could cycle Alpe D’Huez, Col de la Croix de Fer, Télégraphe and Galibier in 3 days.
Who’ll be last up the hills? We joked and laughed about having a jersey printed for the previous days fat lad at the back, a Yorkshire version of the Lantern Rouge.”
I was impressed with the quality of the London Surrey Classic – This is exactly what you hope from a one day classic. Big splits in the fields and an increasingly small group contesting the finish. It makes it a game of cat and mouse, decided on the smallest of margins.
Philip Gilbert was undoubtedly the strongest of the riders on the hills, but his last dig in Wimbledon was not quite enough to drop the remaining five. It was fascinating seeing the three of Swift, Blythe and Cannondale rider trying to reclaim the 50 m gap to Gilbert and Alaphillipe upfront. Such a small gap, so agonisingly hard to close.
It has been a treat for cycling fans this summer. The Tour de France – the Commonwealth Games, not to mention the Tour of Poland.
As gripping at the Tour of Poland is on Eurosport, nothing will beat the experience of watching the Tour de France in the flesh through Yorkshire. It was a great shame Froome and Contador crashed out, because it would have made a fascinating battle for the overall between them and Nibali. But, the individual stages had enough interest to make it an absorbing contest all the way to Paris.
The Commonwealth Games may not rank too highly on the European Procycling calendar, but it still gave some memorable action. The individual time trial was pretty exciting as time trials go. It was great to see English time triallist, Alex Dowsett come back from 5 seconds deficit to gain a narrow victory in the last few km. Good to see plenty of time checks – something you don’t always see in pro continental time trials. I particularly enjoyed watching this time trial as Dowsett quite often turns up to blast the local domestic time trial scene.
Both the mens and womens road race was epic, and I think everyone was glad to see Lizzie Armitstead and perennial team worker – Geraint Thomas take the plaudits and finish first. I would like to see Thomas as the designated team leader for Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders next year.
The Vuelta Espane is on the horizon and it will be a fascinating duel between a fresh Froome and an inform Quintana. Froome starts as favourite, but Quintana is a superb climber. There are other candidates as well, though the ageing Chris Horner will struggle to replicate his position of last year. Nevertheless, he’s done a lot for all those balding vet cyclists, who aren’t quite ready to hang up the wheels.
My Training
With time trials on the back burner until next year, it’s all about hill climbs for the next couple of months. I’m taking a few weeks of unstructured hill climb training before starting more regimented intervals. It involves basically going up fast hills, in particular steep 20% hills, like Pea Royd Lane.
On Monday I got a sore back after a previous four hour training ride in the Chilterns. It’s a reminder that climbing steep hills uses quite different muscles to a time trial tuck. Once the season gets underway, core strength training usually goes out of the window. But, I might have to do a bit of upper body work to get more power and stability when doing short power efforts.
At this time of the year, I make the first comparison of power and time of going up various hills – times I’ve been recording for the past few years. It’s always hard to make comparisons year to year, but you do start looking for any early sign of improvement / decline / stagnation. My power meter seems to be giving readings 20-30 watts lower than last year – at least I hope it’s the power meter and not me. The Garmin always fails when I try to recalibrate. Anyway, at the end of the day, it’s the time going up hills that matter not the power figure on the computer.
Unsurprisingly, I feel pretty strong on the fifth or sixth interval of the day, but the all important first interval could be a little faster. I guess if you train for 100 mile time trials, that’s the kind of effect you will get. Now, it’s time to refocus on explosive power rather than maintaining efforts for several hours. I do kind of enjoy hill climb intervals. At least it’s nice to be doing them in summer with warm weather for a change.
Next week, I may go up to Yorkshire, have a look at Pea Royd Lane, and maybe ride up a few more Yorkshire hills, before heading off to New York where the interval training will begin in earnest.
In Oxfordshire, I’ve found a hill which is a reasonable comparison to Pea Royd Lane – Chinnor Hill from Chinnor to Bledlow Ridge.
Starting just after mini roundabout over the railway bridge, the hill is
0.8 miles
Gradient 9%
max: 16%
Height gain: 393ft / 120m
Not as steep as Pea Royd Lane, but a reasonable approximation
Recovery drinks are useful for after a long ride or race. If it is a fairly easy training ride, I probably won’t bother – just rely on water and normal food. But, when you’ve really exerted yourself, a recovery drink can be helpful for rehydrating and taking on energy and protein. Many studies have suggested that just after exercise is the best time to take on nutrition. It is at this time, when the body is empty, that the body is most receptive to nutrition. Recovery drinks can play a role in maximising recovery. It might sound obvious to take on water and nutrition after big effort, but if you’re a bit disorganised you can struggle to find the right food and drink. Recovery drinks can make it easier.
There are quite a few different recovery drinks to choose from. They will all have some combination of carbohydrate / protein. The most common recovery drinks are based on carb (maltodextrin/ fructose) and whey protein. There are also soy recovery drinks. The most important thing is not so much choosing the ‘right’ brand, but just making sure you take something in the right quantity.
Some of the recovery drinks in the house.
High 5 Recovery
The High 5 Recovery sachets are pretty handy. Often I take a recovery drink after a race. Having a few sachets in your bag, makes it easy to make a drink without carrying a large carton or recovery powder.
It is very easy to mix. Just put some powder in, give a little stir, and it’s ready to go. It tastes very pleasant and is easy on the palate. Often I find recovery drinks hard work, but this is very easy to drink. The taste is fairly neutral and not-sweet, just easy to take down. The nutrition is the most common combination of carb (maltodextrin and fructose) and whey isolate protein. They say whey protein is better protein than beef, so it makes a good recovery drink. Some sports drinks can be acidic. But, High 5 recovery mixed with milk is neutral, which makes it welcoming post hard ride. It is similar to High 5 4:1, but has a higher protein content. It has roughly a 2:1 ratio of carbs to protein. It is probably my preferred recovery drink.
The High 5 4:1, you could use as a recovery drink. I sometimes use as last bottle on a long ride, to help start the recovery.
Milk
Skimmed milk is an excellent recovery drink – and also cheap!
Milk contains a blend of casein and whey, which have amino acids in a pattern similar to muscle protein. Milk is quite a dilute recovery drink, in that 100ml provides just 1.7g of protein and 4.5 of carbohydrate. But, the advantage is that (skimmed milk) makes it easy on the stomach making it less likely to cause stomach bloating or stress. (benefits of milk at Bike Radar) Milk also has many micro-nutrients that are helpful.
Readers question: Which is better standard or compact cranks?
A compact chainset is typically 50/34 gearing.
A standard chainset typically has 52/39 or 53/39
A compact chainset enables smaller gears making it easier to go up steep hills. For many beginners to road cycling, a compact chainset is likely to be more useful
PCD Distance of compact vs Standard
Standard groupsets have a PCD of 130mm (135mm for Campag) PCD Is the distance from centre of groupset to the centre of each chain wheel pin.
Compact gears have a smaller PCD 110mm – this enables smaller chain rings to be put on.
Advantages of Compact Gears
An inner chain ring of 34 or 36, will enable you to climb at a slower pace.
A Standard gear 39*25 @ a cadence of 80rpm means you will be going at 10 mph (16 Kmph).
With compact gear of 34*25 @80 rpm, you can go slower 8.7 mph.
With a compact, it means on climbs you can maintain a higher cadence and avoid pushing the gears like a weightlifter. This is important in long rides where you want to prevent your muscles being overtaxed.
Compact gears were developed by MTB producers seeking to reduce weight (Having a compact chainset avoids the need for 3 rings), though the weight gain is relatively minor (perhaps 100 grams).
You rarely regret having too many gears. You will regret struggling up a 25% hill when you’re legs are tired and you have to maintain an impossible cadence of 50rpm and are weaving all over the road to try and make it to the top.
It depends on the hills. Even professional cyclists may have compact chainsets fitted for particularly steep hills, like Mount Zoncolan in the Giro Di’Italia. (up to 20% gradient)
