First Interval of the Year

In honour of the national hill climb championship last weekend, I was inspired to do my first hill climb interval of the year. I enjoyed it so much, I think I will have to do it again next year. It is a whole new meaning to interval training #12monthintervals.

Bank Road – 2025

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The National hill climb championship in 2025 will be held in Bank Road, Matlock. I have done the last two championships held here in 2008 and 2016. I never did with any particular success (relative to other championships) I always did better on the longer climbs, but it will be a great atmosphere on the road. Ironically, because it is so short it tempts me to see if it is possible for a last gasp effort to ride another national. We shall see how the body holds up.

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My (very unscientific theory) is that with short climbs you can get away with doing less training. Certainly, longer climbs are harder work without base training. My so called theory, didn’t stand up to too much in that my hill climb interval up Shotover was 2.05, compared to my best time in 2020 of 1.45. Though maybe 20 seconds slower isn’t too bad for no interval training and a few extra years – but no extra kg!

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Shotover hill east Oxford

And I was doing it on a time trial bike, which is never ideal for 20% gradients. I have sold so many wheels this year, I need to buy some new ones….

BTW: I sold a zipp 202 tubular for about £90 in auction, and I’ve seen the exact same wheel on sale for £215, fixed price.

Videos on decline and hope

These days I spend my time making videos on the decline of the UK economy. A recent video, on the UK’s economic decline got 400,000 views. To balance the universe, I’ve also made videos on the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, which highlight the more optimistic side of individual transcendence and achievement. I hope you agree that this highlight video deserves more than the current 300 views. But, that’s the state of Youtube for you.

3 thoughts on “First Interval of the Year”

  1. Very good Tejvan and I will watch that video if I get a chance. I see someone has claimed a time of 3secs on Strava for that climb – 107mph. ☹️ Bank Rd next year should be a sell out.

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