Cycling uphill

Not everyone can be Eddy Merckx

November 22, 2015October 26, 2015 by tejvan

They called Eddy Merckx ‘the cannibal’ for his insatiable appetite to win. They say Merckx was so prolific a winner that he caused a recession in cycling. His dominance so absolute, it became a race for second place and interest waned.

But, even the greatest champions eventually falter – a once effortless winning streak, rudely coming to a halt. The gradual, inevitable decline of physical and mental faculties, the inexorable rise of a new generation.

“There’s always somebody better than you are” – That’s one maxim to temper the pride of human life.

***

Two days after the 2012 national championship on the Rake, where I finished a disappointing 11th, I remember heading out for a 60 mile training ride, with a burning focus and determination to spend the next 12 months training and preparing for the national hill climb on the Stang. I hit the winter training with gusto, knocking out 1,000 mile months, despite a wet and cold winter. That intensity of purpose and commitment lasted all year, right up to that wet and windy day in North Yorkshire. At 36, and with long climbs relatively rare in the UK championship, there was a recurring thought that this could be a last chance saloon to win the national title.

After winning, you gain the confidence to try and retain the title. The single-minded purpose and commitment lasted throughout 2014 and 2015. If anything, I increased the intensity and volume of training, especially in 2014 where, with the help of Gordon Wright, I adopted an unusually scientific and methodical approach. But, despite the huge effort, it was not to be (4th and 6th). I don’t think I got any slower – others got quicker – and of course, different hills suit different breeds of riders.

2015 National Hill Climb championship

October 31, 2016October 25, 2015 by tejvan

The 2015 National Hill Climb championship was held at Jackson Bridge – a 0.9 miles averaging 11%. It’s a steep unrelenting climb, widely regarded as a classic of the British hill climb genre. For a late October day in Yorkshire, the weather was probably as good as it gets – Mild, dry and a light tailwind up the climb. With good weather, 240 riders, and considerable interest in the pre-championship build-up, there was a good sized crowd up the steep slopes to Tinkers Monument.

In the mens event, Richard Bussell RST Sport/Aero-Coach won in a time of 4:15.1.

Given the tight margins of the race, Bussell’s winning gap of 5 seconds over defending champion Dan Evans (Team Elite/Paul Bethall Electrical (4.20) was quite impressive. Joseph Clark (Team Bike Box Alan/Envelopemaster) rounded off the podium with a time of 4.21.9

In the women’s event, Maryka Sennema (Paceline RT) won her third title in a time of 5:31.9. Just ahead of Hayley Simmonds, Team Velosport 5:34.2. Simmonds has had a great year of time trials and is just a few weeks back from World road race championship in Atlanta (helping GB to gold). 3rd on the women’s podium was Lou Bates Carnac Planet X in 5.34.9. Less than 5 seconds separated the top 5 women. There were seven men within seven seconds of a podium finish. Never make fun of hill climbers and their marginal gains!

Hill climb bike 2015

November 22, 2015October 21, 2015 by tejvan

Hill climb bike

Trek Emonda SL frame
Shimano Di2 9000 Dura Ace 11sp – Front mech removed,
39 Chainring – 23-11 (11 speed cog with one cog removed to fit on 10sp cassette.)
Handlebars Zipp Contour SL – 135 grams with drops chopped off
Bontrager stem
Bontrager direct mount light brakes
Rear wheel Zipp 202
Front wheel – tune hub, AX lightness spokes
Tubs Vittoria Crono
Weight: 5.2kg.

Jackson Bridge

November 1, 2016October 19, 2015 by tejvan

Jackson Bridge is a classic British hill climb course. Roughly 1 mile at an average gradient of 11%. The climb doesn’t allow a steady rhythm, but has four difficult sections of 15% plus, interspersed with some more gradual gradients in between.

National hill climb championship 2015

Results top 10 Men

Pos	Rider	Club	Split	Time
1	Richard Bussell	RST Sport/Aero-Coach	1:54	4:15.6
2	Dan Evans	Team Elite/Paul Bethall Electrical	1:51	4:20.5
3	Joseph Clark	Team Envelopemaster	1:56	4:21.9
4	James Lowden	Neon Velo	2:02	4:23.3
5	Tom Bell	Fluid Fin Race Team	2:02	4:23.9
6	Tejvan Pettinger	Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team	2:06	4:25.1
7	Matt Clinton	Mike Vaughan Cycles	1:58	4:27.3
8	Adam Kenway	SportGrub Kuota Cycling Team	1:51	4:27.8
9	Edmund Bradbury	NFTO Pro Cycling	1:53	4:28.5
10	Kieran Savage	Yorkshire Road Club	2:05	4:28.8

Results top 10 Women

Maryka Sennema Paceline RT 05:31.9
Hayley Simmonds Team Velosport 05:34.2
Lou Bates Carnac Planet X 05:34.9
Becky Lewis Fibrax-Wrexham RC 05:36.1
Lynn Hamel TeamLusso72Design.com 05:36.3
Elizabeth Stedman Fusion RT Gear Club 05:39.5
Fiona Blackett Bishop Auckland CC 05:47.0
Alice Lethbridge gbcycles.co.uk 05:53.0
Helen Roby HD Revolutions 06:03.0
Gabriella Leveridge Velosure Starley Primal Pro Cycling 06:07.2

Report from 2015 Championship

Programme: RTTC Programme 2015 – with directions / car park e.t.c.

Burrington Combe 2015

October 19, 2020October 18, 2015 by tejvan

The final race before the national hill climb was Burrington Combe promoted by Bristol South CC, and the final event in the WTTA hard-riders competition. A good 110 riders were on the starsheet, including a record five riders from the Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team. It was probably our biggest turnout since 1978, where we had about 200+ entered in the Pepsi 24 hour cycle challenge in Central Park, New York, including Sri Chinmoy himself.

Photo: Rich Lawton Burrington Combe 2015

After seeing so many willing entrants from my own team, in a fit of enthusiasm, I sent all fellow team members a special four week intensive ‘Tejvan hill climb interval training programme‘ But, when I gently asked how this last minute hill climb training had gone, the topic of conversation seemed to quickly get changed onto questions like – how long does this climb go on for? – what’s for lunch after the race?

Burrington Combe

Length 2.2 miles
Average gradient: 6%
Max gradient: 10%
Height Gain 183m
CR: 6.51 (av. speed 17.5mph)
Women’s CR: Anna Fischer – 9.04 in 2009
Strava – Burrington Combe

Burrington Combe has become one of my favourite climbs. I first rode in 2004, finishing second behind Danny Axford in a time of 7.12. 11 years later and I’m still doing hill climbs. Burrington makes a nice, relaxing penultimate hill climb of the season. It’s long enough to favour a ride like myself and gives you the opportunity to get into a fairly decent rhythm. Burrington Combe makes a natural amphitheatre for a long gradual hill climb, and it’s popularity amongst leisure cyclists was quite evident with a large number of cyclists going up and down not connected to the race. It was also great to see another bumper entry of 110, and quite a few vets throwing their hat into the ring.

Huddersfield SW hill climb 2015

October 10, 2015October 10, 2015 by tejvan

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

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.

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

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.

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

Bont zero cycle shoes review

October 9, 2015 by tejvan

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.

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)

Two pairs of shoes

October 9, 2015 by tejvan

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.

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.

Robin Hood climb

October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 by tejvan

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.

Otley CC hill climb 2015

October 11, 2015October 3, 2015 by tejvan

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).

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.

Andy Sherwood of Sherwood cycles