It's all over: 112th Catford hillclimb

After a somewhat difficult period of preparation for the back-to-back hillclimbs I managed 6th place in a time of 1.58.9. I'm very surprised indeed. Bridge said that during the event whilst I was out on the course "You never looked like you were going as quick as the guy before you in yellow... he was flying" Mmmm thanks love... that's because I went too hard at the start and struggled at the end.

I'm particularly pleased that I beat Geoff and Jamie - I'm sure they'll be thinking how the hell did that large Saffer beat? What a fantastic ride by Dan Fleeman (Blue Sky Cycles) in a time of 1.48.2

This was a good learning curve for me. I'll be doing the event again next year. Just hope my preparation next year will be better.

Check out the report and results at London Cycle Sport.

BEC CC Hillclimb video

JP's Sussex Border Race

Martin Smith, my team mate, assured me that the Rowlands Castle course wasn't too hilly. Yeah right!! The first climb, the Westmardenberg, was a 1:6 - super steep and a real knee-popper. And, we had to ride it four times. I was loosing my sense of humor rapidly.

I nearly missed the race-winning break after the first climb - I got shelled off the back but once over the summit I put my head down and time trialled to the group (after nearly a full lap). Once I reached the group I sat in for a while to recover. The group was pretty big (around 20 riders) and most of the hitters were there (except Rob Hurd, who, I was told, punctured).

During the race Danny Axford attacked a couple of times - he obviously was enjoying the hilly course. But, he got reeled back each time. ** One slightly strange thing I noticed was that everytime Alex Higham went off the front Neil was straight up to him.** Not sure whether he had planned to mark him or whether it was just an old team mate issue? Perhaps Neil could let us know? (Neil?)

Later Danny and John Veness managed to get away (on the last lap) and stayed there. John explained that in the final kilo Danny jumped on the climb and stayed away to take the win. Good pay day for Danny: £200 + £50 - well done.

We had to settle the remaining places in a sprint. I was closing on Neil towards the line but it was not to be. Neil took 3rd and me 4th.

Great race and not too long: great for climbers. Maybe next year hey??

Read the BCF race report here.

See the photos from London Cycle Sport here.

Hill Climb: part 2

In my last post I shared my latest challenge with you: (Going for gold: the back-to-back hill climbs) so now is a good time to send an update. So, just how am I getting on? Well, quite well actually.

Last night I rode out to the Titsey/White Lane climb (organised by the BEC CC) with my buddy Stu (Jardine). We set off at 18.30 from his work (Roehampton) and got there at 21.15 (in Kent). I was determined to ride the climb no matter what. My headlight was starting to fade but I'd made it this far and wasn't about to give up. The ride out was hard - I pulled Stuey all the way there - lazy bugger. The climb itself wasn't too bad, but I bet when you are climbing at full pelt it'll be super-hard. The first part of the climb is pretty gentle and then about halfway it suddenly changes its pitch. I think this climb is going to suit me. Hope so.

Monday - rest day
Tuesday - hill intervals at home: 5 x 4.5 minutes - 2/3 at 90% effort and 1/3 at 100% effort.
Wednesday - am: hard tempo hilly to the office (2 hrs - average watts at 290) then pm: ride out to climb tempo, rode the climb easy and rode home tempo (4 hrs). Felt knackered by the end.
Thursday - rest day
Friday - hill intervals at home: 6 times (planned)
Saturday - 1.5 hours flat tempo with 3 sprints (planned)
Sunday - am racing the JP's Sussex Border race (planned)

I'm planning another post at the end of this week with another update on my progress and a report on the JP's Sussex race.

Check out the not-so-professional video footage of the BEC climb here.

Going for gold: the back-to-back hillclimbs

On the 21st October I'm going to ride the Catford and BEC Hill Climbs. Yeah right! You might being saying? How can a big guy like me be competitive in a weight-versus-gravity challenge? Well, I'm going to give it a go - give it my best shot - and we'll see what happens.

So, I now need to get pen on paper and work out how best to prepare myself for this feat? I decided to participate at the beginning at the start of October - that gives me three weeks to get it right.

I've outlined my programme of preparation as follows:

Week one: concentrate on gross power - ride hard (tempo) as much as possible.
Week two: concentrate on the specific task - riding quickly up hills for a max of 2 mins at a time.
Week three: test runs up the actual hills - twice this week. Then taper from the Wednesday to race day.

Also, other areas I'll be concentrating on are:

Weight - reduce where possible - aim for 77kg by race day
Mental - through NLP techniques 'picture' (framing they call it) - me flying up the hill with people cheering and imagine the feeling once I cross the line after a good climb.
Bike - use my Giant TCR Advanced raod bike and Fulcrum Carbon Wheels
Kit - skin suit, Sidi carbon shoes, Giant socks (that's it)
Support - Family will be there to support, including, I hope, Mom and Cliff.

So, as I make progress I hope to bring you some feedback on how I get on. Feel free to drop me any comments on my preparation or anything for that mater.

Continue to part 2...