photo by Claire on Guise Hill (flickr set of Race)
Saturday, was the Otley twin hill climb. I always have a fondness for this race. Because many years ago, it was my first ever race, aged 15, on an old Reynolds 501 steel frame. There was a bigger field in those days and I remember coming third from last. (and the one guy who came behind me, and mudguards and panniers and only did it to keep his wife company).
On the way between races, I stopped to take a few photos, these cyclists came to watch the hill climbs.
Anyway, those were the days of just being happy to get to the top without having to get off and walk…
For a change a lovely October day
The first climb is outside Pateley Bridge near Greenhow hill, but, not the main B road climb. It is about 1400 yards – almost identical in length to Dovers Hill – the National Hill Climb Championship.
I got off to a bad start on the steep slopes at the beginning but got going as it flattened out. I finished in second place with 4.02. Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughan Cycles) won in a time of 3.56.
After a two hour break, we moved to Norwood Edge, which is a bit longer. I didn’t feel tired from the mornings ride and was pleased with how I rode the climb. I really sprinted for the top and was able to go under 5 minutes for the first time. 4.56 (if I remember correctly). The course record is 4.44 held by Jeff Wright or Jim Henderson. This was just enough to give overall victory.
I was grateful to organiser, Claire and the race sponsors Shutt Velo Rapide and MAS Design Consultants. It was a really good prize fund; hopefully next year there will be a bigger entry. (Go on, you know you want to race as fast as you can up a steep hill until you pass out at the top…)
Shutt Velo Rapide
Since they sponsored the race and operate just down the road from my parents house, in Ilkley, I had a look at Shutt Velo Rapide – they look to have some very good hand made Merino jerseys. I think there is a growing market for more stylish cycle clothes, so I hope they do well.
Related
- Hill Climbs
- A tale of three hills (Otley CC 2009)
Do you know where we can find a list of Hill Climb Races?? Esp. in the North/Mids? Cheers
Tejvan
Well ridden on Sat. They are tough hills, we ride them often.
Thanks for the Shutt plug. We will sponsor the event next year and try to make it the best paid hill climb in the uk. We would like to attract at least 50+ riders so please spread the word. We will pull some strings on local riders and national web sites!
Well done
Simon
Thanks for comments John. Maybe see you at National Champs!
Great blog Tejvan.
Keep up the good work. There’s so little coverage of club time trials and hillclimb events now in the cycling mags, so it’s good to read about yours and others exploits on your blog, and also read the forums and training tips etc. Most of the cycling magazines are full of sportive events now, or only cover the national and international events, which is fine, but there’s a huge number of incredibly keen and committed club cyclists out there who train hard during the week and then time trial and race at the weekends in local events. Many of them also like to go along and enjoy watching the great local hillclimbs and TT’s and cheer on the riders, and i’m sure they enjoy reading about others exploits in similar events, but these events get so little coverage in the press. I think it’s good to have somewhere to read about some of them and hear what the fellow competitors experiences were. As almost any club cyclist will demonstrate, given half the chance, in a conversation with other cyclists we’re all mad keen to talk about things like gears (spinning versus grinding) training methods (short and hard versus lots of miles) or such things as diet and recovery, so little training tips such as yours often help to guide our own training efforts and maybe confirm or deny our own experiences. The RTTC website is a good place for seeing overall TT results but there’s little in the way of comments from individual participants on the day or photos of the event (unlike your blog) though i suppose these are more likely to be limited to the individual club websites. I know people have tried in the past to have a regular mag featuring coverage of more local events (i.e. wasn’t there something like a ‘Testing Times’ blog or newspaper, but i think this folded due to lack of funds in the end).
I’ve just got back into cycling and time trialling in my mid 40′s after being mad keen in my teens, but then giving up when i realised i was never really going to be that good. I still get beaten by younger whippets and greyhounds now, but have made steady progress over the last couple of years since starting training again, and even started to do some hill climbs this year. These are great fun to compete in, though painfull at the time of course!, and even though i’ve no chance of winning, it’s still nice to be able to see my own improvements, and then watch the fast guys show how it’s done. I’ve got a huge amount of admiration for you top guys in the hillclimbs, must be fantastic to be able to climb that well. Matt Clinton seems to be a bit off form this year in pure hill climbs (he was storming last year) though he seems to be doing more time trialling (9th in the National TT Champs i think) and is maybe changing his focus a bit. Dan Fleeman was a sensational surprise winner in last years national championships in Sheffield, but maybe just goes to show what level top international riders need to reach to keep at the top of their game. Keep up the good work on the blog, and good look in the hillclimbs over the next month. Hope to get to the National Champs in the Cotswolds later this month, even if it’s just to watch.
Rgds,
John
Thanks.
Yes, Jim said he was retiring. I think he finished in top 4 at nationals for past 10 years or something remarkable like that.
Another great result, only 4 weeks now to hold onto that form!
Do you know if Jim Henderson has stopped hill climbing? I think last year at the national he said he was not going to do the national again. Hill climbs don’t seem the same without having Jims time to compare to!
another win! chapeau!
i have a shutt velo jersey, great for commuting, comfy and not hugely pricey either.