The 2012 championship was held on the Rake, a short brutal climb from the town of Ramsbottom. The race was well organised by  Lancashire RC, with a closed road, and despite the weather, a very good crowd. The deserving winner was Jack Puller (Wheelbase.co.uk) in a very good time of 2.21. Under better conditions, the […]

There has been considerable interest in this years National hill Climb championship on the Rake. There will be a full field of 150 riders – I hear with over 100 entries returned. The road will be closed to traffic, and a significant amount of spectators will be expected – especially outside the two pubs which […]

Sunday was my penultimate hill climb of the season – the Nick O Pendle organised by North Lancs RC. Nick O Pendle Hill climb Distance 1.2km Avg Grade 11.1% Max Gradient: 16% Elev Gain 135m Course Record: Chris Boardman 3.29 (1988 – hill climb championship) My PB: 3.35 (2011) The Nick O Pendle has a […]

When the weather is good in October, it’s one of the best times of the year. As much as I love hill climbs, I almost regretted not being able to just go out all day on the bike, rather than a short race. But, it’s a week before the national hill climb championships, it’s not […]

The past week I’ve spent in New York. The bad news is that I missed a great weekend of excitement in the hill climb season. The good news is that I got to cycle around Queens, New York. The even better news is that I got to read the whole of the USADA report on […]

A few years ago Ben Greenwood did this local hill climb (from Quernmore to the Trough of Bowland) in a time of around 7.23. He said he thought a sub 7 minute ride was possible. So the Lancaster CC organiser, Alistair Hodge, approached a local cycle shop Edge Cycle Works in Lancaster, so if they […]

Saturday was a two stage hill climb promoted by Otley CC. Talking to Sam Ward (Otley CC) before the event, we realised we both did this event as schoolboys 19 / 20 years ago. Sam was probably the person who first gave me the idea to have a go at hill climbs. In those days, […]

After Leith Hill  (btw: I uploaded a youtube video of race on that page) on Saturday, Sunday morning was quite a different kind of hill – Streatley hill near Goring. Short and steep, this is fairly close in difficulty to the Rake, (Nat champs 2012). Despite doing very well in longer climbs earlier this season, […]