Beeley and Bank Road Hillclimbs - Sun 18th Oct 09

Beeley and Bank Road Hill Climbs, Matlock, Derbyshire - Sunday 18th October 2009

Last year a few friends and I decided to do 3 hill climbs in one day, following in the footsteps of the infamous Badger, in what became known as the Somerset Triple Challenge.  While that was ‘good fun’, I decided not to repeat the feat this year, instead focussing my efforts on the Beeley climb, followed by a blast up the 700 yard Bank Road climb, just for a bit more ‘fun’.  After going to bed on Saturday night with a suspiciously sore throat, I woke up on Sunday morning feeling a little rough, and was very pleased that I wasn’t taking on the Riber climb in the morning, which is the toughest of the three.

Beeley is 2.3 miles, climbing 230m and last year  I got up it in 11.10.  This year I decided to big ring it (it gets gradually less steep the higher you get, so I reckoned that if I could get up the first half ok I could battle on through (and these days I ride a compact – it’s hilly up here) – the average gradient is around 6.5%, with a max of around 13%) in an attempt to force my way to a faster time.  This seemed to work, although I suffered towards the end and finished with a very sore head from the cold and slight illness.  I finished in 10.34 which saw me take 9th place out of a good quality field of 33.  Premier Calendar rider Dave Clarke won ahead of former national champ James Dobbin.  Full results here:

I then had a 1½ hour gap until my start at Bank Road (one of the last off on Beeley and then number 5 on Bank Road was an unlucky draw) which is a very steep short climb right in the centre of Matlock.  It averages at 12% and has a maximum of 25%.  I’d been focussing on the longer slightly, less steep hill climbs this year as I think they suit me better and in fact the shortest race I’d done previously was the Beeley climb, so a 700 yard blast was a bit different!  I had a very good ride though and finished in 2.12.2.  The course was shorter than in the previous year, but I’d clearly ridden much faster.  I wasn’t aware of this though, and proceeded to watch everyone else before taking my number back and discovering that I’d finished 5th in a field of 37, my best result of the year!  This was made better when I realised that James Dobbin – who won the national hill climb champs two years ago – was behind me, and I was only 5 seconds behind Dave Clarke, both of whom had taken more than a minute out of me on Beeley.  Maybe the short climbs suit me after all – I’ll have to try more of them next year!  Full results here:

Five hill climbs and plenty of interval training in the last couple of months have seen me get four top-10s and much faster times than one year ago which has been very satisfying.  They have also left me craving a rest and feeling very ill – 2 days after Bank Road I’m now confined to bed with the flu!  But that’s hill climbs for you...