Catford and Bec Hillclimbs - Sun 12th Oct 2008 (PHOTOS IN GALLERY)
Thu 23 Oct 2008
Catford CC Hillclimb, Yorks Hill, Ide Hill, Kent – Sunday 12th October 2008
Bec CC Hillclimb, White Lane, Titsey, Kent – Sunday 12th October 2008
Photos in Gallery - click here
Hope is one word that is often in the back of the mind of the average racing cyclist. For example we might think: despite a poor season so far I hope to go well today; I missed the break today but I’m not upset as I hope I can get in the break next time; I hope I have a good ride round Brickendon and break my pb, I hope I don't suffer in the 2-up, I hope that, despite copious evidence to the contrary, I will have the legs to stay with the leaders on the track and finish in the top three.
We all need hope otherwise we would give up, dispirited and broken. Ones hope bubble gets bigger after a good ride (‘wow’ I’m flying’) and then deflates after a bad one (“I don’t feel well, got sore legs, just don't feel right at the moment")
The worst damage to the hope bubble is made when you think you’ve had a good ride and then realise that it was distinctly average. After this last weekend my hope bubble is the size of a pea.
Last year I rode three open hillclimbs in Matlock. As a realist I correctly predicted what sort of position I would be in the results (bottom 25%). However as a cyclist I had hoped that I could do better. After all I am slim and have explosive power from riding track so surely I must be good at hillclimbs?
My hope bubble was pricked again last weekend when I competed in the Catford and Bec CC hillclimbs in Kent. I wouldn’t say my expectations were high but I’ve had a good season and I had done a lot of interval training recently which is the best sort of training for this sort of thing.
I was off at elevenish for the Catford so I left my house about 8.30 to arrive at the climb to have at least one attempt before my race. Despite missing the junction for Sevenoaks on the M25 I arrived in plenty of time. I kitted up and rode down the hill.
I turned at the start and rode back up. The climb is 770 yards long, 1 in 8 average, 1 in 4 at the top. In the program it suggests that a gear of 58 inches is good for this climb; now let me tell you no way was 58 inches good for me!. I had fitted my 34 ring and needed 34/25 for the 1 in 4 section from halfway. Ouch! But as usual I hoped (it's that word again) that I would fly up the hill for the race.
This is a popular spectator event and crowds were gathering, mainly at the top hundred yards, including Neil Lewis form the North Road and Southborough CC with his camera and long lens.
I lined up for the start and was held for the countdown; always a nervous moment in a hillclimb as the starts are often on an incline and there is no pushing off. 5,4,3,2,1 and I was off. I went hard but not so hard that I couldn’t blast over the line in true Valverde style. However by half way I was already in bottom gear and as the gradient increased my legs were burning and for a few seconds I actually thought I would have to get off to walk, but the thought of Neil taking a photo of me as the only person to walk up the hill was too much and I carried on.
Through the crowd it was almost like riding up Alpe D’Huez (although no-one ran naked alongside me) and this spurred me on for the line where I genuinely gave all I had. I collapsed on the grass to recover. As the result board was next to the finish line the times were up quickly. I had done 2:50.9, about middle of the field for the riders who had finished so far, but I knew that in hillclimbs the slower riders go off first. I told Neil my time and he said "oh dear".
I then walked down the hill and took photos of the real climbers of the day, the winner Jody Crawforth did about 1:54 so nearly a minute faster than me.
Onto the next climb, the Bec CC. Now this one was really cruel to me. After taking a route in my car that was perhaps three times longer than the direct one I arrived at the top of Whites Lane in Titsey. By now the temperature must have been over 20 degrees and after a warm up I felt stronger than in the morning. You weren’t allowed to ride down the climb and the descent I took to the start for my test run was awfully long, so I thought this was going to be a really hard climb to get back up.
This climb is steadier than the Catford; 700 yards long it starts at 1 in 6 and then increases to 1 in 4 for the last third. I went up this climb in much finer fettle than the Catford and didn’t really struggle. This was deadly as it gave me hope (is it getting boring yet?) that this climb somehow ‘suited my style’ and I would have a better ride.
I did more warming up and rode back to the start. I started the race in a higher gear than the Catford with the intention of staying in this gear for as long as possible before changing down. And that’s what I did, changing into 34/23 for the steep bit, so not even in bottom gear! The crowds were smaller than the Catford but here there was a commentator with a loudspeaker. I managed a bit of a blast at the top and screamed as I crossed the line. The commentator mentioned this so I was famous for five seconds.
I collapsed again. I had rode better this time, it was 'my sort of climb’, I felt stronger so was certain that I had done relatively better than the morning. However, and here’s where my hope bubble started to deflate, by the end of the race, out of 75 riders I could count no more than 15 riders slower than me! That can't be right I thought, I’ve only beaten the ladies, the children (apart from a 13 year old girl who took 30 seconds out of me) and the older vets, but I tried hard, I went well, everything was right, how could this be? I had actually rode worse than the Catford.
I didn’t bother hanging around for the presentation. Smarting, I drove home vowing to stick to flat vets road races, I seem to be ok at them, I hope.
Results
Catford CC Hillclimb 2:50.9 62nd/89 (won by Jody Crawforth in 1:54.0), Full result form CTT website here
Bec CC Hillclimb 2:37:92 54th/65 (won by Daniel Lloyd in 1:46.44), Full result from LCC website here
At least I look good in this photo here