Hog Hill – Thursday 20th June – Hannah Ormesher

Hog Hill – Thursday 20^th June – Hannah Ormesher

 

On Thursday 20^th June I rode at Hog Hill as part of the East London Velo evening series. With a bit of logistical planning I rode my race bike into work the day before and left it in the office to ease the mileage on race day. I rode through London after work to Redbridge with Rachael Cottier of London Phoenix as my guide which was great as, having never ridden east, I had no idea how to get there in any sort of safe way. Rain was forecast but it never came, we rode in a sticky muggy heat and we were both pretty tired before the race had even started! As we signed on and chatted for a bit in one of the rooms we managed to cool off a bit and I felt a bit fresher. We then meandered outside to warm up on the upper circuit and practice the descent – very fast! Noticing the sky looked beautiful and the vantage point was awesome, I then realised that ‘vantage point’ equated to ‘massive hill’ in real terms as I got my first view of the ‘Berg’ – gulp!

 

Seven of us lined up on the start line behind the men’s races; E/1/2 off first followed by 3/4. We chatted and joked about ‘aiming for a top 10 finish’ although apparently 7 is quite a good turn-out for the girls on a Thursday evening. There were a couple of Dulwich Paragon riders, a MuleBarGirl, a London Dynamo, a Lea Valley Velo and Rachael and I. The race was started with a sensible ‘shall we go before we get lapped?’ and we rolled off the start with no real haste.

 

We rode a couple of laps as a group before it fractured, the LVV and a DP rider broke away up the berg and created a gap which they would subsequently widen – we would not see them again, MBG had a mechanical early on and the last I saw of her was through one of the corners running off onto the grass. LP, LD and I worked to keep the second DP rider away for a few laps but she eventually caught us up. The pace wasn’t overly high and I think we were using the rest of the lap as a recovery before the climb up the berg where we jostled for position. LD had some front derailleur issues and ended up having to stay in the big ring - I heard some chain crunching behind me when I was leading through the descent and foolishly snatched a look behind me to see what was going on. I wobbled and corrected myself, a sobering experience, I resolved not to do the same again!

 

Riding on the course at the same time as the men’s races was interesting to say the least and it was quite intimidating having to concede the race line as tons of men charged past us through the corners. More so than in cyclocross as the speed is much higher! Once the 3/4’s came past us and then immediately slowed up which was quite frustrating as I learned the women’s race was not allowed to join them as a bunch so we were forced to ease off. They picked it up again up the berg fortunately and we could get back to our race. I stayed seated up the hill on most laps and noticed that I was the only one doing so. I was grateful when the lap board appeared although my legs were getting used to the repeated climbs and I was plotting away how best to play my cards.

 

On the last lap I got into position and made myself second in our bunch keeping LD ahead of me despite her efforts to move off the front. LD was first up the hill, already out the saddle, and I upped my cadence, seated, fairly early on as we ramped up. I gained on LD and managed to keep the other two out of sight behind me. I got out the saddle as I came past LD and made a last burst of effort over the line to take 3^rd and rolled exhausted round the top circuit before pulling over to rest. The thrill of sprinting for the line had me jittery and I was buzzing from it. 3^rd place won me 7 BC points and these combined with the 2 from Elveden R4 mean I now have one point to gain to move up to 3rd cat. 

 

Francesca Morgans-Slader from Lea Valley Velo won the race, a familiar face from cyclocross, pipping Dulwich Paragon's Nichola Roberts with a tactical sprint up the hill over the line. Next was the long ride home and I got to a tube that would take me home with the least changes possible. 50 miles done I sat down on a Victoria Line train, slumped on my bike, feeling worse for wear and knowing full well I would pay for 17 goes up the Hoggenberg the next day! Good hill rep training! I’m sure I’ll be back again soon although perhaps not as soon as next week…!