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3 Hill Climbs
Richard takes on the hills of Bristol and Brighton.
Brighton Mitre CC -16/10/2004
Brighton Mitre organise 2 hill climbs on the same day.
The first climb of the morning was at Steyning Bostal about 5 miles from Brighton.
The climb is just under 1 mile. There is a steep section at the beginning and the end. A short downhill in the middle provides only a temporary respite. At the top of the climb there are beautiful views of the South Downs.
I finished 4th out of 42. In a time of 4.21
The winner was P.Tadros (In Gear) who set a new course record of 4.11
This is a picture of me suffering on the climb.
The second race was up a climb called Mill Hill, just outside Shoreham. This climb has a fairly gentle gradient in comparison to the morning, but the climb continues for 2.2. miles.
I tend to do better on longer climbs. I'm not sure why!
I finished just behind the winner in a time of 7.51.1.
Peter Tadros who won again setting a course record of 7.49.7
This gave an average speed of just over 20 mph.
With about 400 metres to go a spectator shouted I was 2 seconds down on Tadros. This really made me try hard for the last effort. By the finish my legs and many blue spots where all the blood had been drained out. In the end I lost by 1.4 seconds so the spectator was quite accurate and maybe if he had told me earlier I would have been able to overtake!
Overall on points this gave me third place for the combined results. I was pleased with this because there were many excellent hill climbers in the race.
The Brighton Mitre races were generously sponsored by USE and others. For finishing third place I won over £100 of prizes. This really made the long trip worthwhile.
Bristol South Hill Climb (Burrington Coombe) 17/10/2004
My last hill climb of the season was in the Bristol area. It was another long climb of 2.2 miles . The gradient was fairly consistent. It reminded me a little of an Alpine pass (only quite a lot shorter).
A good friend of mine Ed Silverton came to watch me, which was nice. Ed used to be a great cyclo cross rider so I tried to persuade him to have a go next year. He would certainly get a prize for having the oldest bike.
I was a little tired from the previous days racing but I felt in good form. Also there was nothing really steep, which can be quite intimidating.
This is a picture of me at the start. I think there is a faint smile which shall soon disappear!
I was one of the earlier starters and finished in a time of 7. 12. very close to the course record of 7.11. Despite posting a good time I was to come second behind Danny Axford (Oxford University CC) who set a new course record with an impressive time of 7.02
This was my fourth 2nd placing since September; it was a shame not to win. But I was pleased because it is my first season of racing.
