Hill Climb Tips

Richie G

Just thought i'd mention that i enjoyed jjone's article in this months C+, sounded like hard work! Is the National Hill Climb open to anyone or do you have to qualify? I know i'm only a newbie but sounded a great event to be part of!

BeaconRuth

The article intrigued me because of Jeff's choice of approach, and the multi-picture layout. Maybe he'll be along to explain his reasoning. The very questions you're asking Rich are exactly the things it didn't answer, which I thought was a real pity. It was a fantastic display of pics and would have trumped any Cycling Weakly article hands-down on that basis alone............ if only the riders were identified! I know who is Dave Clarke and Matt Clinton and Jim Henderson - all the biggest names in UK Hill-climbing - but few of the rest of the C+ readership would know and it seemed a real shame not to put names to riders. Maybe there's some clever publishing theory behind keeping everyone except the author and the winner anonymous?

Anyway, to answer your question, Rich, anyone who is a member of a club affiliated to the CTT can enter the National HC Championship, provided that you have a qualifying ride in a previous open event - and provided that that ride is fast enough. However, the standard for getting into the National HC isn't high so you're very likely to get a ride if you do have a qualifying ride of any standard.

Oh yeah, and the number of pics of women didn't reflect the proportion of the participants who were women which seems a shame. Maybe a pic of the women's champion Caroline Kloiber would've been good too so that women cyclists could see the build of a top female hill-climber?

Ruth

Richie G

Some good points there Ruth- i guess the official result would have been good. Only reason i asked about entering is we were in Matlock on Saturday, where i believe next years event will be held. Mrs G then uttered the fateful words: 'You'll never get up that!' :roll:
Well, i've got to prove her wrong haven't i?

BeaconRuth

I think the problem with these hill-climbs is not so much getting up them as racing up them. They're pigs!

I confess I've never actually been to a National HC but I'm told the atmosphere is fantastic and I know people travel from far and wide to watch, let alone take part. If your good wife has thrown down the gauntlet then all you have to do is get a qualifying ride in an open HC nice and early next autumn. Do a half-decent time and you too could be coughing your guts up with a lung-bursting effort in front of the crowds at Matlock next year.............. rather you than me!

Ruth

Jeff Jones

Thanks for the comments Richie and Ruth. I'll ask Mr Spedding to explain the 'why' of the article 'cos I was just asked to write something about how much it hurt :-) I didn't see it until it came out. It wasn't intended to be a full on race report, because C+ would end up being well behind everyone else on that front. On the other hand, I agree that most of the riders could have been identified and pics of the the other winners included to give it a bit more depth.

Richie, as Ruth said, to get a ride in the nat HC you have to do a time in an open event - preferably a recent one - before you send off your entry. That means you have to do one in late September/early October to make the cut off. I'd only done one before I entered, so I was a bit lucky to get a start.

No matter how you go, it's definitely worth riding one. I was blown away by the atmosphere on what was such a crap day, weather-wise. It was really really cool.

Next year's event looks tough because it's so short. Good luck, if you do ride it.