Hog Hill fit for purpose? Views please

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Comments

  • lifecyclist2010
    lifecyclist2010 Posts: 101
    I'm going wednesday :D been a few times before its a good little circuit i think however i dont have an alternative to compare it too.

    What i would say from going before is the surface is great, the hill is a nice touch as it does seperate the tired from the fit and also on a windy day you can easily split a bunch...but i shall report after wednesday with an update :D
  • paddlemyowncanoe
    paddlemyowncanoe Posts: 265
    I raced Hog Hill on Saturday for the first time. I've raced most of the circuits in the south east and hate Hillingdon because of the pinch in the final sprint making bulky 3/4th cat bunches crash. Hog Hill won't have that problem - that hill means the weaker riders get shaken out well before the sprint making it safer and less of a lottery - the good riders will do well. I'm a fat fighter and came away with some hard earned but honest points and hadn't once chanced my life..

    It was a 35 minute bimble from Stratford which seems to be a pretty well connected station and is a decent warm up.

    HH is very much fit for the purpose of road racing IMO.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    alanf wrote:
    No but the Legacy company have submitted new plans which if not challenged would make th road and offroad replacement next to useless.

    I thought it is being challanged by BC and the ODA?
  • lifecyclist2010
    lifecyclist2010 Posts: 101
    awesome day out...there were a few old boys there today having a spin round the lower circuit and some kids giving the full loop a go!

    Going back again today i did notice one thing how quickly your milage ramps up. We we're there just over two hours and did 50 miles! I tried a quick lap on my last go round and did a 2.05 :( really wanted under two minutes but oh well...
  • buder
    buder Posts: 154
    The new proposals for the Legacy plan post 2012 is little more than an absolute disgrace quite frankly it has lots of things wrong with it for many many reasons. They have realised the money they can make from developing high end flats and penthouses in the original location with a perfect view of the olympic park (green space) and this is the main reason.

    I submitted my objection, so did fellow club members.

    I was at Hog Hill the other week and was speaking to someone about the drainage problem they have, consequently when it rains parts of the track gets flooded and washed with debris and I cant say if this is true or not but they mentioned also sewage at one point was flowing over the track. Imagine following someones wheel through a puddle of that !! :shock: :shock:

    Im not knocking it our club 10's start soon and I think its a great road circuit with facilities but accept that people do feel it falls short with what was promised after East Way closed, thats why the new proposals are so upsetting as people were looking to the legacy plan as the true East Way replacement and now that looks doomed also.
  • alanf
    alanf Posts: 222
    Buder couldnt agree with you more. All the people who have basically accused me on this thread of being ungrateful have missed the point that in the future we may get stuck with it with no replacement at Eastway.

    I raced LVRC there a couple of weeks ago and the lower circuit is pretty good, however you can see staining on the road from when it rains in multiple places and it is pretty puncture-some as a number of riders found out.

    Also the car parking is pretty poor almost an afterthought.

    I also wonder how financially viable HH may be in the future. When i was there i noticed signs up in the main building saying that various activities had been cancelled. I hope im wrong on this but if this is being done for financial reasons then thats not a good sign.
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  • buder
    buder Posts: 154
    alanf wrote:
    Buder couldnt agree with you more. All the people who have basically accused me on this thread of being ungrateful have missed the point that in the future we may get stuck with it with no replacement at Eastway.

    I raced LVRC there a couple of weeks ago and the lower circuit is pretty good, however you can see staining on the road from when it rains in multiple places and it is pretty puncture-some as a number of riders found out.

    Also the car parking is pretty poor almost an afterthought.

    I also wonder how financially viable HH may be in the future. When i was there i noticed signs up in the main building saying that various activities had been cancelled. I hope im wrong on this but if this is being done for financial reasons then thats not a good sign.

    I think that's the key people assume any negativity is deemed to be ungrateful at the facilities provided for cycling at Hog Hill - that's not what we are talking about.

    The amount of people that puncture at Hog Hill is very high considering its a dedicated track, you get less punctures on the road than you do round there, main reason like you say is the drainage issues they have.

    Its a nice track IMO providing your a roadie and you should be happy there to an extent.

    I think its easy to get carried away, the point is in the word "temporary" and thats the official designation of Hog Hill a temporary relocation of facilities after the closure of East Way. Lets all concentrate on securing the proper lasting legacy of East Way at the Olympic park where we had designs and plans approved but now withdrawn and re-submitted with crap.
  • Johnpsanderson
    Johnpsanderson Posts: 380
    Obviously we are lucky to have a facility like Hog Hill - and it serves a number of purposes - so asking broadly if it is 'fit for purpose' is going to return a wide range of responses depending how you are looking at it.

    However - given that closed road venues are often cited as the place for novice riders to start out - hone their skills and develop to a point where they can go and ride 'real' road races - i'm not sure Hog Hill is that helpful a venue. As already identified - the hill can be tough for riders (not just 4th cats) - and once you've been shelled out of the bunch you might as well be training on the roads at home for free, rather than paying to get in the way of riders who are having a race.

    So - as a venue to give novice cyclists a place to develop and improve i'd say Hog Hill isn't particularly useful, and may well well put off the less strong novices - which isn't particularly good for the sport. Not everyone will be an Elite - but the sport still needs them.

    Obviously there are other venues available - but for riders in Essex/Norfolk/Suffolk (etc) Hog Hill is a long drive as it is and is pretty much the only place with regular riding on a weekend (when time is less pressured and people may have more time to travel to race) other than the 'real' road races....
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  • buder
    buder Posts: 154
    Johnpsanderson wrote:
    Obviously we are lucky to have a facility like Hog Hill - and it serves a number of purposes - so asking broadly if it is 'fit for purpose' is going to return a wide range of responses depending how you are looking at it.

    However - given that closed road venues are often cited as the place for novice riders to start out - hone their skills and develop to a point where they can go and ride 'real' road races - i'm not sure Hog Hill is that helpful a venue. As already identified - the hill can be tough for riders (not just 4th cats) - and once you've been shelled out of the bunch you might as well be training on the roads at home for free, rather than paying to get in the way of riders who are having a race.

    So - as a venue to give novice cyclists a place to develop and improve i'd say Hog Hill isn't particularly useful, and may well well put off the less strong novices - which isn't particularly good for the sport. Not everyone will be an Elite - but the sport still needs them.

    Obviously there are other venues available - but for riders in Essex/Norfolk/Suffolk (etc) Hog Hill is a long drive as it is and is pretty much the only place with regular riding on a weekend (when time is less pressured and people may have more time to travel to race) other than the 'real' road races....

    Yes this is very true - watched the 1st cat and 4ths last week going anti clockwise and the amount of people blown out the back of both races, there was like a constant stream of traffic going by. To be fair they did a really good job of keeping the groups separate and the pace of the 4ths was good enough that they only got caught on the last lap which meant the 1sts looped around the top.

    I done the Tuesday 10 last night and sods law as I mentioned in an earlier post punctured on the start of lap 6 of 8, was going quite well which pissed me off.
  • jezphil
    jezphil Posts: 1
    I've raced there a few times. It's a really nicely thought out and designed circuit - a great road surface with some fast segments mixed up with a few technical turns and of course the hill itself which ensures those pesky sprinters don't have it all their own way. The hill breaks up races which IMHO makes them more tactical and interesting than Hillingdon and also makes the finishes safer. 4ths shouldn't fear the hill. Do some hill rep training and you'll think of it as a friend rather than foe - maybe try to spring a break at the top if your legs feel good. HH is a civilised place for spectators - the facilities are good and the viewing area is at the top of the hill so they get to see you opening the hurt box. Punctures were common when it was first opened with flints and stuff being washed onto the track. A few years of growing vegetation seems to have improved the situation by stemming some water run-off. The track can still get a bit muddy in parts but choosing the grippiest line is all part of road racing, anyhow.

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