Tis the season to be climbin'

davidof

Why did I do it? I've signed up for a hill climb tomorrow. I remember riding the hill about 25 years ago and it didn't seem to bad back then. Anyway I've been away on holiday for a week so went out for a reccie today in sub zero temperatures, sleet and fog (ok it is September). It isn't a hill, it is a wall. 2km, 330 m of vertical with sections at 25%.

I rode up starting off fast and blew up at the 1km point in a Stephen Rochesque burst of oxygen debt that would make an Irish bank seem solvent in comparison. After riding to the top back down to the start to try again, this time a slower start and I managed to grovel up to the finish in one go without the need of medical assistance.

Herbsman

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davidof

Even if the hill climb was hell it was fun watching the others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX1-ZWShGDw

ugo.santalucia

davidof wrote:

Even if the hill climb was hell it was fun watching the others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX1-ZWShGDw

That's a damn steep climb...

davidof

It is like a short Scanuppia!

The second place guy who you see at the end of the video on scratch, JG Beatrix, is some hard rambo who you can see going round in the middle of winter in the mountains in a t shirt with a gun strapped to his back. He's a world champion cross country skier.

celbianchi

Nice one - I have ridden this climb before, it's a tough one.
I did the Col de Vence hill climb (GRAND PRIX DES COMMERCANTS CLM) on the Cote D'Azur on Sunday, great experience. Miguel Martinez was riding and (only) finished 10th. Some fast boys in the French amateur ranks.

davidof

celbianchi wrote:

Nice one - I have ridden this climb before, it's a tough one.
I did the Col de Vence hill climb (GRAND PRIX DES COMMERCANTS CLM) on the Cote D'Azur on Sunday, great experience. Miguel Martinez was riding and (only) finished 10th. Some fast boys in the French amateur ranks.

Excellent. There are some very fast riders as you say. One person I spotted was Celine Schuller who won the women's event in 10m33s. Celine does pretty well at a departmental level winning many events. However at a national level she is almost nowhere and French women barely figure on an international level on the road. Which puts these performances into perspective.

I've ridden the col de Vence a few times. I used to do a training loop from Grasse via the col then back down via col de Ferrier - this one in face: http://www.trainingloops.com/cols-de-ve ... errier.htm which is a nice 91km.

celbianchi

Nice route. I know those roads well. The road through St Vallier and onto Greolieres is lovely. We get down to Golfe Juan 3 or 4 times a year - great part of the world.