Hill Climbs

skyblueamateur

Is the local clubs Hill Climb competition this Sunday.

I can grind up the hill on the big ring or more usually stay on the big ring for the first quarter of the climb then drop down so keeping my cadence and pace up. With it being a standing start though I'm unsure whether to start on the big ring or not?

Also, what kind of rides would you do this week?

JamesFree

What hill is it on ?

As surely gear choice will depend on steepness and length of hill ?

On ours for example I won't and doubt any others will be using the big chain ring at al,l a very quick time up ours is averaging only 12-13mph which is very much inner chain ring territory.

skyblueamateur

Is on KH32. It is not the toughest.

Tom Dean

Big ring all the way on KH32.

vs

Is there a requirement to have a rear brake calliper on the bike for a hill climb competition?

Jack Pullar goes as far as cutting down the brake blocks to save a few grams...why not just remove the calliper?
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/pro ... -bike.html

maryka

vs wrote:

Is there a requirement to have a rear brake calliper on the bike for a hill climb competition?

Jack Pullar goes as far as cutting down the brake blocks to save a few grams...why not just remove the calliper?
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/pro ... -bike.html

I believe you need a legal bike, and only fixed gear bikes are legally allowed to have no rear brake (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Not sure why Jack went to those lengths for this year's climb as I don't think shaving grams from bikes was anywhere near as useful enough as going up there and riding the course several times before race day like Tejvan did.

Edit: never mind, I see that's from last year's climb which was indeed very short and steep on the Rake, not steep-shallow-steep-long like this year's champs.

vs

Thanks Maryka, that makes sense.

I wish these pages would stop jumping about!

mentalalex

I did the BUCS on Cubar hill last weekend.

and that was all little ring, I didn't modify my bike in the slightest, didn't have any mega light wheels on or anything.

Hill Climbs just hurt!

sub55

vs wrote:

Is there a requirement to have a rear brake calliper on the bike for a hill climb competition?

Jack Pullar goes as far as cutting down the brake blocks to save a few grams...why not just remove the calliper?
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/pro ... -bike.html

the rules say , must have a break fitted front and rear, though if riding a fixed you can get away with front caliper only.

sub55

vs wrote:

Thanks Maryka, that makes sense.

I wish these pages would stop jumping about!

Its the new bloody advertising , join the clammer here .
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40033&t=12944982&view=unread#unread

mattclinton

Tom Dean wrote:

Big ring all the way on KH32.

Unless it's a headwind! Even still, I'd not always big-ring the whole of Maxstoke.

kajjal

Not always possible but if you study the hill you get a better idea of the gears you will need to be in based on the gradients and lengths of different sections.

maryka

Best advice I would give for hill climbs is recce the course in person but if you can't do that, have a look at the segment on Strava and guesstimate what time you will take to climb it. If you know your preferred cadence and rough time (unless there's a raging head or tailwind) you can work out the lowest gear you need and go from there. If driving to a climb, bring along a couple different cassettes and the tools to change it if you think you might be over or undergeared after recce'ing it.

If you're riding fixed or changing chainrings, well then you're experienced enough to ignore the above!

Tom Dean

mattclinton wrote:

Tom Dean wrote:

Big ring all the way on KH32.

Unless it's a headwind! Even still, I'd not always big-ring the whole of Maxstoke.

TBH it's been a while, I can't really remember how I rode it!

celbianchi

maryka wrote:

Best advice I would give for hill climbs is recce the course in person but if you can't do that, have a look at the segment on Strava and guesstimate what time you will take to climb it. If you know your preferred cadence and rough time (unless there's a raging head or tailwind) you can work out the lowest gear you need and go from there. If driving to a climb, bring along a couple different cassettes and the tools to change it if you think you might be over or undergeared after recce'ing it.

If you're riding fixed or changing chainrings, well then you're experienced enough to ignore the above!

Meh - what would she know?
Congratulations for the Championship ride Maryka - I tried to pop over in the MELLEE of the HQ afterwards but as I was off so late myself and trying to get out of a wet skinsuit I missed the chance to congratulate you. Great effort.
You going to look to defend on Pea Royd next year?

maryka

celbianchi wrote:

Meh - what would she know?
Congratulations for the Championship ride Maryka - I tried to pop over in the MELLEE of the HQ afterwards but as I was off so late myself and trying to get out of a wet skinsuit I missed the chance to congratulate you. Great effort.
You going to look to defend on Pea Royd next year?

Yep, planning on it! I know Lynn wasn't well when they last used that course in 2009 so I'm sure she'll be gunning for a win there too. That should make it twice as hard to defend, but ~5 min climbs are probably my best duration anyway. I was absolutely gutted in 2010 at Dovers having done the open climb there the month before and thinking I had a shot at winning Nats, but by the time that race happened my power was already down by 10% as I was 9 weeks pregnant and feeling it! My little one will be starting nursery next week so that gives her a whole year to infect me with every bug in the country before I need to be well again.

celbianchi

Should be a good competition on Pea Royd for the ladies then. Yeah Lynn was a little under the weather when Anna beat her (not saying Anna may not have won anyway). Angela whom was 3rd on The Stang should improve also - this was her first season of climbing so I'd expect her to develop over the coming 12 months.
My partner has just about packed in the hill climbs and I've always felt the ladies get a bit of a raw deal (like most racing I guess) in terms of recognition.

I had an absolute shocker on the Stang, totally muffed my pacing - by the cattlegrid I'd spent all my money and died a slow lingering death over the next 5 mins. No excuse either as I ride with a pm so knew what I was putting out. I think if you got it wrong on the Stang you paid big time owing to the duration.
I have raced on it before aswell. Hey-ho.....

maryka

celbianchi wrote:

Should be a good competition on Pea Royd for the ladies then. Yeah Lynn was a little under the weather when Anna beat her (not saying Anna may not have won anyway). Angela whom was 3rd on The Stang should improve also - this was her first season of climbing so I'd expect her to develop over the coming 12 months.
My partner has just about packed in the hill climbs and I've always felt the ladies get a bit of a raw deal (like most racing I guess) in terms of recognition.

I had an absolute shocker on the Stang, totally muffed my pacing - by the cattlegrid I'd spent all my money and died a slow lingering death over the next 5 mins. No excuse either as I ride with a pm so knew what I was putting out. I think if you got it wrong on the Stang you paid big time owing to the duration.
I have raced on it before aswell. Hey-ho.....

I'm hoping to get some more road racers out next year too, Anna was a very good racer and there are lots more who would do well in HCs too. We get a few at the Bec/Catford but otherwise most don't really do HC season which is a shame I think. But it does make for a very long season for them so I can understand why they don't.

Shame about your day at the Stang. I was very careful on the early bit not to overdo it as I knew it would be so easy to do that, especially if you're used to shorter climbs like most of them are!