Training for a hill climb in October

daniel_b

Afternoon all,

been cycling for a fair few years now, but aside from a time crunched plan 2 or 3 years ago, this year is the first time I have trained consistently and fairly hard for the first nearly 6 months of the year.

In my new found optimism, I have entered for a hill climb in October - and whilst hills are not my forte, I am getting better at them, and being able to generate more power is helping me to flatten them out - to some degree!



The above is it - so it's only 1.1 miles long, has 365ft of elevation gain, and an average gradient of 6%.

The course record is sub 4 minutes, and I am hoping for a time of around 7ish minutes.

My FTP is currently 229 (3.48W\kg), and am hopeful of getting that up to around 250 before the event.
As I said, I have been completing TR courses since Jan, and my next target to take me up to this event is the Climbing road race one, assuming that it seems the closest out of the lot to what I am trying to complete.
The above is a speciality course - the other alternative would be to carry out another 'Build' course, but this time choose Short power build, instead of the general build I have just completed.
I always carry these out mid volume, which equates to 4 hard rides, and 1 less so per week - usually circa 7 hours on the bike.

I will also ride outside as and when I can, but for 4 days a week, due to working and childcare responsibilities, sitting on the turbo is my only and best option - but I don't begrudge it, it is making me faster, and I enjoy going into the pain cave, plus I get to watch a load of bike races through Eurosport Player at the same time - two birds, one stone.

The ride is local to me, so I plan to carry out some practice attempts between now and then - and have considered trying hill repeats up it, or should I pick something that is less steep to start with?

The likely length of the ride makes me think of my FTP test (I tend to do the twin 8 ) so would it be fair as a starting point to think that whatever power I held for each of those 8 minutes, it should in theory be reasonable to hold for circa 7 minutes up a hill climb?

Looking at the elevation, it would seem the first half is easier than the final half, which looks a reasonable amount steeper.
So if I do go by the numbers, hopefully sticking to my 8 minute test power for the first half, should hopefully give me a little bit of wiggle room to up the power a smidge for the final half - valid plan?

I appreciate that I am technically 'over thinking' this, but it's my first timed event I have entered, and I'm pretty excited by it all, hence this mind dump

Thanks

term1te

6% is an awkward gradient, not a real out of the saddle climb, but steep enough to know its there. My local hill climb TT is just over three miles at 6%. The guys with the leading times all stay seated and have a higher cadence than I feel comfortable with, they are also built like stick insects. I've tried mashing it in a big gear, and spinning whilst seated, and get similar times. I struggle to keep the high cadence though. So I'd not only try to increase my FTP, but also loose some weight, and try different approaches to the climb to find the one that suits you best.

daniel_b

Thanks for your reply.

Yep I hear what you are saying re the gradient.

I'm small in build, but 5ft 10, and at the beginning of the year was nearly 75kg. I'm now down to just under 66, and am in theory aiming for 63.5, which I think would be about spot on, but it might be I end up levelling off at about 65, if muscle mass starts to add weight. I'm already finding hills easier, and Trainerroad has. errrm, trained me to spin far faster than I used to. It used to be a real effort of concentration to try and come back with an average cadence of more than 85, but my last two outdoor rides, have seen an average of 90 and 91, and although I keep an eye on it, I don't have to focus on it, it just kind of happens.

I plan to be riding it with a smallest gear of 36\28, so I had better get a trial run in and see how it feels, and then as you say experiment and see what works best for me. Wondering if seated for the first 60%, and then perhaps the need from tiredness and steepness means the last 40% might need to see some out of the saddle action.

meanredspider

Part of any of these sorts of events (ie: competing mostly against yourself) is the mental approach and your own ability to suffer. Training for that will help maximise the fitness that you have and the weight that you've lost. We rarely talk about this on the forum but it's also often called out as what makes the difference in sport.

Flâneur

I'd add, try and find a riding partner who is faster than you on the hills. Not to ride on their wheel so much, but to learn to dig in and push to keep up /overtake. It isn't the most structured training but does help train the brain to overcome the body and dig in, if this is a problem. Testing your style will help you do better, we all know people who sit and spin nearly everything and the climber who stands up n dances on pedals from 2%

I personally hate that sort of gradient for the reasons mentioned above but it wouldn't be a challenge if it was easy.

simon_e

meanredspider wrote:

Part of any of these sorts of events (ie: competing mostly against yourself) is the mental approach and your own ability to suffer. Training for that will help maximise the fitness that you have and the weight that you've lost. We rarely talk about this on the forum but it's also often called out as what makes the difference in sport.

This is probably true. However, I find the main difference with such short, intense hill climb races is for your body to be used to doing an anaerobic effort for this duration.

I would start with riding plenty of hills. Practice your sat down pedalling technique and deep, rhythmic breathing.

Beginning 6-8 weeks before the event do some hard hill reps of 3-5 minutes. Leave lots of time to recover between each rep so you can do them all consistently enough. Make sure you are adequately rested for each session, don't fit it into a ride.

Race some club hill climbs too if you can. Many clubs start theirs at the end of the 10 mile TT season so late August / early September, which is ideal preparation for your target event.

Midlands Grimpeur

For a hill climb you would aim to ride at a greater power output than your FTP due to the shorter duration (aim for 10-20% increase on ftp). As others have suggested it is your ability to sustain the anaerobic effort you should work on.

Perhaps start with 1 minute intervals and work up to 3-5 minutes (use the actual hill climb itself). If you get to the point of being able to complete 6-8 intervals of 3-5 mins each at around 120% of ftp (1-2 min recovery) then you should get to a level of fitness to reach your target time.

daniel_b

Thanks all, some bloomin good advice and suggestions here :-)

I have become fairly good at completing an FTP test on a fairly flat plain of power output, and very similar from one effort to another, the last 2 I completed I was within 3 watts for each pair of 8 minute efforts - and I was spent at the end of the last one, it was a real effort to complete.

So what I was thinking for, as a baseline at least, was to replicate the power I put out during one of those 8 minute efforts, as my FTP is 90% of that, so it would be riding harder than FTP.

I know some of you will dislike this, but I like my stats and figures, so it appeals to me to try and ride to a certain power figure as a test and see how it goes, then if I am able to complete that, it means I can start trying to edge it up.
In fact, thinking about it, perhaps that is too adventurous to start with, perhaps I start at my current FTP, and inch it up - and try and have a go at it every 2-3 weeks - that will also get me used to the course, and where I can recover, and or need to push harder, perhaps get out of the saddle etc.

Like the sound of carrying out intervals whilst I am there as well, as I am all too aware how beneficial intervals can be :-)

If anyone is interested, I will update as and when I have a time up the course, and how my training progresses.

ugo.santalucia

Midlands Grimpeur wrote:

For a hill climb you would aim to ride at a greater power output than your FTP due to the shorter duration (aim for 10-20% increase on ftp). As others have suggested it is your ability to sustain the anaerobic effort you should work on.

Perhaps start with 1 minute intervals and work up to 3-5 minutes (use the actual hill climb itself). If you get to the point of being able to complete 6-8 intervals of 3-5 mins each at around 120% of ftp (1-2 min recovery) then you should get to a level of fitness to reach your target time.

This...

ROughly speaking, at my FTP I have a VAM of 1000 mt/h on a very good day on a 5-6% incline

However, for something in the 5-7 minutes range, the VAM can easily get to 1300 mt/h and maybe more like 1200 for a 5-6% climb.

Training to increase your FTP won't necessarily make you int oa better short burst climber. I would rather try and see how much you can get out of yourself before exploding.

I'd say the first objective is to find a suitable climb to train on... the one in question is pretty much identical to Box hill

timothyw

Daniel B wrote:

The ride is local to me, so I plan to carry out some practice attempts between now and then - and have considered trying hill repeats up it, or should I pick something that is less steep to start with?

Fun though this is, I think we might be overthinking this - the hill is near to him. He just needs to get out and ride it. Fast. Full gas efforts - find out what he can sustain for the duration of the climb.

I'd probably do something like -

warm up ride to hill
full gas effort up hill
easy pedal down
two 'easy' efforts up hill and back down
another full gas effort up hill

If at the end of the second full gas attempt you don't feel spent, take another easy one, then try and hit it again, you want to be absolutely on your knees by the top.

Easy ride home, recovery day or two, then go hit the hill again.

If this is your target for the year, and you can be this specific to the effort, then go out and be specific!

Principle of specificity, innit.

You've got plenty of time to experiment with standing for parts of the climb to see what works best, but the short answer is to get out and ride that hill.

itboffin

I'll be there as well Dan not sure yet if i'm entering or just watching, i've started preparing a specific climbing bike, plus I have the benefit of living -10 miles from it and use that whole hill side quite frequently in fact I had the KOM a few years back ;-)

my best recorded climb for that event is 7:39 last year, Tejvan is 3:47 i'm not going to be bothering him anytime soon but i would like to crack sub 7

I did Milk Hill last week which is 1 miles avg 5% in 4:02 that's a 15.3 mph avg and unlike all my other climbs this one was seated big ring attack using Garmin segment to show my progress, i usually go seated inner ring and spin, starting in one or two gears lower than i intend to ride the steepest sections, i also slowly increase my cadence as the climb progresses.

this segment is 1/2 mile avg 9%-10% i'm going to use this to help me train https://www.strava.com/segments/1024950

daniel_b

itboffin wrote:

I'll be there as well Dan not sure yet if i'm entering or just watching, i've started preparing a specific climbing bike, plus I have the benefit of living -10 miles from it and use that whole hill side quite frequently in fact I had the KOM a few years back ;-)

my best recorded climb for that event is 7:39 last year, Tejvan is 3:47 i'm not going to be bothering him anytime soon but i would like to crack sub 7

I did Milk Hill last week which is 1 miles avg 5% in 4:02 that's a 15.3 mph avg and unlike all my other climbs this one was seated big ring attack using Garmin segment to show my progress, i usually go seated inner ring and spin, starting in one or two gears lower than i intend to ride the steepest sections, i also slowly increase my cadence as the climb progresses.

this segment is 1/2 mile avg 9%-10% i'm going to use this to help me train https://www.strava.com/segments/1024950

Awesome stuff ITB
I'm presuming you'll make a call on it at some point in the next month or two?

Sub 7 is my target too - some test efforts will give me an indication as to whether that is viable - I do have a good few weeks to train still of course, and plan to hit it pretty hard.

Wish I had gone and spectated now on a previous year, would have given me a good feel for the event, but I hear that universally it is a good one - closed roads will be a luxury too!

I have not herd of milk hill, but will check our your link - that strikes me as a good time for the gradient and distance.
Edit - looking on the map, that is pretty darned close to a route I used to do that came back through Hungerford, and through Ham.

Thinking about it, I sometimes ride a hill out of Lambourn - I need to figure out the gradient, but it takes me about 7 minutes IIRC, so that could be some good training, as it's good quality road surface, and it's a big wide road in general, so plenty of room for cars to pass.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

My newly discovered favourite hilly ride route would probably be great training for this, five cat4 hills in ~22.8 miles, it's great fun in a sadistic way. :twisted:
https://www.strava.com/segments/15186793

But your hill looks to have a profile very similar to The White Way, which although I've only done it once and on my first ever cat4 hill ride, it felt by far the hardest of the cat4s I've attempted in the last fortnight!
https://www.strava.com/segments/10427972 (there are smaller variants of climb, some of which are 6% over 1 mile)

daniel_b

NitrousOxide wrote:

My newly discovered favourite hilly ride route would probably be great training for this, five cat4 hills in ~22.8 miles, it's great fun in a sadistic way. :twisted:
https://www.strava.com/segments/15186793

But your hill looks to have a profile very similar to The White Way, which although I've only done it once and on my first ever cat4 hill ride, it felt by far the hardest of the cat4s I've attempted in the last fortnight!
https://www.strava.com/segments/10427972 (there are smaller variants of climb, some of which are 6% over 1 mile)

:shock: That looks BRUTAL!

Not too far from me either, could easily drive down to give that route a crack.

Very impressed with tour cadence, what gear ratios are you running, and did you end up in your bottom gear?
Generally a flat out 90 minutes out of your whole ride? Was the other bit less intense?

itboffin

reclaimed one of my local KOM, just by 0.2 mph using my now slightly lighter single speed.

1.6 miles at +6% rules me out, i need to be able to smash it and about 1 mile is all i've got before i explode.

I pick my battles carefully

burnthesheep

I say use bikecalculator.com or whatever and put in the grade, length of the hill, and play with the estimated power. Give yourself an idea of about how long it will take you to do.

Then train by doing interval training with repeats of something that amount of time.

I'm finding it difficult to pick a power output for efforts longer than 10 min but less than a 20 min FTP pace. 1 minute to 5 minute or 10 minute efforts I can gauge easily.

I'm close to your ftp power, maybe not weight as it seems you're about 5 to 8 lbs lighter. 7 minutes? I'd say you should be able to hold about 50 watts over your ftp for that long. That's about what I can. I ftp at about 230 or maybe a little more. I can do 5 minute intervals at 300w or hold 270w for 7, 8, or maybe 9 minutes.

Since it's a similar power range, take that as you will. But for your hill try, I'd give it a solid 40 to 50 watts over your ftp for the effort.

Speaking of hill climbs, here's what I'm gunning for in July. I'd like to do it without a foot down so need to ration water in the heat very well. Thank God for all the compact/semi compact stuff to pair with 11-28.
https://www.strava.com/segments/695873

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Daniel B wrote:

NitrousOxide wrote:

My newly discovered favourite hilly ride route would probably be great training for this, five cat4 hills in ~22.8 miles, it's great fun in a sadistic way. :twisted:
https://www.strava.com/segments/15186793

But your hill looks to have a profile very similar to The White Way, which although I've only done it once and on my first ever cat4 hill ride, it felt by far the hardest of the cat4s I've attempted in the last fortnight!
https://www.strava.com/segments/10427972 (there are smaller variants of climb, some of which are 6% over 1 mile)

:shock: That looks BRUTAL!

Not too far from me either, could easily drive down to give that route a crack.

Very impressed with tour cadence, what gear ratios are you running, and did you end up in your bottom gear?
Generally a flat out 90 minutes out of your whole ride? Was the other bit less intense?

On the Cube, it's the default 50/34 up front with 11-32 cassette. When my Bluetooth sensors don't mess up, I was quite shocked to see I often spin at ~100-110rpm, I always considered myself a "spinner" but I had no idea I was that spinny! :shock:

The two times I've attempted Harvesting Lane, I've ended up in my lowest gear for the final 0.6 mile 9% climb to the summit, mostly sitting but the odd short burst of standing up. The others on that 5-hill challenge I briefly use 2nd gear, but that nasty White Way had me in 1st too (having only done it once, I don't know if some of that was simply down to the body's shock of a long ride for me combined with "big" hills).

Cat4 hills are a brand new thing for me, literally in the last few weeks, so on this 5 hill challenge I'm taking it very easy inbetween the climbs (I've only done this route twice and yesterday was much more of a social ride than the first attempt). The ~47 mile whole ride is barely shorter than my longest ride ever of ~50 miles from earlier this month.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1042048862
https://www.strava.com/activities/1047098434

Doing it again tomorrow morning provisionally, there is so much time to be gained between the hills as I'm often cruising compared to the ~19mph I can average on a flat ~20-30 mile ride, plus hopefully my climbing speed will improve too. But I've started cautiously, as I've only been doing this MAMIL trying to regain the sort of fitness levels I had ~20 years ago since January.;)


As a kind of training for the cat4s in the South Downs, I've started a new extended hilly commute home on the Wazoo, which includes a hill that is very close to being a true Strava cat4 (segment has dodgy elevation data). Got my best time so far up Bassett Green Avenue the other day, but cleverly forgot to take water with me and consequently struggled with leather mouth syndrome in the heatwave!
https://www.strava.com/activities/1045554849

N0bodyOfTheGoat

burnthesheep wrote:

Speaking of hill climbs, here's what I'm gunning for in July. I'd like to do it without a foot down so need to ration water in the heat very well. Thank God for all the compact/semi compact stuff to pair with 11-28.
https://www.strava.com/segments/695873

Having skim read the article earlier, I thought the KOM name looked familar!

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/arti ... ike-50210/

21.1 miles of 4% average, OMG! :shock:

daniel_b

burnthesheep wrote:

I say use bikecalculator.com or whatever and put in the grade, length of the hill, and play with the estimated power. Give yourself an idea of about how long it will take you to do.

Then train by doing interval training with repeats of something that amount of time.

I'm finding it difficult to pick a power output for efforts longer than 10 min but less than a 20 min FTP pace. 1 minute to 5 minute or 10 minute efforts I can gauge easily.

I'm close to your ftp power, maybe not weight as it seems you're about 5 to 8 lbs lighter. 7 minutes? I'd say you should be able to hold about 50 watts over your ftp for that long. That's about what I can. I ftp at about 230 or maybe a little more. I can do 5 minute intervals at 300w or hold 270w for 7, 8, or maybe 9 minutes.

Since it's a similar power range, take that as you will. But for your hill try, I'd give it a solid 40 to 50 watts over your ftp for the effort.

Speaking of hill climbs, here's what I'm gunning for in July. I'd like to do it without a foot down so need to ration water in the heat very well. Thank God for all the compact/semi compact stuff to pair with 11-28.
https://www.strava.com/segments/695873

Thanks BTS, didn't even know that website existed, plenty of fun playing with figures!

It reckons that with a 10km headwind, I would need to put out circa 265W to make it up in 7 minutes, which is pretty much what I kind of had in mind anyway - will be interesting to see if I can match that value, and or lower values, and see how closely it tallies with the predicted times.
Hopefully by then I aim to have an FTP of 250, so in theory might be able to push 280 or 290 for the distance, which should in theory result in a time more around the 6:30 mark.
Amazingly, or maybe not so amazingly, but amazing to contemplate that kind of power, the site reckons Tejvan would have been averaging 600W over the course.

I would say you are a stronger (or perhaps just have a better technique) rider than I, as I can't hold those kind of power outputs for those time blocks, but I'm learning all the time, and hopefully improving as a rider - I'm really relishing going out now, as I feel a much more competent rider than I did before - I even relish getting on the turbo trainer :shock:

As an aside and a bit of a tangent, one thing I have noticed when going out on my Scott the last few times, is that I can feel what I can only describe as the bike surging forwards with each pedal stroke, not something I noticed on the turbo (Different bike, and of course it is locked in) but do not recall it before out on the road, and am not sure if it suggests my position or pedalling technique is incorrect.
I've embraced the Trainerroad quadrant pedalling, ie light kick over the top, push down, drag along the bottom and lift up at the back - I'm only 6 months in, so it's not fully ingrained yet, so just wondering if the surging suggests my pedalling technique is a long way from good, and I need to try and smooth out the circle of pedalling, as opposed to the circle of life.

ugo.santalucia

NitrousOxide wrote:

burnthesheep wrote:

Speaking of hill climbs, here's what I'm gunning for in July. I'd like to do it without a foot down so need to ration water in the heat very well. Thank God for all the compact/semi compact stuff to pair with 11-28.
https://www.strava.com/segments/695873

Having skim read the article earlier, I thought the KOM name looked familar!

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/arti ... ike-50210/

21.1 miles of 4% average, OMG! :shock:

What a poser... I find those folks trying to beat KOM on Strava for a bit of notoriety really sad...

I recall Riccardo Ricco' ended up doing just that after being banned for life for doping

itboffin

Tiz a tad weird for an ex pro but each to their own and it might be an itch he's always wanted to scratch

simon_e

ugo.santalucia wrote:

What a poser... I find those folks trying to beat KOM on Strava for a bit of notoriety really sad...

I recall Riccardo Ricco' ended up doing just that after being banned for life for doping

Hmmm, not a flattering comparison. I think Gaimon's story is a little more interesting:

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/12/gaimon- ... rava-koms/

daniel_b

Simon E wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

What a poser... I find those folks trying to beat KOM on Strava for a bit of notoriety really sad...

I recall Riccardo Ricco' ended up doing just that after being banned for life for doping

Hmmm, not a flattering comparison. I think Gaimon's story is a little more interesting:

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/12/gaimon- ... rava-koms/

Very interesting indeed, though this clearly is at odds with what we have on the previous page:

Gaimon isn’t taking his quest too seriously — “I mean, there’s no way I’m going to get on a plane to go after one,” he says

ugo.santalucia

Simon E wrote:

Hmmm, not a flattering comparison. I think Gaimon's story is a little more interesting:

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/12/gaimon- ... rava-koms/

It isn't. Basically, if you take away the motifs and the blurb, what we have is a former PRO rider who is too old/slow to race in the peloton, but can't let go his competitive edge, which is fine, I am sure it is very common.

So he decides that he can keep getting a few bucks in sponsorships by exploiting the social media boom. So he travels the length of the country to tackle the most infamous climbs, setting "unofficial" best times, which provide him with plenty of kudos, which he can most likely turn into (not much) hard currency.

I suppose if you can't be bothered to sit at a desk or drive a car for a living, it is one way to try to survive staying out of crime... is it something worth endorsing and glorifying? I don't think so... it's desperation, let's face it

simon_e

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Simon E wrote:

Hmmm, not a flattering comparison. I think Gaimon's story is a little more interesting:

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/12/gaimon- ... rava-koms/

It isn't. Basically, if you take away the motifs and the blurb, what we have is a former PRO rider who is too old/slow to race in the peloton, but can't let go his competitive edge, which is fine, I am sure it is very common.

So he decides that he can keep getting a few bucks in sponsorships by exploiting the social media boom. So he travels the length of the country to tackle the most infamous climbs, setting "unofficial" best times, which provide him with plenty of kudos, which he can most likely turn into (not much) hard currency.

I suppose if you can't be bothered to sit at a desk or drive a car for a living, it is one way to try to survive staying out of crime... is it something worth endorsing and glorifying? I don't think so... it's desperation, let's face it

Do you apply that analysis to every sponsored athlete? Or have you just taken against the guy?

Either way, he's doing his thing and I don't see the big deal. No-one is forcing us to read the stuff.

bobmcstuff

Simon E wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Simon E wrote:

Hmmm, not a flattering comparison. I think Gaimon's story is a little more interesting:

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/12/gaimon- ... rava-koms/

It isn't. Basically, if you take away the motifs and the blurb, what we have is a former PRO rider who is too old/slow to race in the peloton, but can't let go his competitive edge, which is fine, I am sure it is very common.

So he decides that he can keep getting a few bucks in sponsorships by exploiting the social media boom. So he travels the length of the country to tackle the most infamous climbs, setting "unofficial" best times, which provide him with plenty of kudos, which he can most likely turn into (not much) hard currency.

I suppose if you can't be bothered to sit at a desk or drive a car for a living, it is one way to try to survive staying out of crime... is it something worth endorsing and glorifying? I don't think so... it's desperation, let's face it

Do you apply that analysis to every sponsored athlete? Or have you just taken against the guy?

Either way, he's doing his thing and I don't see the big deal. No-one is forcing us to read the stuff.

Ugo likes to be cantankerous and contrary, you'll get used to it

ugo.santalucia

After a rather anonymous career as a PRO rider, he can't let go and wants some fame he probably didn't get as a PRO (never heard him before). He doesn't do anything useful and IMO belongs to an increasing number of internet parassites, who manage to scrape a living doing completely pointless things. What he does is not inspiring, not different, not new and it's not even clever. What he does is called narcissism.

Of course he can do whatever he wants in this round and free world and I can think of him whatever I want too!

There you go... :-)

And you say there is a big difference with Ricco'... what is this difference? One is a former doper and the other claims he's not? Who cares who dopes and who doesn't on Strava.
Strava, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram... they are all social media... do you get upset if a friend of yours posts a touched up photo? So who cares if someone posts a "touched up" time on Strava?

dannbodge

NitrousOxide wrote:

My newly discovered favourite hilly ride route would probably be great training for this, five cat4 hills in ~22.8 miles, it's great fun in a sadistic way. :twisted:
https://www.strava.com/segments/15186793

But your hill looks to have a profile very similar to The White Way, which although I've only done it once and on my first ever cat4 hill ride, it felt by far the hardest of the cat4s I've attempted in the last fortnight!
https://www.strava.com/segments/10427972 (there are smaller variants of climb, some of which are 6% over 1 mile)

I'm from Portsmouth and regularly get up to butser/meon etc
That's a great route, and....I'm stealing it!

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Dannbodge wrote:

NitrousOxide wrote:

My newly discovered favourite hilly ride route would probably be great training for this, five cat4 hills in ~22.8 miles, it's great fun in a sadistic way. :twisted:
https://www.strava.com/segments/15186793

But your hill looks to have a profile very similar to The White Way, which although I've only done it once and on my first ever cat4 hill ride, it felt by far the hardest of the cat4s I've attempted in the last fortnight!
https://www.strava.com/segments/10427972 (there are smaller variants of climb, some of which are 6% over 1 mile)

I'm from Portsmouth and regularly get up to butser/meon etc
That's a great route, and....I'm stealing it!

It's a great challenge, I'm hoping to reduce my PB down towards ~1hr15mins from the ~1hr30mins30secs last Friday, by increasing my pace and getting rid of the ~6mins or so eating break at the top of Harvesting Lane.

Bit gutted the weather is not so good over the next few days, so if I go up there, it might be with my mudguard equipped Wazoo. As training for the cat4s in the South Downs, I'm now making the following route part of my extended commute home, as a local multi-hill challenge.
https://www.strava.com/segments/15260003

simon_e

bobmcstuff wrote:

Ugo likes to be cantankerous and contrary, you'll get used to it

Thanks Bob. Can't say I've noticed in the past, perhaps I haven't been spending quite as much time on here as I used to.

Returning to the topic, the posts about cat4 hills etc are a handy reminder to go out and and string together a few climbs on some of my own routes. Good luck all, and have fun.

dinyull

ugo.santalucia wrote:

After a rather anonymous career as a PRO rider, he can't let go and wants some fame he probably didn't get as a PRO (never heard him before). He doesn't do anything useful and IMO belongs to an increasing number of internet parassites, who manage to scrape a living doing completely pointless things. What he does is not inspiring, not different, not new and it's not even clever. What he does is called narcissism.

Of course he can do whatever he wants in this round and free world and I can think of him whatever I want too!

There you go... :-)

And you say there is a big difference with Ricco'... what is this difference? One is a former doper and the other claims he's not? Who cares who dopes and who doesn't on Strava.
Strava, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram... they are all social media... do you get upset if a friend of yours posts a touched up photo? So who cares if someone posts a "touched up" time on Strava?

Have you read the story behind Gaimon going after these KOM's?

It doesn't look like you have so: he basically goes after KOM's set by dopers. He is extremely anti-doping, in one of his video's goes back to a "charity" house thing where clean riders trying to catch their break in the pro's can live rent free (or very cheaply). Also laments that despite being one of the better climbers in the world he barely got a chance at Pro Tour level, he thinks because of doping/ers.

He's not as bitter as it sounds though and certainly not as bitter as you.