Catford and Bec Hill Climbs

[Andrew G]

Another day another 2 hill climbs .

First up Yorks Hill for Catford's race. Horrible hill, starts flatter but quickly ramps up to silly levels and finishes with a ridiculous 25% section. Great crowds out for this, more than I can remember at previous years.

Oddly for this I didn't feel too bad. I rode half the hill in the saddle in a lower gear until the gradient demanded getting out the saddle. This was partly due to the light shower beforehand which had made parts of the hill a bit slippy in places, although I only had one wheel slip. Finished feeling I could have pushed it a touch earlier but still absolutely knackered.
I did 3.03.7 which is an improvement on last year's 3.12.

Full Addiscombe results:
Andrew Green 3.03.7
Carl Ferri 2.35.7 (great ride by Carl for the first time he's ridden the hill).
Mike Ingram 3.26.4 (he started literally from the bottom ).
Sylvain Garde 2.14.5 (belting ride and a top 10 placing).

Race won by Rob Gough in 1.58.1

Next up and it was White Lane for the Bec race. I know this hill better and felt better on it. Rode it fairly well with fantastic support from the Addiscombe support crew including a huge number who'd ridden out on MTBs. I beat 3 minutes for the first time on this hill with a 2.56.1 compared to last year's 3.01.

Oddly both races felt much easier than previous year's. Not massive time improvements but quicker times and I didn't feel as though I had to kill myself as much to get them, should have pushed a bit more in both races.

Full Addiscombe Results:
Carl Ferri 2.24.4
Andrew Green 2.56.1
Mike Wallace 2.18.6
Mike Ingram 2.49.6
Sylvain Garde 2.06.1

Superb ride again by Sylv. The rain started falling during this event and he had a wet ride. The winner was Michael Leonard Smith in 1.46.3 and he rode in the dry. Sylv was holding 3rd place right up to the end and the big names which knocked him down to 6th or 7th by the end.

Thanks for the support from the sides chaps it was superb as I'm sure all the riders would agree..

[Keith]

[img]http://i33.tinypic.com/2ccv0na.jpg[/img]

[Sylv]

Cheers Andrew for noting the times, and everyone who came support on both races – loads! And well done to all the riders, some pretty steep climbs there. Woke up 0.7kg up on target weight (damn that muesli) 63.5kg bike and kit all included. Stopped on the drive to Yorks to ride White Lane, it had gotten damp thanks to morning drizzle. Got to Yorks just in time to see Andrew and Carl ride, got worried when Carl said it was too slippery to get out of the saddle. Tires down to 85psi, gears used 39-21/23/25 – out of saddle the whole way, no slippage but had to be careful, think it had dried a bit since Carl, but I heard from people coming off their bike slipping who'd started after me. Spinned the bottom bit, such a hard thing to pace exactly right though unless you’re super-familiar with the hill, funnily it didn’t seem as long this time, reckon i could’ve gone ever so slightly faster from the start, had a little left at the top (not quite enough to shout at the people in the way and not looking to move out ...) – still it must have looked good to the crowds. Reckon I was 10th joint with Alex Christians from Phoenix – aim was now to beat him in the afternoon http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3508/400 ... 88dc_o.jpg

Bec again watched the early starters included Mike Wal who I lent my wheels to (no he wasn’t on a mtb). Climb was nice and dry at that time but as i sat on the rollers it started drizzling then raining properly. Mmm should have asked for an early start ... climb is about same time and distance but very different i find, slope is not so changing and road is straighter so you know more what to expect and can just put your head down – crowds roaring at the top but all you see is a blur really and a tunnel of trees. Not wanting to regret going too easy i started just a little bit harder than i thought was safe, it seemed to do the trick as i didn’t run out of gears or die when the gradient kicked, it was hard though, had made mental note of where chalk signs of “£1,000” were as pacing guidance but with the rain they’d vanished, road was pretty slick i don’t know how i didn’t slip in 39 x 25 out of the saddle. Pretty sure i was 8th place actually (7th place 2.06.08, the timing's done by someone pressing on a stopwatch ), i recognized guy who won from the RAS race [was in yellow after winning stage 1 TT], he was one of the top young climbers from Milton Keynes team there, early starter he rode in the dry and did a 1.46 something (! ) and i think 2nd was 1.50 then 1.52 Jody. Germain Burton 2.47, that included falling off his bike 20m from the finish from exhaustion/slippage, lying down on the floor for a few seconds and having to be put back on the saddle by team De Ver – poor lad. P.Tadros 2.04.4 Alex 2.14 .

I guess i’m happy with that as aim was to get in top ten with hope of going up a couple of places if possible – seeing the level of the field anything higher would have been wishful thinking. Love these but glad it’s over now – think i’m gonna enter the LD climb on Leith hill next weekend

[Marek]

Well done to all those that took part, have to admit it seemed like a much better idea to be standing on the side of the road screaming at you and drinking coffee and eating huge sausages. I was surprised that Jody did not get the Catford as he seemed to be flying up it a lot quicker than the earlier riders, must have missed the winning ride whilst queuing up for my food.

Mike Ingram's time is very impressive considering he started from a lot lower on the hill than everyone else.

Cheers

Marek.....

[Keith]

[img]http://i35.tinypic.com/nzm1hf.jpg[/img]

[Andrew G]

[quote="Marek"] I was surprised that Jody did not get the Catford as he seemed to be flying up it a lot quicker than the earlier riders

[Will]

Here's Sylv in action

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmjYMMxhgW0[/url]

[Sylv]

[quote="Will"]Here's Sylv in action

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmjYMMxhgW0[/url]

[Ivor]

We saw you lot riding back as we were driving back home from London! Looked a bit soggy out there.

[Wal]

Thanks to all the Addiscombe folk who turned out to shout encouragement as we grovelled up the hill.

Thanks also to Sylv for the loan of his wheels, which lightened my bike by some 600g!

I'll be back next year, leaner and meaner and aiming for 2'10"!

Mike 'Wal' Wallace

[Wal]

Duplicate message removed

[higg]

Well done all, here's more photos .....

[img]http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs225.snc1/7221_148770201867_565591867_2731075_946644_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs225.snc1/7221_148770206867_565591867_2731076_5628299_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs225.snc1/7221_148770211867_565591867_2731077_3127879_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs205.snc1/7221_148770221867_565591867_2731078_3157786_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs205.snc1/7221_148770231867_565591867_2731079_2562017_n.jpg[/img]

[Sylv]

BEC
Teams:

1st Arctic Premier RT 6.14.18 No’s 66, 71, 87 ……………………………£900.00
2nd In Gear Quickvit RT 6.35.12 No’s 10, 78, 82
3rd Norwood Paragon CC 6.41.14 No’s 61,69,81
4th Dulwich Paragon CC 6.45.13 No’s13,26,33
5th Rapha Condor CC 6.46.12 No’s 43,60,74
6th Addiscombe CC 6.48.11 No’s 2,12,55
7th London Phoenix CC 6.48.12 No’s 34,56,70
8th Bec C C 7.21.14 No’s 1,7,40
9th Sth Western RC 7.36.17 No’s 16,63,73
10th Team Corley 8.09.25 No’s 68,76,83 (received a 2min penalty late start)


What was the story with Mike's start at the Catford?

[-Adam-]

Well done to all who rode, these are the hardest races most can dream of.

Awesome riding by Sylv, although I gotta say, I kinda expected it from you! Despite my own weight plumetting to 66kg on Saturday morning (not by pleasant methods!), your effort at preparing for these races was never going to go un-rewarded. Chapeau.

[carl f]

That was tough,well done everyone who rode it
Anyone seen the catford results?
i fully underestimated the effort needed to sprint(in my case grovel) up these hills. Didn't really prepare for any full on race pace efforts apart from a recce of white lane a couple of weeks ago
Thanks to all for your support near the top it was a good to have the ego stroked for a few seconds and get that final lift i needed to get over the top
Thanks to Andrew for the lift to and from catford,so glad i didn't ride over now. Really enjoyed it in a funny kinda way,great atmosphere and i'm already thinking of next year and how to shave some time off to get in the top 20
Amazing ride by sylv, hats off to you sir......