Uphill all the way

It’s October – which is hillclimb season.  What is a hillclimb? Well it’s a very short TT. Up a hill.

Traditionally the Catford CC Hillclimb and the Bec CC Hillclimb are run on the same day – the Catford in the morning and the Bec in the afternoon. The Catford is actually the oldest still running bike race in the world – this year being the 119th edition. The Bec is a mere stripling in comparison having only been run for 59 years.

The big attraction this year at the Bec was the last race of David Millar. One of six British riders to have worn the Maillot Jaune in the Tour de France, multiple stage winner and controversial character. When we arrived, rather than hiding away with minders, he was just wandering around in the crowd chatting, posing for photos, signing autographs and being a nice bloke. Also given his height, rather easy to spot.

The Catford in the morning is considered the harder of the two. I wouldn’t know – I just sent my son out to do it for me. The road is narrower so the crowds can be quite tricky for the riders

In the Bec we had 6 Addiscombe riders on 5 bicycles. How does that work? Well some people don’t like to do things the easy way:

Going up a climb can be pretty hard. Going up a climb against the clock is far beyond “pretty hard”. The massive crowds and encouragement help apparently.

Meanwhile, some people are just cool

Further photos can be found on the Cycling Weekly website. If you find any unflattering ones of me then just keep it to yourself – OK?

Photos from members and Dave Hayward