Star Hill and Rowdow Lane

A sunny ride saw me attempt for the 3rd time the climbs of Star Hill, near Dunton Green, Kent and Rowdow Lane, near Otford.

I have done these twice before but earlier in the year when it was colder and I was on a heavier bike. The warmer weather meant  was on my much lighter Scott and partly as a result set PB on both climbs

I also had my Garmin Virb running so here's a couple of videos of the ascents:

Star Hill:

Rowdow Lane:

Both climbs feature in the Cycling Climbs of the South East, part of Simon Warrens' 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs series of books

Back on the Commute

I cycled to and from work for the first time this year and also since I got knocked off last November.

It was Good Friday so traffic was light although I was still nervous about cars approaching junctions from my left.

I ran my Garmin Virb on the way in and back - I guess that I am hoping that I won't get knocked off again but if I do there'll be supporting evidence.

Here it is (at 4x speed)

Rawlinson Bracket 2016 - Edge Hill 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs #136

I rode it again this year - 4th time in a row and ridden all of them so far. It doesn't get any easier, and this year was tough given being knocked off and with limited "proper" riding - 50 miles on a turbo trainer was useful but insufficient

About 4hrs 20 minutes but I was pretty well all in at  the end.

A couple of pictures from the start - I'm in the Belkin shorts, next to Martin Lewis, a former colleague:

More detailed report to follow but a couple of videos from the Edge Hill and Sunrising Hill Climbs:

Edge Hill:

Slow and a lot of puffing and panting!

Sunrising

Even slower than Edge Hill and even more puffing and panting!

Another Saturday Ride

In the Winter its not as easy to pick and choose when to ride ad the weather is more limiting

Saturday 20 February's weather forecast looked better than the Sundays so I took advantage and rode out in a favourite loop down to Wilmcote. It's just over 40 miles which made it the longest ride this year and I felt pretty good - probably the best this year so far.

I was on the Scott for only the 3rd time since I fitted the Shimano 5800 11 speed groupset - it really is much better than the previous 5700 10 speed set. I'd also fitted the 11-32 rear cassette for test (swapped out the 11-28) in preparation for the Rawlinson Bracket on 28 Feb - at 70 miles this is the longest I'll have ridden for a long time and its hilly so I'll need all the help I can get

I made another (2x speed) video with my Garmin Virb of most of the route: 

In preparation for the Rawlinson Bracket I actually have ridden my turbo trainer twice in the previous week:

The first day I felt surprisingly good,the second day not so. However it might have made a difference on the Saturday

A Few More weekend cycling videos

I went out over the weekend of 23-24 Jan 2016 and made a few videos.

There are a couple of reasons for flooding by YouTube account with videos - 1 - having got knocked off I am using the camera to hopefully provide some "evidence" should (and I hope not) get knocked off again and - 2 - I went to use my Virb over Christmas (having not used it for some months) and had zero battery life. I overcame the latter issues to an acceptable level (and I'll document this later perhaps) and so have been exercising the Virb as much as possible.

Anyway - here are this weeks videos:

Saturday

Sunday

RideLondon 2015

I was lucky enough to get in the RideLondon 2015 event this year through the ballot process.

I wrote about my 2014 ride here: My RideLondon100 - August 2014. Short summary - negatives - dreadful weather and 86 miles only; positives - fastest sportive I had ever ridden - 86 miles in 4:30 at an average speed of 19.1mph

I had really not thought much about this years event other than I was in it - there had been a number of personal issues taking my attention and a 2 week cycling holiday in the French Alps was much higher up my list of priorities. As such I didn't really think about it much until a bout 2 weeks before it was on, and most of that was sorting out the logistics of parking and when I'd go to Excel to collect the rider pack

After the 2014 edition which was shortened due to the weather I was hoping for better weather and to do the whole distance. In the week  before I paid close attention to the forecasts and it looked promising as the week progressed

We drove down the Thursday evening before and I rode into London to the Excel Centre as I had the previous year. It wasn't that busy and the pick up was very slick. I still don't understand why the packs can't be sent out by post - it really means for me (and others who don't live in London) a need to take an extra day's holiday. The cycle show at Excel isn't that great either. I guess its lucky that its only 12 miles or so away from my parents house and I am happy to cycle it. This year after the show I rode straight back as I didn't need to worry about where the Olympic Park was or Surrey Quays as I knew this from last year.

I did the normal sums to work out what time I needed to get up on the Sunday morning in order to have breakfast, load the car, drive to Surrey Quays, unload my bike and then ride to the Olympic Park. It meant a 4am start - needless to say I didn't sleep well and was awake before that. Despite this I didn't have a massive time gap and rolled up in my start slot (Pink, A) at about 5.50am ready for my 6.45 start. Fortunately the weather was mild and the waiting was not too bad. Here's a picture of the wait:

Finally our group was released to the start zone and we moved forward. Here's a video of the start - despite the number of people it was an orderly and smooth start:

RideLondon 2015 Start

There's not really a lot to see but some good riding and smooth pedalling. As a mass start there was no pushing and shoving so fair play


The first real landmark (and I don't mean the streets of London) is Richmond Park. I started my Garmin Virb for the ride through the park:


Richmond Park

I passed Joanna Rowsell in Richmond Park - she can be seen at about 5 minutes 40 seconds and 9 minutes and 45 seconds. At she can be seen having her buttocks caressed - I am hoping by her new husband. Here is the evidence:

I didn't initially think it could be her as she was carrying a huge quantity of "food", but on Twitter I later saw proof:

Joanna Rowsell's RideLondon Prepration

I was quite surprised she needed this much food for 100 miles! The Pearl Izumi kit was also very pink. Beautiful pedalling style of course

Last year Richmond Park was quite a bottle neck especially with the bad weather - but as the video showed it was much more free flowing this year. I don't know if this was related to the weather or my start time but I didn't complain.


After Richmond Park the route is a bit nothing - once you get to the Surrey Hills you come across Newlands Corner and from then on its really just a ride at that point to get down to Leith Hill and Box Hill. Newlands Corner is a gentle and short climb, but as per last year people were walking from the start. However again traffic was lighter and it was an easier climb this year with less pushing and shoving on the right. A fast descent off Newlands Corner then follows and the route works its way towards Leith Hill

I've not ridden Leith Hill before but was keen to tick it off as its #17 in the 100 Greatest Climbs. It was not really well marked where it was or that is was coming up but it became apparent as the road started to narrow, and more usefully there were signs showing "tortoises" to keep to the left and "hares" to the right. I sat on the fence a bit and hung in in the middle as I wasn't sure if I was going to be fast enough. There was some jockeying for position nearer the bottom but it tended to improve as the climb continued. I felt reasonably strong and drifted more to the right, although the overall pace started to drop as we climbed.  I had left my 12-30 tooth cassette on from my France trip and while I didn't need it it made it easy to drop into that gear and I was able to change pace from slow or faster depending in the traffic. As a hill in its own right it was not that great a challenge to a regular cyclist, but I would imagine that for the occasional rider it was far too tough. There were people walking almost from the bottom. My heart rate did get higher than I expected but from the Strava Leith Hill KOM Challenge 2015 I was about 2000th of about 10000 so I was happy with that. Here's a video - not sure why the quality is not as good as I'd expect though.

 

Leith Hill Video

Following the descent from Leith Hill its then not too far to Dorking and then on to Box Hill. Unlike Leith Hill I had ridden Box Hill before and had a better idea what to expect. We turned off the A24 and started towards the right hand turn that marks the start. It slowed immediately but it seemed only temporary and about 1/2 way up the first straight its started to thin out and I got to the right side of the road. Once round the first hairpin more space appeared on the road and I was able to keep right and move on generally faster than most people. The road is a bit wider than Leith Hill so there was more space available. On the Box Hill KOM Challenge 2015 I was 2750th out of nearly 13000 so again a reasonable pace. Whilst I was on the 34T front ring I was in 3rd or 4th gear on the cassette and able to push on pretty well and gain some places and time. Box Hill is I think over hyped but in the South it is reasonably iconic.

Box Hill Video

After Box Hill its really all about just riding back to London. Its a drag back to through Leatherhead and back through Kingston, then through Wimbledon where again the "Wimbledon Hill" catches people out - this year I was just about able to flog it out on the big ring I am pleased to say. The last "town" is Putney and this was when I was reminded about what closed roads really mean - cycling the wrong way down Putney High Street at over 25mph!
Once through Putney and over the bridge its a short drag before we pull alongside the river to our right - and its only about 5-6 miles to the finish. Last year there was hardly any one on this stretch and it was hard to get a tow but this year as I pulled on there was a small group with a really big chap who was making a big hole in the air - when I could get close enough I could feel the drop in effort required but he was just a spot too fast and despite some valiant efforts I could not keep on the back and gradually dropped back. As I got closer to the Houses of Parliament I was able to pick the a spot of pace up again and got just back on a small group. The almost hairpin at Trafalgar Square comes almost out of nowhere and needs concentration as the road surface is poor. I missed my wife and mother again who had come to watch. However this year unlike last year I sprinted up at 25mph The Mall and gained a few more seconds to the finish.

My wife just manage to get a couple of shots of me passing her heading towards the Admiralty Arch (I'm in the pale blue top to the right of the pictures):

Last 5 miles Video

There's a few hundred meters to cost to a gathering point in order to get to the side of Buckingham Palace and again I was thwarted as the crowd management let pedestrians through so there was some waiting around so I took a few photos.

However once across you get given your medal:

The route:

My official time was 5hrs, 4 minutes and 20 seconds. I was pretty pleased with that. I had had to stop this year for a "comfort break" and I reckoned without that I would have just made under 5 hours. My Garmin and Strava concurred on an average speed of 19.7mph over 99.5 miles, which was much faster than I expected and hoped for.

I use my Garmin to record split times for 5 mile intervals:

Here it can be seen that I was reasonably cautious about pace for the first 30 miles or so, then speed dipped a bit as the roads narrow towards Newlands Corner at about 40 miles and then on to Leith Hill at about 56 miles. This was a much slower region with the narrow roads and the hill itself. I am not quite sure why the pace then dropped further in the run in to and climb of Box Hill, but once over the hill the pace stepped up quite markedly as can be seen and in the last 30 miles the average speed was over 20mph - I was very pleased with this piece of data. Looking at the data in the excellent Veloviewer (so good that I subscribe) I can see how consistent the data is from this sample:

Because the weather was so much better this year, there were many more spectators and the organisers changed the pedestrian routes, it took my wife and mother some time to get to the meet and greet area so I had a chance for a sit down and relax in the sun. We then all had a drink and then headed back to Surrey Quays - me on the bike and them on the train/tube. After loading the car and a quick partial change we went to the nearby Frankie & Benny's for lunch before driving back to Dartford.

So to summarise my ride: excellent weather - ideal conditions in fact, very fast for me and I exceeded my aspirations, I didn't find it to hard, I did the whole route unlike last year. Two weeks in the Alps were excellent preparation and I could probably have found another 10 minutes without blowing up as well. And I have done it now

Would I do it again next year - no I am not going to, I have done it now. Its a good event and closed roads are awesome, but the route will be the same again, and almost certainly there will be even more people doing it next year.

Its not cheap either( its not that expensive) but when you start adding in the parking etc it all adds up. The need to go to Excel to get the rider pack is also an issue I think. And its a very early start and logistics are difficult. I am lucky my parents house is where it is as it makes it more manageable as without that it would be even more expensive.

So I am happy to tick this one as done.

Tour of the Black Country

Tour of the Black Country

Much earlier this year my son spotted the Tour of the Black Country Sportive, starting from Wolverhampton on Sunday 10 May. It certainly looked interesting so I signed us both up. 

However my son then dropped out as he had a conflict with Final Exams so I was left to ride on my own. Someone else that I know was also riding it - Martin Lewis so we sort of met up at the start.

I dithered a bit about what bike/tyres/wheels to use given the off-road sections but in the end I took my Scott and the only concession I made was to drop the tyre pressures a bit. I wasn't the only one to have made a similar decision - there were a lot of high end road bikes on the ride.

It was a relatively early start although for me the journey to Wolverhampton (specifically Aldersley Stadium) was relatively short and the M6 was clear. Unfortunately there was some sort of administrative cock-up and the sports centre was not opened in time for the sign on. Asa result there was a generally disorganised melee while the sign on took place outside. I was withing the first couple of 100 or so but the queue for later people was quite long. After getting my number I found Martin, got ready (car out of boot, all cycling clothes on etc) and we rode to the start. There was phased start of groups of 20-30 but we cannot have waited for more than a few minutes to get going.

The weather was OK - warm enough although a little overcast and a light breeze - so the pace was high and I took (as I always seem to now) some time to warm up. Suddenly we were on the first gravel section. It was not what I expected - it seemed like riding on ice. It was both very bumpy and over the main surface was a lot of small gravel. It was on this that it felt like you had no control. I started dropping back from Martin quite quickly as he seemed a lot more confidant on the surface. I realised that the objective was to keep riding as fast and steadily as possible and avoid sudden steering inputs. It was at this stage that I started not to look forward to the remaining 19-20 sections of off road riding that were coming up! Once off the section I pressed on and caught Martin back up. A number of other sections of varying length kept coming and going of various levels of unpleasantness. Several were rutted enough that it was easy to get caught in the rut (literally) and whilst the other side of the track might have looked better it was almost impossible to cross from side to side of the track. It was also very tiring both physically and mentally. Each section I dropped back behind Martin and like a gentlemen he slowed a little at the end to let me catch up. This to- and fro-ing continued up to the 1st feed stop which was in a pub in Belbroughton. A reasonable selection of sugary (aka unhealthy) snacks were available, as were drinks and toilet facilities. I started my Garmin Virb at this point as I intended to capture the remaining sections up to the finish.

After Belbroughton it was a relatively short ride to start the apparently infamous "Waltonberg Climb". Martin had pulled a minute or so away from me by this point. The climb appeared almost from no-where and started straight up with a steep gradient with a very bad surface. The surface was mostly bricks (cobbles might be a stretch too far) with some good bits and some not so good. However the poor surface combined with the steep gradient made it very hard from the outset. The track veered to the right and got steeper but was pretty straight from that point on so it at least gave a chance to try and pick the route and swap sides for the best part of the track. Some areas of the track were very slightly damp and it was possible even for me to get wheel spin whilst still seated. All I can say was that I ground up as steadily as I could and that I was very grateful for having fitted the 12-30T cassette rather than my more standard 11-28 - I know that I would not have made it with the 28. Also as I got nearer the top there were a number of people walking who had had to give up and they were drifting across the track - I almost ran in to the back off one of them. There was also a very focusing moment when I needed to avoid an obstacle and at such a low speed I nearly came off - I just managed to keep upright and going forward - and from that point the gradient started to ease. I'd got the the top - just - and was very pleased.

Here's the video from my Garmin Virb:

Here's a photo from one of the course photographers at about 2/3rd of the way up:

Having achieved the "difficult" part it was going to be mainly downhill from there. The first descent was down St Kenelms Pass and as a result we lost almost all the height we gained from the ascent from Belbroughton. More off-road sections came and went, and I captured these on my Garmin again:

Each section was different and all were hard work although I was starting to feel a little more confidant. I rode straight past the 2nd feed stop as I felt fine and pressed on the to end. The final few hundred meters or so were riding 1/2 a lap of the Velodrome which was interesting - I was doing about 20mph (nothing special) and started near the top of the bank - but was clearly not going fast enough - I was riding fully vertically on the left hand bank - so I felt like I should have been leaning to the left but was actually leaning to the right (relative to the track surface) - I allowed myself to drift back down to the bottom of the track. I crossed the finish line - but rode round another lap for the experience.

Having finished I rode to the finish area - got my "goody item" (a water bottle) but declined the piece of coal and the glass of champagne. I met back with Martin (who was about 10 minutes ahead of me in the end, bought a coffee and had a chat, then packed up and left.

Summary - a good ride - very different, and challenging for different reasons. The 60 mile nominal distance wasn't particularly challenging in itself, but the off-road sections and the velodrome made it a good event. Would I do it again - perhaps once more.

Here's my Strava data: Tour of the Black Country

Total distance - 56.2 miles
Height Gain - 3850ft
Average Speed - 15.9mph

I was reasonably happy with the average speed - I lost most of it on the off-road sections

Two of the 100 Greatest Climbs #19 - Kidds Hill/The Wall and #115 - Ashdown Forest in a day

Easter 2015

I have been trying to tick off some more of the climbs in both the first and second 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs books and due to a few "unofficial cycling holidays" in the last year have made some headway. There's been good progress in the Lake District and a toe in the water in Yorkshire. In addition there's a surprising number in the South East of England that are ridable from my parents house in north west Kent.

The next two in the south east that I was going to approach were #19 (The Wall) and #115 (Ashdown Forest). I had plotted a route to these from my parents a number of months ago, but this was a round trip of nearly 80 miles. 80 miles in early April is still quite a big time commitment (especially when I am meant to be visiting my parents and not spending half the day cycling!). In addition its surprising how hilly the Wealds and Downs of Kent, Surrey & Sussex can be, so it was not just the distance but the likelihood of ~60-70ft/mile or more of ascent as well.

The compromise was therefore to drive to Shoreham (Kent) and this got the distance down to 50 miles or about 3 hours of riding - a lot more socially acceptable. I modified the original route (using the Strava route planner now) to make a shorter one and duly set off.

Here's the route which shows both the "bigger" climbs but also that there are no flat bits:

It was initially a few miles of familiar roads to Sevenoaks then a new route through the town centre and beyond. As it was all new to me from Sevenoaks I really just followed the route on the Garmin without paying a lot of attention. The route was predominantly south to Groombridge with quite a lot of rolling climbing - including one quite long drag (that turned out later to be a Strava Cat 4 I found). At the top of this climb I almost caught another cyclist that I'd been following and was faster who swung off to the right to obviously catch up with his riding partner who was already at the top. Unfortunately he had a clipless moment just as I reached them both! As I turned out of Groombridge I started on a long ascent past a sign saying "Welcome to the Ashdown Forest". This climb was a long steady ride over a reasonable distance - but never really steep.

At the top I turned sharp right almost back on myself at the top of the Forest and saw lots of other cyclists so guessed that I was close to The Wall. As I continued a few yards further on I saw more cyclists coming from a road on the left in low gears looking slow and assumed that this was the climb - however my Garmin route made no indication that I should turn - and I rarely plot a route of the length I was riding that day where part of it would be an up/down detour from the route. I stopped in the car park at the junction and looked at the Garmin more carefully and from the depths of my memory thought that the book also called The Wall Kidds Hill as well - so I took a flier and started to ride down the hill. The fact that there were 20 or so cyclists riding towards me gave me a level of confidence that I was probably correct and that the worst case was I had just added a couple of miles and some climbing to the route. It was a fast but bumpy descent and I rode all the way down until it started to climb up again, and at this point did a U-turn and started back up.

The first landmark on the climb was a ford to the left (and the book mentions that the climb starts from here). The gradient gradually steepened for a while but I was able to hang on in the 34-25 (leaving 1 gear left for a while). The road then drifted round to the left before pointing dead straight up to the top. Its clear here why its called the "The Wall" - although not excessively steep being dead straight all you can see is tarmac to the top. The gradient was fairly consistent all the way - a few areas where it briefly eased before reverting to the average. It was just a case of grinding out the climb (and I needed the 34-28 lowest gear) all the way to the top. A dead straight climb like The Wall is both hard and easy - its hard because there's no relief - just keep straight on and the top looms over you - but easy because you know where the top is and you're not caught out by blind summits and summits round the next corner. Interestingly whilst the climb had been swarming with cyclist when I first reached the top and started the descent - once I started up myself I saw no other cyclists at all  - either descending or climbing.

I had my Garmin Virb with me and started the camera on the descent, here's the video.

For reasons I am not sure about this time the camera did not store any GPS related data - so this is just a video of my descent and climb.

At the top I took a few minutes break in the car park again to have something to eat and a gel, and read the information board about this part of the Forest and its use in the Winnie the Pooh stories before setting off back. Again the route was good (I have been generally lucky selecting roads less well used by cars for areas that I don't know) and I rode generally northwards.

With signs showing Ide Hill was a few miles to go I was passed by another cyclist. A short acknowledgement and he rode away from me at a slightly higher speed. I thought I might be able to keep up but I knew there was still a fair way to go and, given the rolling nature of the area, quite a bit of climbing left including Ide Hill. He slowly rode away (although not quite as quickly on the upwards parts) and a few miles later I was back on the road I recognised at the bottom of Ide Hill.

I've descended and climbed this several times now and know its just about pacing. It's not massively steep or long but it needs to be approached sensibly. I dropped onto the 34 front ring immediately (even though it was not steep where I joined just to up the cadence and lower the effort before it got steeper.

I could still see the other rider still ahead but I seemed to be slowly catching him. As the climb continued I realised that I was actually going a lot quicker than he was and was going to easily catch him - which I did. As I (literally) cruised up behind I could see he was on a very expensive bike (with Di2 of some sort) and in head-to-toe Rapha. That made the catch all the sweeter! However catching is one thing and passing another and I just sucked his wheel all the way to the top just to be irritating. He didn't acknowledge my friendly greeting when I caught him either!

I had put my Garmin Virb on for the Ide Hill Ascent as well so here's the video:

Once at the top of Ide Hill its then a fast downhill to Sevenoaks and a relatively short ride back to Shoreham.

The ride was 49.9 miles with 4500ft of climbing (so almost 100ft/mile) and 3hrs12mins duration at 15.5mph average. I was happy with that. A good ride.

When I got back and uploaded the route I realised that the planned route was actually for #115 Ashdown Forest and did not include The Wall. It shows I need to pay more attention next time - I got the climb I planned but did not know I was doing, and added a second climb in by chance that I thought I was meant to be doing in the first place!

I have updated the summary of my climbs progress here: http://midlandscyclist.blogspot.co.uk/p/100-gr.html

100 Greatest Climbs #54 & #56 - White Horse Bank & Boltby Bank

Disappointed after the failure of Rosedale Chimney I had a couple of other possible climbs pencilled in over the weekend if weather and time permitted. These were White Horse Bank and Boltby Bank. Both were graded at 7/10 so I hoped that these would be possible successes. Whilst there was a definite plan to do Rosedale Chimney there was no plan for these - other than I had prepared a short route (~14 miles) which was a "there and back" route that did both of them starting in the village of Kilburn in Yorkshire

On the Sunday we sort of did all we wanted to do in the day and there was going to be just enough time to drive over and do the ride, so we did.

We parked in the car park opposite the village pub and I got changed as quickly as possible. The pub was about 1/2 mile from the foot of the White Horse Bank climb so I rode in the opposite direction for a mile or so before turning round - I needed to be at least a little prepared for the climb. Just outside the village you can see the White Horse:

I took this with my phone hence the grainy quality

Here's a Wikipedia article and picture:

It was about 1/2 mile from where I took this picture to the foot of the climb, and like Rosedale Chimney went straight up one it started:

This climb was quite different to Rosedale Chimney - it had several switchbacks to ease the gradient and this meant that the gradient flattened quite a bit in a few places. Here's the Strava segment in detail:

 The bigger bend about 1/2 way up was a car park for the hill and just before this I sailed past a mountain biker:

Like all mountain bikers his lowest gear made my 34-28 look like a pro on the flat. This was a 1x10 I think with what looked like a 26-34! We exchanged a cheery word and I left him spinning up, slightly jealous of the gearing but not of the weight and rolling resistance. The hill was hard - well deserving of the 7/10 but I felt confidant and strong as I got to the top.


The climb time was 9:45 (vs 9:00 from the book) and I was 371st of 1394. Given I had minimal warm up I was quite pleased with the time and position (~top 25%).


I made another video with my Garmin Virb:

And here's a link: http://youtu.be/WeIptGh2phM 

Flushed with confidence from White Horse Bank I pushed on the 5 miles or so to Boltby Bank on the other side of the A170. There was a strong headwind towards the hill that was wearing but almost before I knew it I was at the top of the climb and descending. The first thing was - wow it was steep and second - how bad the surface was. I had the back wheel locking and bouncing all over the place and got sore hands before the bottom trying to hold the brakes to get the speed down to a safe level before I got to the bottom. Once the gradient eased so road surface improved as well and I rode far enough along to make sure that I had a chance to warm up again before the climb really started

I turned round and started back up - and even at the bottom it was hard. I pushed on and there were a few areas where the gradient eased and I thought I'd be OK. Once past the last left turn (to a farm) the gradient started to bite and I realised that it was going to be tough. The gradient kicked up to around 20% and the road was dead straight. It was Rosedale Chimney all over again. I kept pushing and kept going slower and my heart rate kept getting higher and higher. I was determined not to fail again and kept pushing - but just like Rosedale Chimney I was absolutely in the red and I had to stop and walk again. I got up to the right hander near the top and got back on a carried on riding - but there was no way I could have ridden the whole climb on the day. Here's the segment:

I did in 8:34 (vs the book time of only 6:30) and placed 322nd of 875 so further down the list. It was a tough climb - harder than 7/10 in my opinion. I also made a video of yet another failure:

The strong headwind over to the climb was now my friend and I had a good pace back to the A170, so good that I picked up a 2015 KOM and a few 2015 top 2 places:

It was then a relatively uneventful ride back to the car. The descent of White Horse Bank was also interesting. Again, like Boltby, the surface was poor and the back wheel was locking and bouncing all over the place. The bends also needed a lot of care to slow properly and safely for them. Some deer ran across the road 100m or so in front of me in one place as well!. I left the video running once at the bottom for the run back to the village and my car.

I was disappointed with another failure -  I managed only 1 of the 3 attempted climbs over the weekend. That these 3 hills were beasts is no argument. I had planned to fit a 12-30 cassette for the weekend but thought that I was up for the task - only to have been bought back to earth with a bump. Was it worth doing them? Absolutely. Am I disappointed to have had to walk? Again - absolutely. But have I ticked a few more of the hills off - again absolutely .

100 Greatest Climbs #55 - Rosedale Chimney

My wife and I had a holiday in Pickering and Yorkshire over the weekend of 13-16 March. It was actually for my birthday and I chose the location as we'd not been in this area of the country before. We stayed in the Pickering Best Western - The Forest & Vale to be precise.

I was going to take my bike but before we left I looked in my 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book and spotted a number of the climbs in the vicinity. One of these was #55 - Rosedale Chimney. Not only was it close - but it was easily ride-able (is that a word?) from the Hotel and I had plotted a loop that came out at about 24 miles. The original plan was to do this Saturday morning but I changed the plan and modified the route to return back to the village of Rosedale Abbey and meet my wife in the village and then go on from there for the rest of the day.

Here's the route and profile:

The climb is rated as 10/10 so was a bit of a "must do" and I assumed that it would be similar to the beast that is Hardknott Pass that I failed to climb in the summer of 2014.

We got up and had breakfast and then I got ready. It was a chilly but not cold with a noticeable wind - but again not too strong. However within the first few miles I felt decidedly unfit. I needed the lower gears and my heart rate was all over the place. I knew at that point that the climb would be a challenge but was hoping that the 10 mile run to the foot of the climb would get me fully warmed up and feeling better. The route was a gradual ascent from mile 3 to mile 10 and by about mile 8 I was feeling a bit better and thought I was in with a chance.

As you arrive in the village (from Pickering) and take the first sharp left to the climb you see this sign - it's pretty clear that it will be steep!

It was steep enough here that I dropped onto the 34T chain ring to try and spin up the cadence some more. Round the left hander that can just be seen in the distance of the above photo the gradient starts to bite but its still nearly 500m to the proper foot of the climb, which is just past a pub. Again the signage makes it clear that this will be tough:

This is where the climb starts properly. At this point I was already in the lowest gear I had (34-28) and it was hurting. I pedalled on round the first gentle left hander and could then see the cattle grid and the first (right hand) hairpin. I took this right on the left side to minimise the gradient but it kicked up even steeper at this point. The 2nd (left) hairpin seems only a few minutes away but I was struggling by now and did not take it as wide as I should have.

Once you come round the 2nd hairpin bend the road goes straight up at 20%+  with no respite. I pushed on but was getting slower and slower. On the few occasions I was able to glance at my Garmin I could see I was doing barely 3-4mph and at this speed keeping straight is a huge effort. I kept digging as deep as I could but I knew then that I would not make it without walking. I gave it one last push but had absolutely nothing left at all and had to pull to the left and stop. I was completely blown. My HR was ~185bpm and I could barely walk.

I walked for about 1-200m and managed to get back on and ride to the top but it took a good 5 minutes to recover.

I managed 9:55 - vs the book time of 9:00. Given that I had to walk with hindsight this was not so bad perhaps. Position wise - 487th of 1287 so again - none too shabby.

There was then a long run down hill (with an element of a tailwind) - I got 3rd for 2015:

I then followed the Garmin route back to Rosedale Abbey village and then back up to the very bottom of the hill to the pub just at the start of the climb proper and met my wife - we went on over the moors to Whitby and then down the coast via Robin Hood's Bay for the rest of the day.

So what about the climb? It was an absolute beast - on a par with Hardknott pass at least. I thought about why I failed - I think it was a mix of quite a cold day (it was 2-3 Deg C) at the Chimney, not having a low enough gear - whether I would have made it with a 34-30 I don't know, but mainly not being properly bike fit yet as its quite early in the year. I think that the fact that my HR was all over the place on the run over and the fact that once it peaked at about 185bpm I was blown was the reason - there was nothing left. When I climbed Wrynose I had the same HR but I sustained it for a few minutes - this time once I hit the peak - that was it.

Here's the link to the page on the blog with the records of my attempts on the climbs: My 100 Cimbs Progress

Also... my wife gave me a Garmin Virb Elite for my birthday and this was the first ride I used it on - not an auspicious start in reality.

Here's the video I created using the Garmin software - with some of the data from my Garmin 800 overlaid on it. You can see when I had to stop as my head is bent over the bars!

Here's the link to the Video on Youtube as well: http://youtu.be/oPB9CZlKOWI

This one has been uploaded at up to 1080pso if you have the bandwidth it looks great.

I'll write a more detailed review of it in a later post - but my initial thoughts are: excellent quality, easy to use.