To almost finish off the thread by saying
to Rob3rt who finished just outside the top 50 in the National Hill Climb Championships which is a fantastic result, he probably will not think so, but that field of 160 hill climbers was pure class, and it is his first season. The weather was atrocious, warming up was damn difficult without being soaked to the bone before you started. The women also had a class field with nowhere to hide with only 18 entered, unfortunately for the last 4 or 5 the weather turned really nasty so congrats to them for doing it, dr_pink came 5th, taking some very good scalps along the way and is now curled up on the sofa with a glass of port, chapeau!
When I get a link to some pictures I will post it on here.
Thanks for the nice comments mate. I don't know how pleased I am with that result tbh. At the end of the day it is a top 3rd of the field placing, but it is just outside the top 50, irritating, lol. That said, if I had been in the top 50, I would have been obsessing about being top 40 or top 25% etc as I always feel that I want more, to do better, I suppose that is what keeps me interested and wanting to compete! I managed to beat a few riders I thought would beat me too so that is something! Let's consider it a statement of intent for next year (although Pea Royd is not going to play to my strengths at all)!
The conditions were awful yes, I warmed up on the turbo, but by the time I got off of it and swapped to my race rear wheel, I was frozen solid, utterly futile. I do love a nasty weather climb though, so going up, I didn't mind so much (I figured everyone would be struggling equally with warming up), coming down though, I felt awful, it took me longer to get down the hill than to go up.
Well done to Helen, sounds like a great ride, I had actually intended to come early and watch the women's and cheer Helen on and also to see Sam from Buxton and wish him luck before he set off in the juniors event, but with the weather, it was just too much and I stayed in the car.
These are the best photos I could find of the National Hill Climb,
Rob3rt on page three [where else!] and dr_pink [Helen] on page eight.
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/gall...h-hill-climb-national-championships-2013.html.
Thanks for that link, I had not seen those ones. Page 3 is rather fitting, I am becoming quite regular in my baring all but the money shot following a race
There is a pretty epic picture of me on page 2 as well and another on page 11
Check out VeloUK's pictures too, he got some good ones. He was placed near the foot of the climb on the steep section when he snapped me.