My 20 minute Cragg Vale hill climb challenge

[ColinJ]

A shocking observation...

Here is a plot of my speed for the ride. Pay attention to the maximum speed on the rapid descent from Blackstone Edge to Littleborough. I had run out of gears so I just got down on the drops, as aero as I could manage. It felt FAST!

I have just realised that I was only doing 0.7 kmph more than Ganna averaged when he broke the hour record!!!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

A shocking observation...

Here is a plot of my speed for the ride. Pay attention to the maximum speed on the rapid descent from Blackstone Edge to Littleborough. I had run out of gears so I just got down on the drops, as aero as I could manage. It felt FAST!

View attachment 779966
I have just realised that I was only doing 0.7 kmph more than Ganna averaged when he broke the hour record!!!

Plus the flat sprint TDF finishes are faster then you managed down the hill.

 

[ColinJ]

I was just wondering why the speed had suddenly dropped to zero with about 6 km to go. Then I remembered a little problem with Calderbrook Rd... Here's one of my old photos of it (different bike, and facing the other way)!

The local council spent a lot of money repairing the road one time, but then the hillside started slipping again. They stopped throwing money at the problem and just closed the road to motor vehicles. It is a nice detour from the main valley road by bike apart from that spot.

PS If you ever ride that road in the opposite direction, pay attention - you will not see the problem until the last moment! I accidentally rode straight down it on a road bike the first time I went that way. I have no idea how I avoided crashing!!

 

[classic33]

A shocking observation...

Here is a plot of my speed for the ride. Pay attention to the maximum speed on the rapid descent from Blackstone Edge to Littleborough. I had run out of gears so I just got down on the drops, as aero as I could manage. It felt FAST!

View attachment 779966
I have just realised that I was only doing 0.7 kmph more than Ganna averaged when he broke the hour record!!!

Was the top speed reached as you closed on the left-hand curve at the bottom?

 

[ColinJ]

Was the top speed reached as you closed on the left-hand curve at the bottom?

I haven't measured it exactly but it probably was around there. Speed picks up on the descent but there is usually a cross-headwind coming from the Hollingworth Lake direction retarding acceleration. That becomes more of a cross-tailwind after passing Blackstone Edge Old Rd.

 

[ColinJ]

I haven't forgotten this challenge but I have cocked up a few attempts since the last one posted... Windier conditions than expected, wrong pacing, poor warm-up etc.

I may not make much improvement on my recent (old-guy!) PB now until the spring but I may still make a few more attempts before winter arrives.

I hope to spend a productive winter preparing for some quicker ascents next year. Weather-permitting, I will still get out on the road and do some easy valley road riding, but what should make a big difference is 4+ months of hard work on the smart turbo trainer that I bought earlier this year. The other that would help would be to lose ~8% of my body weight. That would get me down to my target weight of around 73.5 kg. I have a kettlebell weighing about that difference and it would make a big difference to not have to cart that uphill!

I am running out of years to achieve the target time... I will be 70 in January. I first cycled up the hill at the age of 34, and have done it hundreds of times since, but never once getting close to 20 minutes. TBH, I would be very pleased just to beat my all-time PB of 24-25 minutes (that time from memory - I didn't keep accurate records back then).

Have any of you done quick times up that hill?

 

[esoxlucius]

Only just found this. Great thread. As you are already aware I don't live a million miles from you, and Cragg Vale is a climb which I do a good few times a year, though oddly enough I have never timed myself on it.

As I see it there is a huge problem with achieving a pb on Cragg Vale, and that is that often brutal headwind once you get up onto the barren moors on the top. It can totally obliterate anything good you've done on the lower part of the climb.

I've done the climb that many times I reckon, at a guess, that I'm probably around the 25-30 minute mark give or take. You've whetted my appetite with this now. Maybe before the end of the year I might test myself. If not this year I'll be on a mission next year for sure.

By the way, your ultimately goal of 20 mins isn't a time to be sniffed at for an old timer, it will take some doing if you don't get a favourable wind at the top.

Incidently, does anyone have any figures for the times the pros did it in when the tour went up there in 2014?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

just to beat my all-time PB of 24-25 minutes

How old were you when you set that?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Incidently, does anyone have any figures for the times the pros did it in when the tour went up there in 2014?

Strava KOM details

 

[esoxlucius]

Strava KOM details

View attachment 790585

That Jude Taylor guy, I don't know who the hell he is, but during my recent foray into Strava, his name came up all over the place.

Are you familiar with the pros name? I've never heard of him.

 

[Webbo2]

That Jude Taylor guy, I don't know who the hell he is, but during my recent foray into Strava, his name came up all over the place.

Are you familiar with the pros name? I've never heard of him.

I think it’s a made up name. Might be Robert Scott.

 

[ColinJ]

How old were you when you set that?

I was probably around 40. And yes, I do realise that the following 30 years have taken their toll, especially with the damage from the life-threatening illness that I suffered in 2012/2013!

Still, one can but try, eh?

 

[DCLane]

That Jude Taylor guy, I don't know who the hell he is, but during my recent foray into Strava, his name came up all over the place.

Are you familiar with the pros name? I've never heard of him.

I think it’s a made up name. Might be Robert Scott.

He's genuine. The time was set on a time trial up Cragg Vale - I was taking part, as was son no. 2. It was pointed out to him that he was 1 second off the CTT record and had ridden there from the Rochdale direction, plus doing the event still with his saddle bag on!