How To Become A Better Hill Climber
Hill climbs are a very British tradition, with no such culture existing in other major cycling nations.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 The British hill climb season takes place
00:06 between September and October,
00:08 and to the uninitiated, it involves very short,
00:12 very intense time trials up hills
00:15 that are typically between one minute and 10 minutes long.
00:19 Hill climbs are a very British tradition
00:21 with no such real culture existing
00:24 in any of the other major cycling nations.
00:27 If you were to try and explain the logic
00:30 to a French or Italian person
00:32 as to why you would drive four hours
00:35 to do a one minute long time trial at Monsal Head,
00:39 they'd probably think you were a little bit strange.
00:42 And this eccentricity extends further
00:44 as surely only in Britain would we consider it
00:47 perfectly appropriate to put on a spread of cakes
00:50 worthy of the bake-off tent at events
00:53 where being as skinny and as lean as possible
00:56 are the main factors that affect performance.
00:59 I decided to throw myself into the hill climbing season.
01:03 I wanted to immerse myself in this cycling subculture
01:07 and find out what the appeal is.
01:09 For many, traveling a long distance
01:12 to race at 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning
01:15 in cold British autumnal weather
01:17 with a lung-busting effort of a brutally steep climb
01:21 is not exactly what most people constitute as fun.
01:25 I also wanted to explore what it would take to succeed
01:29 in these short but very intense events.
01:33 If I stopped eating cake, trained like a pro,
01:36 and got a mega light bike,
01:38 could I go from zero to hero?
01:42 Probably not, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway.
01:45 The culture of modifying bikes is a large part of the sport
01:49 and for me, it's quite similar to the sort of hot rod
01:52 or boy racer culture within cars.
01:55 So in order to pimp my ride
01:57 and help me build the ultimate hill climb bike,
02:00 James Horton from Cannondale
02:02 came down to visit the Cycling Weekly Workshop
02:04 to help me put it together.
02:06 One of the coolest things about hill climbs is the bikes
02:10 and because they fall under the regulations
02:13 of cycling time trials, there is no UCI weight limit,
02:17 which means we can go as light as possible.
02:21 But at the same time, I don't wanna build a bike
02:24 that handles like a noodle
02:26 and feels like a piece of spaghetti.
02:28 It's gotta be functional, it's gotta be stiff,
02:30 and it's gotta work well.
02:32 Fortunately, we've got this.
02:35 Which is a rather special frame,
02:40 which Cannondale has kindly supplied
02:43 and Fat Creations has done an amazing job
02:47 of stripping the paint off to reduce the weight even more.
02:51 So it's a Cannondale Super 6 Evo Black Ink Hi-Mod frame,
02:56 which is already incredibly light,
02:59 but by taking the paint off,
03:01 we've saved almost 300 grams off the frame and fork.
03:03 And so for frame and fork,
03:05 it's now coming in at just 940 grams.
03:09 Working for Cycling Weekly means
03:11 that I'm in a really fortunate position
03:13 to try and get hold of some of the best
03:15 and lightest components out there.
03:17 So that's exactly what I did.
03:19 When it comes to lightweight wheels,
03:21 there's one brand that instantly springs to mind,
03:24 and that is Lightweight, the German brand.
03:27 And they were kind enough to offer to lend me
03:30 a pair of their absolutely amazing
03:32 Lightweight Meilenstein Obermeyer tubulars.
03:36 This is rather exciting.
03:40 Just taken a delivery.
03:43 (wheel spinning)
03:46 Oof.
03:49 Wowzers.
03:52 So these are Lightweight Meilenstein Obermeyer
04:00 tubular wheels.
04:01 (laughing)
04:03 Really light.
04:04 So the great thing about these is
04:06 they're not just incredibly light,
04:08 they're less than a kilo a pair.
04:11 They're not actually especially aero,
04:13 even though they're deep.
04:14 What they are is incredibly light and incredibly stiff.
04:18 And the reason for that is the way
04:19 that you have these oversized flanges on the hubs,
04:24 and also the angle of the rim shape.
04:27 So it's a V shape, and the angle is exactly the same
04:31 as the spoke coming into the flange of the hub.
04:35 So the carbon spoke sits perfectly flat against the rim,
04:39 which just results in a ridiculously light,
04:43 but also very, very stiff wheel.
04:46 I can't wait to get these on the bike.
04:48 Something's just dawned on me, which is quite amusing,
04:51 which is these wheels are worth more than my car.
04:55 (laughing)
04:56 Just absolutely ludicrous.
05:00 I just hope I don't break 'em.
05:02 I just, (laughing)
05:03 I'm gonna be so careful with these.
05:06 Lightweight told me that Lance Armstrong,
05:08 during the peak of his career,
05:09 before everyone knew he took drugs,
05:12 actually asked to use lightweight wheels
05:14 and asked to be sent some.
05:15 And they made him pay for them.
05:19 (laughing)
05:21 So Lightweight have lent me some wheels,
05:23 but they made Lance pay, so yeah.
05:25 (laughing)
05:26 How cool is that?
05:27 - That made you better than Lance Armstrong?
05:29 - That, I mean, yeah, that basically makes me better
05:31 than Lance Armstrong.
05:32 To save further weight, I opted for a single ring setup,
05:37 and I used the Cannondale SI SL2 Hologram chainset,
05:41 which is one of the lightest and stiffest on the market.
05:45 It was also compatible with the Cannondale frame,
05:47 which made life easy.
05:48 I also wanted a power meter on the bike,
05:51 but power meters can add quite a bit of weight.
05:53 So to try and create something really, really light,
05:56 I sent off the non-driveside hologram crank arm to Canada,
06:01 where 4i fitted their really light 25 gram
06:05 precision power meter to the non-driveside crank.
06:08 And this created quite possibly what is the lightest
06:12 power meter available, so that was really cool.
06:15 Other cool components on the bike were the
06:17 Selle Italia C59 saddle, which weighed just 61 grams.
06:22 And also the EE Cycleworks brakes, which are really light.
06:26 Now, you actually have to have two brakes
06:28 on a hill climb bicycle for the CTT rules,
06:31 so that's why I had to have brakes on,
06:33 in case you were wondering.
06:34 I've gone for a KMC 11 SL gold chain,
06:39 SL standing for super light, and it's 245 grams.
06:44 These KMC chains are actually a little bit lighter
06:47 than SRAM Endura Ace chains, so we're saving a bit of weight.
06:51 Plus, it's gold, so it's gotta be faster.
06:55 And also, it means that Mr. T will also
07:00 really like my hill climbing bike.
07:04 Look at that.
07:05 There you go, Mr. T.
07:08 All right.
07:09 (upbeat music)
07:13 Specialist hill climb bikes are not just about
07:18 buying super light components, there's also
07:20 a really strong culture in the sport of modifying your bike.
07:24 So I decided to sort of have a go at that as well,
07:26 and a common modification that has existed
07:29 within the British hill climbing scene is chopping bars.
07:32 So I thought I'd try that as well.
07:35 I think these handlebars are like 300 quid.
07:39 - Did you have to tell me that now?
07:45 - Just making sure both are the same length.
07:47 There we go.
07:50 I found this quite amusing, but chopping the drops off
07:54 only saved about 40 grams.
07:56 But you know, I guess every little helps.
07:59 Another modification, got some lighter weight
08:03 headset bearings, which will hopefully save a few grams.
08:06 So every little helps.
08:08 So that's 33 grams.
08:11 And the old ones are taken out.
08:13 48 grams.
08:21 Good 15 grams saved there, boo.
08:24 I really thought about the specification of this bike
08:27 in quite a lot of detail, and tried to really pick
08:30 the best components I could get my hands on.
08:32 So there's loads of really, really other cool bits
08:34 that I haven't mentioned here.
08:36 But we've made a video specifically about the bike
08:39 that goes into detail about all the component choices.
08:42 So if you wanna see the bike in more detail
08:45 and find out more about the bits that I chose,
08:47 then there's actually a link to a separate video
08:50 in the description below that you can click on.
08:53 What was the ultimate hill climb bike like to ride?
08:57 Well, riding a bike that's two or three kilos lighter
09:01 than what you're used to is an absolute revelation.
09:04 The acceleration off the line is not just noticeable,
09:09 it feels incredible.
09:11 I was a bit worried and apprehensive
09:14 that being such a light bike, it might want to wheelie
09:17 all the time and feel twitchy, but I had no such issues.
09:21 The other thing that struck me about the bike
09:22 was how stiff and rigid it was.
09:24 The combination of the Cannondale frame set
09:27 with the SI SL2 cranks and lightweight Milan Stein wheels
09:31 made for an incredibly stiff package.
09:34 And I had no issue with flex or brake rub at all,
09:38 even when doing really high power efforts
09:41 with really high torque loads.
09:42 So typically something like 630 watts for a minute
09:46 and I was having no problem at all.
09:48 The bike felt amazing.
09:51 So I've got my ultimate hill climb bike,
09:53 but as good as it is, it isn't gonna pedal itself.
09:56 So I've decided to enlist the help
09:58 of a top hill climbing coach in a bid to try
10:02 and turn me from zero to hero.
10:04 When it comes to hill climbs, I am pretty inexperienced.
10:09 So I've sought the help of Matt Clinton,
10:12 who's a former national champion of the hill climb
10:16 and he's a regular attendee of the podium.
10:19 So I've come to Mike Vaughan Cycles in Kenilworth
10:23 to see Matt, who's hopefully gonna be the Mr. Miyagi
10:27 to my Danielson or the Master Yoda to my Luke Skywalker.
10:32 Hi Matt, nice to meet you.
10:36 - And you.
10:37 - Yeah, so let's go and have a chat
10:39 and find out what I need to do.
10:41 Hill climb training, you've got such short window
10:45 after, say, a good season like yours
10:47 when you've been time trialing and the Haute Route,
10:49 but you build on that very quickly.
10:51 Typically, September's when I start training hill climbs.
10:54 Once all the time trials usually finish
10:58 and then straight in, sort of following week
10:59 after your last time trial, you start hill climbing.
11:02 You've got your base of big miles
11:04 and you need to hit yourself with a load of hills
11:07 or a load of intervals in the turbo trainer.
11:08 - How exactly can you help me?
11:13 - Right, first off, take anything off your bike
11:16 that you don't need.
11:17 - Right.
11:18 - So, bottle cages you don't need.
11:19 You're not gonna need to take a drink on a four minute climb.
11:21 You need saddle pack, for example, pump you don't need.
11:25 This is just gonna, it's gonna make
11:27 a handful of seconds difference,
11:29 but it's gonna make a difference
11:30 between you and the next person.
11:31 They're timed to a hundredth of a second.
11:32 I've gotta say, some of my best ever performances,
11:34 you're not gonna like this,
11:35 were after having a takeaway the night before.
11:37 - Right, what kind of takeaway?
11:39 - Chinese.
11:40 - I do like this.
11:41 - Chinese.
11:42 - What are you talking about?
11:42 Of course I like this, this sounds great.
11:44 - Yeah, I just went as a absolutely ridiculous
11:47 course record one year.
11:48 I had Chinese and slept on my friend's floor.
11:50 - Yeah, yeah.
11:52 - So.
11:53 - That's the secret.
11:53 - The secret, yeah.
11:55 - See, I'm quite worried at the idea of like,
11:57 I've seen people be sick when they've done hill climbs.
12:00 - Yeah.
12:01 - So, what do you sort of eat just before or how?
12:05 - Gels.
12:06 - Gels.
12:06 - Typically, I do like to have, say an energy bar
12:11 or something, you usually need that sort of
12:12 by mid-morning anyway to keep you going.
12:14 - Is there a thing where, a danger that you need
12:16 to be aware of, of like nervous drinking
12:18 and taking on too much fluid?
12:20 'Cause it's all weight, isn't it?
12:20 - I think so, yeah.
12:22 So, obviously every litre that you're drinking's a kilo.
12:24 - Yeah.
12:25 - And that's a kilo that you've got to get up
12:26 to the top of that climb.
12:27 - How soon before your start time do you finish your warmup?
12:32 - You don't want to get too cold sitting on the start line.
12:38 - Yeah.
12:39 - So, all depends on if you've got to swap wheels over
12:42 from your turbo or whatever.
12:45 I typically try and finish maybe within 10 minutes
12:49 before your start time.
12:52 You need that time to get to the line,
12:54 to strip your jacket off, strip your leg warmers off.
12:57 You need to give yourself enough window to do those bits
13:00 to get yourself to the line, but as close to the end
13:03 of that window that you can.
13:05 - Where do we go from here then?
13:06 I've got my training peaks account.
13:08 - Yep.
13:09 - Like, what's the plan?
13:10 - You can sit on the turbo trainer for a little while.
13:14 We can pretty much get a whole session done
13:16 within 40 minutes pretty much.
13:19 So, it's not going to take much time out of your day.
13:21 - Quality.
13:22 - Quality, not quantity.
13:23 - Nice.
13:24 Cheers, Matt.
13:25 - That's all right.
13:26 - My first open hill climb events were in mid-September
13:32 and I wasn't at full fitness at this point,
13:35 but I was still trying to lose some weight as well.
13:37 But I was building towards the end of October
13:41 and I felt like it was necessary to get in
13:43 as much experience and practice as possible
13:46 in as many events as possible.
13:48 So, tomorrow I'm doing a hill climb
13:51 and so I make my breakfast the night before
13:52 so it's all ready 'cause it's an early start.
13:55 So, I'm making my special hill climb breakfast,
13:59 which is the same as my, it's my pre-race breakfast.
14:02 I have this for hill climbs, but I also do it
14:05 for time trials and whatever event I'm doing,
14:08 this has become my rituals.
14:09 So, my pre-race bircher, what goes into it,
14:12 it's 50 grams of oats, 150 grams of milk,
14:17 which can be almond milk or this stuff I've got,
14:20 it's coconut milk.
14:21 And then I grate a whole apple, put that in there,
14:23 25 grams of raisins, pinch of cinnamon,
14:26 and then optional extras, whatever you want.
14:29 If you want it a bit sweeter, maybe a bit of honey
14:31 or a bit of apple juice,
14:32 or I put some chia seeds in there.
14:35 And then I'll finish it off at the top
14:37 with some blueberries and some seeds.
14:41 And then bang that in the fridge, leave it overnight,
14:44 and it all, the oats all soak and get all nice
14:46 and soft overnight with all the liquid in there.
14:48 And then in the morning, you can eat it hot
14:51 or you can eat it cold.
14:53 I sometimes heat it up in the microwave
14:55 and it sort of tastes like apple pie
14:57 'cause you've got that classic combination
14:58 of cinnamon, apple, and raisin.
15:00 So, I have this three hours before my event.
15:04 So, it has plenty of time to get in there
15:06 and work its magic.
15:08 Just out in the Peak District with my mate Jordan
15:13 and my brother Guy.
15:15 And Matt Clinton gave me,
15:18 one of the bits of advice that he gave me
15:20 was that he said, "Recon, you must."
15:25 'Cause he's like Yoda and that, yeah.
15:27 Anyway, so that's what we've done.
15:30 Come to Mam Tor in the Peak District National Park
15:32 and we're gonna ride up it as recon
15:33 'cause we're gonna do a hill climb here in a few weeks.
15:36 Full gas here, Guy?
15:38 - Well, for you.
15:38 - Probably still beat me to the top.
15:42 You gonna go full gas, Guy?
15:44 - I'll give it a go.
15:45 - Nice, right.
15:47 See you at the top then.
15:48 - This is just before the summit.
15:55 We've got about 500 meters to go from here.
15:58 And it's steep.
16:00 So, so steep.
16:03 And this is when it really starts to bite.
16:05 How was that?
16:14 - That was hard.
16:16 - It's grim, isn't it?
16:16 - And I don't think,
16:17 I think Guy's still got a quicker time than me up there, so.
16:21 - Oh, man.
16:22 I felt quite slow up there today.
16:24 Hopefully I'm gonna get faster.
16:25 But it's good to have done it.
16:26 It's like a benchmark.
16:28 Now I've got a benchmark.
16:28 - You're gonna get faster.
16:30 - Yeah, well, hopefully I get faster, yeah.
16:32 - Having a 4.7 kilogram, mega super light, amazing bike,
16:36 and being trained by Master Yoda is great.
16:40 But it's all for nothing if you're gonna continue
16:42 slamming down the pastries, the cakes, and the burgers.
16:47 So, unfortunately, I was gonna have to improve my diet
16:50 if I wanted to lose weight and succeed at hill climbs.
16:54 If you're a trick or treater
16:55 and you come to Alan Mertensen's house,
16:58 you're presented with this fishbowl of SIS gels.
17:01 (laughs)
17:02 You're one of those disappointed kids,
17:04 but really hyperactive off all the caddy.
17:07 (laughs)
17:08 I'm here with Alan Mertensen once again,
17:11 the performance chef,
17:13 and hopefully he's gonna be able to help me
17:15 with my diet for hill climbing.
17:18 So, hill climbing, I wanna obviously be as lean as possible
17:22 and as light as possible,
17:23 but I still need to fuel myself for workouts.
17:25 So, what do you suggest?
17:28 - Okay, it's one of these things
17:30 that's all about power to weight, isn't it?
17:32 You wanna be as light and as lean as possible,
17:36 but still have that explosive power.
17:37 I think the thing with hill climb training
17:40 is it's not a huge volume, but it's really intense.
17:43 So you don't need lots and lots of carbohydrate,
17:46 but you need a really good quality protein
17:48 and you need to make sure you're fit and healthy as well,
17:51 'cause obviously you're stressing your system
17:53 because it's really, really hard, short efforts.
17:55 So, I'm gonna take on a bit of a classic,
17:57 which is tuna niçoise.
17:58 We're omitting the potatoes
17:59 'cause we don't need the starchy carbohydrate.
18:01 Green beans, tomatoes, boiled eggs, olives,
18:05 white anchovies, tuna.
18:07 Again, this is available in the supermarket.
18:09 That piece of tuna cost me £1.50,
18:11 which for a lot of mine cut tuna is pretty good.
18:14 - Nice. - And a few capers.
18:15 What we're gonna do with that
18:16 is actually just sear the tuna off,
18:18 then deglaze the pan, that's a chefy term,
18:20 but basically just get all the juices out of the pan
18:22 with a touch of soy and a touch of olive oil,
18:24 and that'll be the dressing for the dish.
18:26 So, really simple.
18:27 All we need to do is cook the green beans.
18:29 They'll be three minutes.
18:31 Couple of boiled eggs, job done.
18:32 (pan sizzling)
18:36 - Nice.
18:36 - You see that's sizzling well.
18:39 And so, I'll spoon this over here.
18:42 So, this is gonna be almost like the seasoning.
18:44 That's kinda what you're looking for with fresh tuna.
18:47 Okay, look at that.
18:48 It's just perfect.
18:50 - Pro. - Pro.
18:51 Still got it.
18:52 - And there is tuna risoise.
18:54 What's that, two and a half, three minutes?
18:57 - Yeah, real quick.
18:58 Really high in protein.
19:00 - Really high in protein.
19:01 You've obviously got the eggs in there,
19:02 you've got the anchovies in there, you've got the tuna.
19:04 And I actually could cook that quicker
19:06 than I teach you to do a hill climb.
19:08 (laughing)
19:09 - The nutritional demands
19:10 of Matt Clinton's hill climb training
19:12 were completely different to anything I'd done before.
19:16 So, compared to the training I was doing
19:18 for my Project 49 time trialing,
19:20 I needed far fewer carbs because the volume was much less.
19:25 But the intensity was arguably quite a bit higher.
19:28 So, I still needed some carbs for when I was fueling
19:31 for those important key sessions.
19:34 Another little cool detail was things like
19:36 to avoid too much salt intake,
19:38 especially on the day before a race.
19:41 Because by consuming too much salt,
19:43 that would actually lead to more water retention
19:46 and make you a lot heavier.
19:48 (engine rumbling)
19:51 - Tell you what, it's a tough job, this.
19:54 Yeah, it tastes rubbish, mate.
19:55 - Rubbish?
19:56 - Yeah.
19:57 - I'll have it then.
19:57 - Total crap, that.
19:58 (laughing)
20:01 No, it's amazing.
20:03 Tastes great.
20:04 Right, cheers for that.
20:05 - Bye, mate.
20:06 - Cheers, mate.
20:07 - Bon appetit.
20:09 - Let's go do some hill climbs.
20:11 (laughing)
20:12 - Good luck.
20:12 - At the start of the hill climb season,
20:14 I was 70 to 71 kilograms.
20:17 And through some careful training and disciplined eating,
20:21 I was able to get down to 67 and a half kilograms
20:24 without losing any power.
20:27 However, the temptation to demolish the odd Jaffa cake
20:31 or almond croissant is strong.
20:34 And I think I, in hindsight,
20:35 could have been maybe a kilo lighter.
20:38 However, I'm only human and an amateur,
20:41 so I'm not gonna live like a monk all the time.
20:44 One of the first events I went to do
20:46 was the urban hill climb up Swains Lane,
20:49 which is a really short power climb
20:51 because it's only about a minute and 20
20:54 or a minute and a half long.
20:56 So it sort of suits really punchy riders
20:59 who can knock out quite a bit of power.
21:01 (upbeat music)
21:04 - And the 2017 urban hill climb up Swains Lane.
21:08 (upbeat music)
21:10 (crowd cheering)
21:13 - So just at the urban hill climb now,
21:28 and it's a cool event.
21:30 Like, there's people who are taking it
21:32 really seriously as a hill climb,
21:34 and there's people who are doing it as fun as well.
21:36 It's a nice vibe.
21:38 Hopefully, this will give me some good experience
21:41 along with some of the other events that I'm doing.
21:43 I might be sick at the end, but hopefully I won't be.
21:45 One thing's for sure,
21:46 if I turn up to an event like this and I win,
21:49 then the reason why I've won it
21:50 is because no one better turned up.
21:53 I'm truly honest with myself.
21:54 If I feel at the end that I could not have given it any more
21:58 and I'm shundering at the top,
22:00 and I can't see and I'm blacking out
22:02 because of oxygen debt,
22:03 then I'll be, you know,
22:05 if I can't do any more than that,
22:06 I'll be pleased with that.
22:07 So, that'll be good.
22:09 All right, warm up then.
22:11 Go!
22:15 (upbeat music)
22:18 (crowd cheering)
22:21 (upbeat music)
22:23 (crowd cheering)
22:26 (upbeat music)
22:35 (crowd cheering)
22:48 (upbeat music)
22:50 (crowd cheering)
22:53 (upbeat music)
22:56 (crowd cheering)
23:02 (crowd cheering)
23:19 Bloody hell.
23:20 That's all right.
23:23 Was a bit labored on the steep bit.
23:30 I probably should have gone into a slightly easier gear.
23:35 But, yeah.
23:38 I've no idea what time I did.
23:43 It's pretty awesome when you come up through that bit though.
23:47 It's like all the people cheering.
23:49 It's a well good atmosphere.
23:51 It's just amazing how quickly you do it
23:59 and then that's it, it's done.
24:02 I started out the saddle, power was good.
24:07 And then I was seated on the slightly shallower part
24:12 and I was going pretty well there.
24:15 Pumping out like about 600.
24:17 Plus and then went to get out the saddle on the steeper bit
24:21 and burnt out a little bit on the steeper bit.
24:24 Power was like a bit lower, 500 to 600.
24:30 So, yeah.
24:34 We'll see how I did, I'm not sure.
24:37 But the crowd definitely helped on the steeper bit.
24:40 That pizza we had last night,
24:41 I was just weighing on my mind the whole day.
24:44 Thinking, oh, I'm going to be heavy today.
24:47 Might be, yeah, yeah, I think so.
24:50 Yeah, 140.
24:51 - 140.
24:52 - So, yeah.
24:53 Bit slow.
24:56 I want to be faster.
24:58 I need to do some more training and lose a bit,
25:01 get a bit leaner.
25:03 Give me a bit of motivation.
25:04 I would have liked to have gone a good sort of 10 seconds
25:07 faster than that, so.
25:08 I don't have the biggest legs in the world, so.
25:11 My little twiglet legs are not the most powerful
25:15 in terms of peak power.
25:16 More training required.
25:20 More training, less eating.
25:22 It's going to be grim.
25:23 Sort of glad it's over, but at the same time,
25:26 I feel like I want to have another go.
25:28 It's over so quickly, like,
25:30 I reckon I could go faster than that.
25:31 But, I don't know.
25:32 It's all practice, learning how to hurt yourself.
25:34 We're going to get some lunch,
25:35 and then we've got another hill climb tomorrow,
25:37 so, got to recover for that.
25:40 Putting it all into practice,
25:43 I kind of, in my head, I thought,
25:45 I've done quite well in open time trials this year,
25:47 so I sort of expected that maybe it'd be possible
25:50 to consistently get top 10s in hill climbs as well,
25:54 but I quickly found out that hill climbs are hard.
25:59 Really hard.
26:01 Halfway through the hill climb season now,
26:03 and yeah, I mean, I've been getting my head kicked in
26:06 every week going up against like, really good guys.
26:09 It's the same people up and down the country
26:12 going to the same hill climbs,
26:13 and it's cool, 'cause you get to meet these people
26:15 every week, and you see them week in, week out,
26:17 and it's the same people,
26:18 and I've sort of got to know a few of them,
26:20 and it's great to see how competitive they are,
26:23 but I have been getting my head kicked in every weekend.
26:27 (laughs)
26:27 And I would like to get a result.
26:31 There's still a few weeks left of the hill climb season.
26:34 I've still got a few events to go,
26:35 so hopefully I can just keep on cracking on
26:39 with the training.
26:40 Just going well, try and keep the weight down,
26:43 and hopefully break into that top 10 and get a result.
26:48 That's my goal now.
26:49 My goal is to try and get a top 10 in an open hill climb,
26:52 and then in one of the good ones,
26:55 and then, yeah, I'll be happy with that.
26:58 I think that's quite a good achievement
26:59 for like a first season, so yeah.
27:02 Right, must crack on.
27:04 I'm sitting with my brother, Guy,
27:07 and Guy's girlfriend, Rachel,
27:08 and we've just done our local hill climb up north,
27:10 near Donny,
27:11 'cause the Tick Hill Velo one,
27:15 and this has been,
27:16 this has been a monumental occasion,
27:19 'cause my younger brother, Guy,
27:21 let's just say-
27:23 - The Padawan.
27:24 - Yeah, the Padawan.
27:26 Yeah, the apprentice.
27:28 He's no longer the apprentice.
27:30 (laughs)
27:31 - I'm surprised you're good at this.
27:33 - I know, oh God.
27:34 I've just been beaten by my little brother
27:35 for like the first,
27:37 this is just not going well.
27:38 This hill climb season.
27:39 (laughs)
27:40 - Hey.
27:41 - Yeah, it's not as easy as I thought it would be.
27:45 Right, we don't know where we've come yet.
27:47 The only thing I do know is that Guy beat me,
27:49 so we're gonna go and-
27:50 - And this cake afterwards.
27:51 - Yeah, Rachel might have beaten me as well.
27:53 - I swear I'm not.
27:54 - It's a red corn drizzle cake.
27:55 - Yeah, let's go, yeah, let's go do that.
27:58 I don't think I'm allowed cake after that performance, but.
28:01 (crowd chattering)
28:04 - Thank you, post hill climb cake.
28:07 (crowd applauding)
28:10 I sort of persevered and carried on training
28:16 and entering hill climb races week in, week out.
28:20 And crucially, I was getting better.
28:23 I might not have been getting the results that I wanted,
28:26 but my power was increasing and I was getting PBs
28:30 almost like every weekend.
28:32 And crucially, I was enjoying it.
28:36 All right, so I am in the Peak District near Home Firth,
28:40 and I've just done the Huddersfield Star Wheelers Hill Climb,
28:45 which is on the Jackson Bridge course.
28:47 Jackson Bridge is, it's like up around that noggin over there.
28:52 So this is a famous event.
28:55 Like a lot of national champions have won this event.
28:58 It always attracts a very strong field.
28:59 Chris Boardman has won it in the past.
29:01 There was no chance of me having my name
29:03 etched on the trophy next to Chris's,
29:06 because as I said, yeah, it's a very strong field here.
29:10 And I just wanted to do as well as I could do.
29:13 One of the things I've started to learn
29:14 is how important pacing is, but also pacing is a skill.
29:17 It's easier said than done.
29:19 When you get on the start line, the adrenaline's flowing.
29:21 It's easy to overcook it at the start.
29:23 It really is.
29:24 And I did that on Mam Nick and several other events
29:27 that I've done so far this year.
29:30 Today, I feel I paced it much better.
29:32 So that is what I'm, I'm pleased with myself
29:35 because I feel I've went well.
29:37 And it's a hard climb to pace this
29:39 because the gradient changes a lot.
29:41 It's very steep.
29:42 Average is 10% over a mile.
29:44 Yeah, I did about 415 Watts for five minutes,
29:48 which, you know, I'm pretty pleased with.
29:52 Good for me.
29:53 Dan Evans is probably a good sort of 45 seconds
29:57 faster than me, who's won it today.
30:00 And he's probably going to win the national.
30:02 Even if you're not going to race,
30:03 come and watch some of these hill climb events
30:06 just to see how incredible some of the athletes
30:08 are that do them.
30:09 I'm not talking about myself in that category, by the way.
30:13 I am now going to go have a homemade cherry Bakewell.
30:18 Spotted them in the HQ when I was signing on
30:20 and promised myself that I'd treat myself to one
30:23 if I did a good performance.
30:25 So I'm pleased with how I went.
30:27 So I'm going to go find those cherry Bakewells.
30:31 By the way, I don't know if you noticed this,
30:33 but you know you're in Yorkshire
30:35 when there's a bowling green right behind you.
30:40 Cracking bowling green grommet.
30:42 Love it, love it.
30:45 So we're just at the, on Bank Road in Matlock.
30:50 I'm here with my mate Joe.
30:52 I'm not riding hill climb today,
30:54 but we've come to watch my brother Guy,
30:56 who's doing this one.
30:58 Yeah, I'm going to cheer him on.
31:02 Should be coming up in a minute.
31:04 It's really steep, isn't it?
31:06 - It's a good view down, isn't it?
31:08 - Yeah, yeah.
31:09 - Go on, lad, go on.
31:13 Go on.
31:16 Dig in, Guy.
31:22 - Go on, Guy.
31:24 Come on, Guy, keep pushing, pushing, pushing.
31:27 Go on, Guy.
31:29 Smash it.
31:31 - Fastest so far, mate.
31:33 - You are?
31:34 - Yeah, I'm 22 down.
31:35 - You're the fastest, you're the fastest,
31:37 still the fastest so far, that's pretty good.
31:40 - I was dying towards this bit.
31:42 I was like, we're grinding.
31:44 - Good work, mate.
31:45 - Cheers.
31:46 - Good job.
31:47 - Right, hill climb season done for me.
31:49 - See ya.
31:51 - This weekend just gone was the Holly Lane hill climb
31:56 put on by Belper BC.
31:58 I was really pleased with my performance
32:00 'cause I felt like I pushed as hard as I could go.
32:03 I felt like I've gone harder than I ever went before.
32:05 Did a PB power, about 460 watts for four minutes.
32:10 Literally could taste that sort of iron taste
32:15 in the back of your mouth at the top of the climb.
32:17 I was completely like dead.
32:19 I gave it everything, so I was pleased with myself
32:22 in that respect.
32:23 But then, even better, icing on the cake,
32:26 found I'd climbed 10th, which was great
32:27 'cause it was a really strong field.
32:29 The icing on top of the icing of the cake, right?
32:32 Check this out.
32:33 Only got in the Cycling Weekly results, huh?
32:36 Yeah, I'm on the results pages of Cycling Weekly,
32:39 which is, you might find this a little bit bizarre,
32:42 even though I work for Cycling Weekly,
32:44 I still get excited if I get in the results.
32:49 I remember the first time that I saw my name published
32:51 in the results of Cycling Weekly,
32:53 and that was way before I worked for Cycling Weekly.
32:55 And at the time, I remember being like, yes!
33:01 It's a cool thing.
33:02 I still find it cool.
33:03 So, it doesn't happen as often as I'd like.
33:06 (laughs)
33:07 Yes!
33:08 There we go, onwards and upwards.
33:12 In a big save, even more weight,
33:14 I've come to get a haircut with my man, Fraser, here.
33:19 So, he's sorting me out.
33:20 So, this is before.
33:22 We'll see what it is after.
33:25 I should have weighed myself before we did this.
33:27 Should have seen what I'm gonna save.
33:30 There we go, done the haircut now.
33:31 - There we go.
33:33 - Looking, like I say, quite a bit of weight.
33:34 What do you reckon, about 50 grams there, Fraser, yeah?
33:36 - At least.
33:37 - Yeah.
33:38 - Could have saved those drops.
33:39 - Yeah, you'd chop the drops off.
33:41 - You shouldn't have.
33:42 - You reckon I'm more aero as well?
33:44 - Definitely more aero.
33:45 (laughs)
33:46 - There we go.
33:47 - Cheers, mate.
33:48 - I've been battling through,
33:49 and finally the end of the hill climb season was here.
33:52 So, I was absolutely determined to do as best as I could.
33:57 I wanted to do my best performance of the season,
34:00 and absolutely turn myself inside out.
34:03 So, my final event was gonna be
34:05 the Sussex Nomads hill climb up Ditchling Beacon
34:08 on the 29th of October.
34:11 Now, I had wanted to enter the National Hill Climb,
34:14 which was taking place on the same day,
34:15 but being a bit inexperienced,
34:17 through a schoolboy era, I'd missed the deadline.
34:20 However, entering an event on Ditchling Beacon
34:23 was really cool, 'cause it meant that I'd get
34:24 a direct comparison to how I was prior
34:28 to the hill climb season and all the special training.
34:30 So, before the hill climb season,
34:33 I'd actually raced up Ditchling Beacon with my friends
34:36 to see how fast I could go.
34:38 And on that particular effort,
34:41 I'd done the climb in five minutes, 17 seconds,
34:45 with an average power of 395 watts.
34:49 And my heart rate was 182 beats per minute average as well,
34:53 so pretty high.
34:54 And at the time of doing that, I was 72 kilograms,
34:58 and I was doing it on a seven kilogram bike.
35:01 So, I was really excited to see
35:05 what all the improvements would make,
35:07 and hopefully there would be an improvement.
35:10 (laughs)
35:11 So, we're just in Ditchling Village Hall right now,
35:15 in the nice little Sussex village of Ditchling.
35:17 It's always bloody freezing.
35:19 Like, why can't they do the hill climb season in summer?
35:23 It's always like October, it's really cold,
35:26 I'm really cold.
35:28 I've kept my bar tape on 'til now,
35:29 'cause when you turn the handlebars,
35:31 it like, strikes the top tube,
35:33 so it's just more to protect the top tube.
35:35 But, 'cause it's the last race of the season,
35:38 bar tape's coming off, save a load of weight.
35:42 Bar tape adds a significantly surprising amount of weight.
35:49 So, one of the big things with hill climbs
35:51 is you don't have to wear a helmet.
35:53 It's not actually in the rules to wear a helmet,
35:55 so to save weight, people don't wear helmets for hill climbs.
35:59 But, then that presents you with the sort of
36:04 hill climbers dilemma of what you wear.
36:08 So, caps are really popular,
36:10 or casquette, to give it its proper name.
36:12 But then it's like, how do you wear the casquette?
36:15 Do you wear it like, peak forwards,
36:16 or do you wear it like, peak back?
36:19 Or, do you have some like, luft going on there?
36:24 Or do you go like, fresh prints?
36:27 No one does that.
36:29 Or, no cap, as well.
36:31 But, I think today, I'm gonna go peak forward.
36:38 (laughs)
36:39 See what happens.
36:40 Maybe it's less aero, but, we'll see.
36:44 I've completely run out of excuses now,
36:47 'cause I've got these new Giro shoes,
36:50 which are really, really light.
36:52 So, I've saved yet more weight.
36:54 So, the only bad thing is, yeah, I've got no excuses now.
36:58 For my final event of the season,
37:06 I was hoping to get another top 10 placing,
37:09 and I was determined not to make any mistakes
37:12 with regards to technique or pacing.
37:15 So, I set off up the beacon,
37:17 with an initial burst, to get up to speed
37:20 of around 550 watts,
37:22 and then set about trying to hold 450 watts average
37:27 up the rest of the climb.
37:28 And on some of the flatter sections,
37:30 I was making sure to try and be as aerodynamic as possible,
37:33 so I was trying to stay seated on those bits.
37:36 And then, there's a few ramps on Ditchling Beacon as well,
37:38 and on the slight steeper ramps,
37:40 I was sort of going up to about 500 watts.
37:43 But, overall, I felt like I'd learned a lot,
37:46 because my pacing was a lot smoother on this climb
37:50 than it had been, arguably, on other ones I'd done as well.
37:53 And that meant that I was really good
37:55 at holding the momentum all the way up.
38:01 - Five, four, three, two, one.
38:05 Go, good luck.
38:06 (upbeat music)
38:08 (clapping)
38:19 (heavy breathing)
38:29 (heavy breathing)
38:31 - I'm (beep)
38:40 I think I paced that quite well, right at the start.
38:43 So, I listened to Coach Man's advice.
38:47 But, I think, towards the end,
38:51 maybe could have just lifted it a little bit more.
38:56 But, yeah, sounds stupid considering how knackered I am.
39:01 Right, should we go back to the start then,
39:08 and get some cake?
39:09 You up for that, camera man Alex, yeah?
39:11 Nice one, let's do it.
39:14 I want to have another go now.
39:16 I recovered.
39:18 After I'd finished my run up Ditchling,
39:22 I had no idea where I'd come or what I'd done.
39:26 So, I quickly got back to the HQ
39:28 and uploaded my ride to Strava,
39:29 'cause I was hoping for a top 10,
39:32 but I just really wanted to see what my time was as well.
39:35 So, I managed to go up Ditchling Beacon
39:38 in four minutes, 30 seconds,
39:40 which I was pretty pleased with.
39:42 And my average power was 451 watts.
39:46 So, irrespective of where I came,
39:49 I was really pleased, 'cause that represented
39:52 a massive improvement for me over what I'd done before,
39:55 and showed all the hard work I'd put in.
39:58 I felt like I'd succeeded.
40:00 Alan, would you like to come up
40:01 and read out the winners?
40:02 And the second is Pat Wright.
40:14 And the first was Oliver Bridgwood.
40:24 (applause)
40:26 Thanks to all the marshals and volunteers as well.
40:41 It's a great event, and we'd much appreciate it
40:44 if everyone gave it a time.
40:45 (applause)
40:48 So, I've just done the Sussex Nomads
40:51 Ditchling Beacon Hill Climb,
40:53 which is the last event of the season,
40:55 and I'm quite surprised that I've won.
40:58 I'm obviously delighted that I've won as well,
40:59 but quite surprised really.
41:02 I did quite well, I paced it really well,
41:04 which is good, so it feels great to have won.
41:06 I've got this cool mug, which is like a trophy,
41:08 with Ditchling on the side of it, which is quite nice.
41:12 So, I'll be having my coffee out of that later on.
41:14 But I think it's definitely because
41:17 I took my bar tape off today.
41:18 I think that's definitely why I won.
41:20 That made all the difference.
41:21 All like 90 grams of bar tape lost,
41:24 so top tip for you there, take your bar tape off.
41:27 (laughs)
41:29 Yeah, end of the season now,
41:32 so it's time to eat lots of cake.
41:36 I'm just gonna get really, really fat though.
41:39 I'm actually really surprised that I won.
41:41 (laughs)
41:43 I've been entering these hill climbs
41:44 and getting my head kicked in by all these big boys
41:47 every week, just getting smashed
41:49 and like desperately trying to get in the top 10.
41:51 So what have I learned?
41:52 Well, the hill climb season is a little bit mental.
41:56 Although short, hill climbs are,
41:59 without a doubt, some of the most intense
42:02 but rewarding events I've ever done on a bike.
42:06 The trepidation and the nerves at the start
42:10 build out into this all out max effort crescendo
42:14 where you just get this euphoric rush of adrenaline
42:17 that when you finish the event,
42:19 it's over before you can think
42:21 and then your body just doesn't know
42:22 what to do with all that adrenaline.
42:25 It's addictive.
42:26 The atmosphere at hill climbs is great
42:29 and they're also brilliant events to spectate too,
42:31 even if you don't wanna ride them,
42:34 I'd suggest go and watch one and cheer people on.
42:37 'Cause one of the most endearing things in cycling
42:40 is the idea of glory through suffering
42:43 and hill climbs encapsulate this perfectly.
42:47 There's a really fun and friendly atmosphere
42:51 with everyone cheering each other on,
42:53 irrespective of your age, your ability or your fitness,
42:58 there's just a really good sort of camaraderie
43:00 and mutual respect.
43:02 Irrespective of your ability,
43:04 there's something immensely satisfying
43:07 about finding your physical limit
43:08 and hill climbs have the power to do that.
43:12 I might not be the best,
43:13 but I've been bitten by the bug
43:15 and I'm already plotting my 2018 hill climb campaign.
43:20 I hope you've enjoyed this video.
43:22 So if you have, please give it a thumbs up
43:25 and subscribe to the Cycling Weekly channel
43:27 because in doing so,
43:28 it helps us make more content like this in the future.
43:32 But before I go, I just wanna give a massive thank you
43:36 to all the organizers and volunteers
43:39 who help put on the hill climb events
43:41 throughout the season,
43:43 because quite simply without them,
43:46 this absolutely brilliant British tradition couldn't exist.
43:49 (whooshing)
43:52 (whooshing)