Hill Climbs

Did you go down white lane itself? rather than titsey and turn into the lane?

Think I was on 50psi for York’s last year.

Yep, came from titsey, drove up the climb and parked in a layby near the top

At least it wasn't race day...

Christ! I shall see how I go tomorrow. Weather doesn't look promising ....

Grim

So hands up who else is doing Catford on Sun? Just got start times, apparently I'm one of the first to go and one of three racing under lfgss.

What's going on with Catford.cc? £300 first prize for men but only £75 for women?

Possibly weighted for number of entries?

Now equal

Both White Lane and Yorks Hill were actually better this morning than they've been in recent memory. While I was out there this morning both had teams of volunteers sweeping the roads, cutting back branches, and scraping off moss. Both are thoroughly wet, and there's no way either will dry out before tomorrow's hillclimbs.

I did an all-out effort on White Lane (it was my club's hillclimb on that road today) and had no wheelspin, but I did have my tyre pressures down low. There's 1 spot of diesel/oil spilled on the right hand side of the road on the final right-hand turn before the end to be careful of.

Then I did 2 recce laps on Yorks Hill, neither were even close to all-out. On the 2 steepest section I would definitely have got wheelspin had I been out of the saddle, even running low pressure with decent tyres. But in the saddle on the steepest bits and trying to keep my pedal stroke steady and consistent, no wheelspin for me.

I'd recommend trying to get there early tomorrow to ride at least 1 recce run before you go up each hill. Line choice, and where to be in or out of the saddle is going to be critical for doing a fast time.

Most hills I'd generally get out of the saddle where it's steepest, and then back in the saddle when the gradient eases off. However, for both these climbs tomorrow I think I'll be doing the opposite - in the saddle where it's steep to maintain traction. Then out of the saddle when it's less steep to try to regain some speed.

In other exciting news, one of the organisers of the Bec CC hillclimb told me that the guy who owns Titsey Brewery walked down this morning and offered to donate a keg of beer. So apparently there'll be a half pint at the end for every rider. Should be some good motivation ;-)

Brilliant, thanks for all the info.

A win this morning on Firle Beacon, then 2nd by one second in the afternoon on Butts Lane. Gross weather for both.

Strong showing for @luft with double 4th places. LFGSS represent. Should be lols tomorrow. I’ll be happy getting up them.

Crikey, well done to you both!

Anyone got good ideas for what to do between the 2 hillclimbs today? I'm thinking of either holing up in the little shop in Ide Hill, or the Botley Hill Farmhouse pub.

We’ve sat in the Ide Hill cafe before, lovely view, but it’s small so it can get busy. There’s a few places in Westerham too.

Very envious hearing all of this! Life has somewhat got in the way since TCR.
Still very keen to try out hill climbing but it’ll have to wait till next year.
Are there age categories and if so what are they?

Yep. Almost all races have a vets prize (40+) and some do age groups a over that too.

You don't qualify for a different category until you hit 40 mate 😉

Junior, Espoir, Senior, and Veteran, I think.

Haha probably still not enough time to get in the required shape!

Theres a pub by titsey roundabout which is near the bec, as in less than 1km.

Good luck for everyone today, hope the rain holds off.

The Botley Hill Farmhouse pub as mentioned just above.

Best of luck everyone!

Enjoyed that! Good luck to the other lfgss-ers out there today - good to meet one of you (was it Alex?) and sorry I couldn't stick around to see all your efforts. Interested to see how we do in team ranking...

Catford results in, how on earth did all 4 of us lfgss riders manage to come in within 3secs of each other?!

how on earth did all 4 of us lfgss riders manage to come in within 3secs of each other?

"Spirit of the forum", innit.