Tuesday Night Ride Club (TNRC)

I stayed seated up Pitch Hill and rode at the group's pace and then fell off the back near the top, suffered a bit on Leith Hill (sore ass) and brought up the rear, but it must have been a good warm-up for the final climb.

My tactics for successfully getting up it in 70" fixed:

• take it very easy on the bottom part, sit and stretch out the cranks, sometimes sitting fore on the saddle, and sometimes aft.

• don't go mental on the false flat/slight descent in the middle, as it doesn't really work for carrying speed up the steep bit. of course there is no false flat on this hill i just say that because at this section it drops to a more human 10%.

• attack the right-hand hairpin, out of the saddle, but then immediately back off the power and regret that decision.

• keep breathing, find a (slow) rhythm, stare down at your front wheel (you'll notice headlights if cars approach), put all expectation of finishing the climb out of your mind, and enjoy the surprise easing up of gradient a few minutes later.

• weaving to lessen the gradient doesn't work either, as the road has a weird camber that steepens things as you zig-zag to the left.

Er, that's what I remember with my brain's climbing module.

fixed