2012 Irish Hill Climb Championship Results

The results for the Irish Hill Climb Championships can be found here. There is a tab for the Challenge and the Championships itself. Congratulations to all riders - the climb is a true test, but especially to the Challenge riders giving this a go - we hope you had a great day. I remember a few folks saying that it was a 'flat' climb, I don't think anyone said that afterwards :)

The view form signon

We would just like to thank everyone who made today such a great success – almost 130 riders (in October!) makes this the best attended Hill Climb Championships I have seen.

Outside of Cycleways CC, many thanks to the extra marshals/timers/starters we got on the day, Tommy for Commissar duties and Joanne in timing. Things ran like clockwork.

We were also lucky to have a fantastic race HQ, the Glendalough Hotel, the venue was perfect and gave us a stunning backdrop. Thanks to the ESB for helping us with access to the top of Turlough hill and Fixx Coffee for organizing hampers for the category winners. I performed a few good weather dances lately, whoever else did so, we thank you too!

Again, thank you to all the folks who came out and raced – in the end of the day, you guys made the day.

2nd Anthony Walsh, 1st Ryan Sherlock, 3rd Greg Swinard

Thanks Glendalough Hotel

Thank you Fixx Coffee

There are photos available here, here and here.

Photos here can be used by anyone for websites etc. Taken by Alan Donnelly.

Overall

1st Ryan Sherlock

2nd Anthony Walsh
3rd Greg Swinard

Category Winners

Seniors

1st Ryan Sherlock

2nd Anthony Walsh

3rd Colm Turner

Juniors

1st Danny Bruton

2nd Mikey Moriarity

3rd Evan Cunningham

Vets

1st Greg Swinard

2nd Frank Billings

3rd Mike Jordan

Ladies

1st Rachel Glendon

2nd Michelle Geoghegan

3rd Amy Brice

Challenge
1st Paul Coffey
2nd Damien Twohig
3rd Garrett Murphy

On the way to victory

2011 LKHC - Mount Hamilton

And there we were, lined up for the final round of the LKHC series – the annual, Thanksgiving trip up Mount Hamilton. The 30 kilometer climb has two short descents but is a pretty steady 5-6% the whole way up with the first half being slightly shallower.

Like last year, the weather wasn't exactly playing ball – we had to wait until the morning of the event to see if it would go ahead – there was a tropical storm coming in across the area – not a problem at low altitude but it does become a problem at the altitude we climb to (and for descending afterwards). 140 riders lined up at the start and off we went. There were two plans of action I had to choose from. 1) Full gas from the the start and try and smash the record or 2) Sit in for the first half, do my turns on the front and then attack. With the weather, I decided the later option was appropriate (of course, all that can change as soon as you start racing).

The first half of the race was at an easy pace – Mel (who broke the female record last year, and will go on to break it again this year) was still with us at the start of the second part of the climb – a great ride by her – there was only about 20 riders left in the front group.

Almost exactly half way through the climb, I saw a slightly steep section – time to go – I accelerated and kept it going. Eventually, I saw that Eric Wahlberg had also escaped the front group in pursuit of me. He hovered around 15-20 seconds back for about 15 minutes. With about 5 kilometers to go, I no longer saw him and I continued on my pace to the finish line.

Photo via Christine Costa

Despite riding the first half of the course slower than last year, my pace on the second half meant I broke the record from last year (and won of course).

Conditions at the top of the mountain were bleak – low visibility, cold, windy - felt like home. Everyone grabbed their extra clothes and made it off as quickly as possible – I wish I could have been more leisurely and chatted with more folks.

Thanks again for putting on a great race and something fun that I look forward to in the winter. Hopefully, in 2012, Ireland will have a similar (if smaller) series – I know we have enough good climbs in the Dublin area!

Results are up here and my ride details are available on Strava.

2011 LKHK - Kings Mountain

Like others years, it is November and I have found myself in California for some early winter training. Long rides with lots of tempo riding is on the cards – but first – there are a couple of Low Key Hill Climbs to do. I find them to be great markers for where my body is at this time of the year. Since September, I have taken a few weeks very easy (with a few cyclocross races breaking up the coffee shop rides) and last week I spent a week in Gran Canaria with my parents (of course my bike was with me) and resulted in a big week of rides – 31 hours, 18,000m of climb in 7 days.

The first hill climb I'm doing in California is the penultimate of the series – it is one of the de facto climbs in California – Kings Mountain Road. A perfect 6.8 kilometer ribbon of tarmac weaving up the mountains gaining 500 meters of ascent. The record for the climb (at least, the known record) was set in 1996 by Tracy Colwell at 19:51. I figured that this race would be a perfect 20 minute power test...

With jet lagged legs my brother and I rode over to the start – entry was closed 4 days earlier when 150 riders had signed up! Amazing. In order to keep the race/timetrial more manageable, the race would be started in waves of 15 rider groups – the first group, the fast guys, swelled to 36 riders.

Before we rolled out to the start line, the race organizer, knowing my climbing abilities, announced that if a rider wins ahead of me, he will give him $100! wow, some pressure now – and what if I punctured?? (I was riding my beautiful Lightweight G3 tubular wheels).

Like in Hicks Mountain last year, the race started at a frantic pace – the first minute was around 500 watts! Much too hard for these guys (and me) for the 6.8 kilometer climb. After a couple of minutes, the pace eased a lot, too much, so I went to the front and started riding hard. I would look around from time to time to see the line of riders behind me getting shorter and shorter, eventually there were only a few left. I eased off and Emilio Barzini went to the front – I tried to use his draft but unfortunately he was having some gearing difficulties and staying close to him was too dangerous... 6 minutes into the race, I had enough (remember, I was trying to do a 20 minute power test) and accelerated to drop my remaining companions. From there to the top I rode a pretty hard pace – I didn't feel I had good legs (all the training and flying lately still in them) but I knew I was making good pace when I passed the point I usually finish my 15 minute threshold drills and only had 13 minutes on the clock.

Photo from here

I pushed on to the line and crossed in 19 minutes – I broke the record from 1996 by almost a minute – my VAM on the 7% climb was 1550m/hr... pretty good I hear for a guy just restarting training. (A VAM calculator here)

It was great chatting to a lot of the guys before and after the race – organization was fantastic as usual and I look forward to taking part in the final round on Thursday up Mount Hamilton.

Results of the race are available here and the Strava segment is here. Garrete Lau has some nice pictures here.

The results of the power test - I'm happy with where I am at...

2011 Irish National Hill Climb Championships

I had number 1 on my back and was set to be the last rider on the climb. For the first time (well, since I started riding bikes), the National Hill Climb Championships was on my doorstep. A wickedly steep 2.5 kilometer climb up Kilmashogue Lane just 4 kilometers from my doorstep. The climb starts steady, then hits a long steep section for a couple of minutes, flattens out to an 'easy' 5.5% for a few minutes and then we turn onto the final wall with a 350 meter section averaging 17%. A tough testing climb – the fastest man or woman up the climb would be a very deserving winner.

To say that it was one of my favorite climbs in the area would be a lie – I rode the climb a few times before I knew it would be the Nationals course but I never trained on it – it is just so steep in sections. It is really not like anything I have seen in any road races I've taken part in – mountain biking, yes, road racing, no and when I train for steep stuff, I tend to be on the mountain bike so away from the tarmac. The surface had been recently redone so rolled beautifully and the view back of Dublin remains spectacular.

In the day or two leading up to the race I was a little on edge – the result of taking a couple of easier days and the (self imposed?) pressure of retaining a title meant I had a lot of nervous energy. I bounced around trying to be productive from a working sense but yet resting up as much as possible (I would also be racing two more long races over the same weekend – more on those in another post).

Race evening arrived. With 45 minutes to my start time I started my well rehearsed warmup on my rollers – over the last couple of months I have been trying various things for warming up to see what works for me – I think I have finally found a protocol that I like and I arrived at my 8pm start time ready to roll.

The race was rather straightforward – try to keep myself controlled (as in, don't go out too hard) for the first three or four minutes and then push to the line making sure I have emptied the tank on the course. I mostly did that – the hardest part of the race was keeping the power up in the 'flatter' sections but by the time I hit the steep final ramp, my legs were pretty cooked. Usually I can up the pace a little for the final part but looking at the power data afterwards, despite feeling like I was pushing harder, I kept a really steady output over the steep sections. I crossed the line in 7:18 – my Garmin flashed 485W (average) at me as I collapsed into a fetal position. I was fast, but not fast enough – the other local climbing goat, Mark Dowling beat me. I finished 2^nd.

Photo from here

Dutch Corner - from here

I'm no longer the Hill Climb Champion – I won't go into next years race with the number 1 on my back or get to ride in the Champs kit at hill climbs. Rumors are that due to the success of this years event next years race could be on the same course. Climbing is about your power to weight ratio... 485W over that length of time is pretty good for someone my weight (72-73kg) but I'm still 14kg heavier than the winner – that killed me on the super steep ramps! Maybe another kg or two and a few more Watts and I'll be riding with the number 1 on my back again next year.

Results are available here and I must also thank Gary McIlroy and Usher Road Cycling club for running this first class race. Also, many thanks to all the supporters who came out on “Dutch Corner” - it was a real wall of sound that we passed through – thank you so much!

2010 Mount Hamilton Hill Climb

Thanksgiving for me has been about two things for these last few years – a wonderful Turkey dinner shared with my brother, his wife and kids and the Mount Hamilton Hill Climb to wet the appetite.

This year, Kieran, Mel and I headed over to the base on what was going to be a very chilly ascent. Just a touch above freezing on the top with snow on the side of the road would make for a picturesque finish. But first we had to get there.

A huge group of cyclists, ranging from the competitive to the recreational trying to best their time gathered at 9:30 for the climb. It is 30km long, climbs 1,350 meters and has two short descents (about 3 minutes and 2 minutes). The climb is never steep, just long – very long – I liked it.

For the first long ramp, we rode along as a pretty big group – I'm guessing 30 riders stayed together of the close to 150 that started. As we neared the first descent, I went to the front to stretch things out a bit to make it a little safer – riders where popping off the back but it made for a relatively safe descent. At the start of the second climb, a rider attacked off that I didn't recognize – he looked dangerous, so I too left the group to cut my own path. As I tried to bridge to the rider, it didn't look like I was getting much closer – on this course, drafting helps a lot so if we were together, we could really make a good time – I couldn't quite get there, so I settled into my pace – there was only one rider ahead so they had no real advantage – the gap stayed around 10-25 seconds. With about 5km to go, I noticed I was getting closer again and with about 3.5km to go, I caught him. As I got a glimpse of the rider – things now made sense – it was Eric Wohlberg – 3 time Olympian, 8 consecutive Canadian TT Champion, Common Wealth Games Gold medalist... ehh, you get the picture. I also know Eric from riding the Wednesday group rides – to say he is a strong rider, does not give him justice! (He also lives at the base of this climb) We rode together to the top and I went for it at the final steep 200m ramp. Great fun.

Phil's finish line photos

I bested my time from last year, but the pace was way too low for the first 12km (and I was by myself for the remaining distance) to set a very fast time. But still, the day was stunning (but very very cold) and the views were incredible. Also, Mel, showing here amazing climbing form finished just 9 minutes after me and 12 minutes infront of the next female. In the mens race, she would have been 18^th – rider of the day if you ask me!

Back to Thanksgiving – after all that, (and another bike ride when we got home) – we feasted all evening until we could barely move – it has been a long while since we did that and I felt if for the first few hours of todays ride.

Results, photos and a short report can be all found here.

Many thanks to the Low Key crew – I look forward to doing a few of your races every year – a great bunch of folks and great events.

2010 Low Key Hill Climb - Hicks / Mt Umunhum

Mel and I are currently in California for some training, a bit of family time and some work. All this while hopefully enjoying its famously good weather... Well, after 7 days, I have had 3 good weather days and 4 less nice – but the climbs are still stunning and I just love the feel of the place.

Anyway, while here, I'm taking part in the final two races in the Low Key Hill Climb series – a series of 9 very tough climbs over 9 weeks. On November 20th, my brother and I took part in the Hicks / Mt Umunhum climb – a 4.8km climb that raises 515meters with long stints at 15% gradient. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my 27 rear cassette before I left Ireland so I was going to use the 39x25 as my lowest gear – I sensed some standing on the pedals.

On the ride over (one hour fourty minutes so more than enough time to warm up) my legs felt dead and my body tired from the previous weeks training. After signon, we were ready to go – I left off my extra clothes into a car to take them to the top, stood on the pedals and said to myself, cool, my legs actually feel ... “POP” . My rear tub just punctured – a deep cut – it was toast.

Lucky break, number 1 – Brian Lucido – the current leader of the series had a spare Zipp 202 rear wheel I could use – excellent, I will actually still take part in the climb. A quick wheel change and I was off again.

Almost 100 of us lined up in what was turning into 'epic' conditions – a super steep climb (and descent on the way back down) in rain and wind. Well, with the Irish Hill Climb champs, I'm well used to these conditions.

The race started at a hard pace – I looked down a couple of times to see the power meter read 450W, 480W, 460W... These guys can't hold this up for 20 minutes (didn't see any Grand Tour contenders on the start list) so I rode my own race. Chris Phipps and Brian Lucido got about a 10 second gap on my about 1.5 km in, but it was so steep that drafting was almost useless and riding a steady pace would pay off. At the half way point, the 3 of us where together. A little while later Chris made another strong surge but with 1.5km to go, I passed him again and kept going to the finish claiming the KOM by 32 seconds with Brian finishing in 3rd.


My adventures where not over yet – on the way back down (along with a bunch of other folks) I punctured the rear loaned wheel. I couldn't really do anything but laugh... Lucky break number 2, I met Calvin, who had been taking the video of the finish, coming back down in his car and he very kindly gave me a lift back home (which was miles away). I was able to get back, warmed up and head out for the rest of my training because of him. Many many thanks – you probably saved me from getting a cold and missing out on good training! (Also, it was really nice chatting to you outside of all that!).

Getting back to the climb – I was around 72kg in the morning and put out 414W on the climb – it wasn't exactly steady, but reasonably steady - it was a good 20 minute test. (I do think my power meter is reading a little low at the moment though). VAM for the 20 minutes was 1,600 meters per hour – so pretty quick. Happy with the power output, after just 3 weeks of training for a month taking it easy although my average heart rate was really low given the effort – 173 beats per minute – I would expect 180 for that sort of effort. Now back to my diet of tempo climbing, steady on the flats...

Full results, video and photos (including the one I nabbed above) are all available here.

2010 Irish National Hill Climb Championships

After the physical detonation that was last weekend, the training for the week before the national hill climb championships was pretty obvious – very very little. Recovery was the name of the game. I had overreached enough and my body wanted the time to rebuild and super compensate (those last two words I really like). I took it easy with only a few short sharp sessions to remind the body what hard work was and by the time Friday came along, my legs where itching to tear the pedals off the cranks.

I drove down to Tralee on Friday evening for the Saturday evening race – the plan was to go for a ride up the hill that evening but torrential rain (and rivers flowing down the climb) convinced me otherwise. The race was to start at 4pm on Saturday which meant lots of time for a spin up the hill in the morning to open up the legs. The climb was 3.9km long climbing 300 meters on a rough road surface. The first 1.8km averaged almost 8% but was pretty undulating. Then came a flat (2-3% gradient) 800meters followed by the final cruel 1.3km averaging 11% but again, very undulating with pitches of 20%. Pacing would be a little tricky as it was not a constant grade but with my Powermeter and Garmin 500, I knew I would be able to keep myself in check for the start.

With only a few seconds to go, I was held in place on the start ramp – my plan was simple, stay under 460W for the first 4-5 minutes and the rest of the 12 minute climb would sort itself out. Go hard on the easy (flat) bits, go harder on the hard (steep) bits. With the pacing strategy, the first few minutes where pretty easy physically and mentally, I perform intervals in that power range often at the 5 minute mark and the temptation would be to push a little harder – but I knew, 5 minutes is a hell of a lot shorter than 12 minutes! The pain would come...

Photo from Darragh Crowley

Knowing the climb would have helped and my only real mistake was taking it too easy on the flatter section – I finished strong with the last 90 seconds being over 500W (for your calculations, on the morning I was 72.5kg)

The Lightweight Wheels felt amazing climbing

You don't really notice as you race, or at least, if you are noticing, you are not going hard enough, but our climbs where held under torrential rain with a block headwind – record times for the climb were not going to be set on the day and I crossed the line a touch over 12 minutes after starting. I really wasn't sure if I had done enough for the win, the main challenger in the race, 5 time champion and defending champion, Paul Griffin, is based in the area and is one of the best Irish climbers in our generation.

After a good cool down on the bike, it was back to the signon venue and I found out that I had become the new National Hill Climb Champion. I edged out Paul by 14 seconds and am obviously very happy with the new green jersey.

Photo from Tralee Cycling Club

Many thanks to the Earl of Desmond Hotel for the hospitality during my stay in Kerry, the Tralee Bicyle Club who ran the event smoothly and at a great venue and also to Paul Griffin. I have ridden with Paul on the road a lot this year, and every time I have learned something new – he has been a great mentor and a worthy adversary (last year he kicked my butt up in Donegal at the champs).

There is another report up with some photos here.

2009 Mount Hamilton Hillclimb

The last thing that I did in the US (well, except eat a yummy Thanksgiving feast) was take part in the Mount Hamilton Hill Climb. The climb is pretty formidable – 30km long with 1,310 meters of climb and two short descents. I had climbed the climb a couple of times before and even took part in this race one year earlier – in 2008 I punctured my loaned tubulars half way up so that ended that.

The Profile

Due to the puncture last year, I felt like I had a little unfinished business. While training over here, all the rides have been endurance type riding on the flats with tempo or sweet spot on the climbs. My legs should be more than capable of a good effort before I left for Ireland.

Off the front - picture from here

As I'm also competing in the third round of the Supercross Cup CX series in Ireland two days later I followed wheels for the first 25km of the climb. The lead group (of the 200+ racers) was still big (around 20 riders) at the half way point. My plan was to up my pace with around 5 km to go. (Final 5 km was at 6%). At around 5km to go, with 7 in the lead group, I went to the front and upped the pace – about a minute latter, on a steep switch back, I attacked – my companions quickly dropped off and I soloed to the top to win in a touch over 72 minutes. The time was not particularly fast as we cruised along for the first two thirds (I could have pushed the pace more earlier but with a transatlantic flight later the same day and a cross race two days later, I thought it prudent to hang back until the end).

Picture from here

Winning with a view - picture from here

With the win, my puncture demons from last year have been quashed. Full results and photos will be up here soon, As my brother pointed out on the way to the airport, it is also my first US win.

2009 National Hill Climb Championships

Several weeks ago I took part in the Irish National Hill Climb Championships. Like last years great event, they were being run by the North Pole Cycling Club on the Mamore Gap.

With the previous year in mind, this year I prepared a little differently for it – first off I got myself an 11-28 cassette (with the steepness and headwind last year, a 25 was not low enough) and trained on a few steep hills around the Dublin Mountains – The Devils Elbow being one of them. One of my main problems in 2008 with the climb was that I went out too hard, this year, as I would be doing the climb with a Powermeter I had my max wattages sorted for the first two minutes to make sure I don’t blow too badly by the end. Training went well but the World Marathon Championships 6 days earlier (with lots of traveling) was going to cause some recovery problems before the race.

Like last year, due to the distance to the race, I was not going to get a preride of the course in. I had the profile from my Garmin so I knew what to expect (during the ride last year, it was all just a cloud of pain and suffering!).

I was staying in Monaghan the night before the race (Dad kindly offered to drive me the two and a half hours up to Mamore in the morning) and just as I fell asleep I got a call from Mel – why was she calling me at midnight? She let me know that I forgot my Garmin 705 in Dublin but she offered to leave at 3am and cycle/take the bus to Monaghan with it so that I would have it in the morning for the race. I was really annoyed that I left it in Dublin as a lot of my pacing plan for this short event was based on wattage (it is such a steep hill it is really easy to go out way too hard, especially when the adrenalin is pumping!). But since her making her way up in the middle of the night without a car I told her to relax and I would figure something out.

As Dad and I drove up to Donegal, I stopped in a few places to see if they had any Garmins in stock – no luck, and I arrived at sign-on computerless. I know, I know, I should be able to pace without a computer, bla bla bla, this is true – in an MTB race or road race, I don’t use power as a feedback to my effort – I use it for data recording and to see what I actually do – this race, being a time trial uphill was different and I relied on it – especially on a hill I don’t know well.


Sign-on was smooth and I was soon out on the Saris turbo warming up for my turn. The weather was very different this year, last year's strong headwind and rain was met with a large tailwind – times would be quicker.

During the warmup, I didn’t really feel it – the legs felt heavy and my breathing was not great. I had traveled for almost 5 hours to get here so I tried to get my head into the right place, which for this type of "sufferfest" is almost the most important thing.

With a couple of minutes to go, Dad called me over to the startline and I tried to focus at the task at hand – keep it easy at the start, keep it easy at the start, I repeated to myself. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and I was off. My bike felt really smooth as I started up the hill with the Zipp 404s making that distinctive carbon tubular hum noise on the tarmac. I kept it as steady as I could and about 2 minutes in hit the first 6-7 second descent. Last year, I remember being destroyed at this point, but this time around I felt okay. The middle section, before the second rolling part, I pushed on but felt I was holding back too much – I wasn’t/couldn’t give it everything. Before long (time actually seemed to go by quickly) I hit the last long steep stretch – it was a lot easier this year with the tailwind and I felt I still had good power (that should not have been the case), at least until the final few meters when it took everything just to keep the bike moving.


7:31 after leaving the start gate I crossed the finish line, placed the bike on the side of the road and promptly lay down in severe oxygen dept. My breathing was really labored (I didn’t feel okay for several hours later) but I was glad to be finished – before hearing times or anything I was not too happy with my ride but again, under the conditions, gave it everything I could.

Later, back at race HQ, The Rusty Nail Bar, I found out that I finished 3rd, been beaten by 5 time National Hill Climb Champ and Pro rider, Paul Griffin and Mark Dowling in 2nd place. Paul traveled all the way up from Tralee to take part and sat down an amazing time of 6:49 – a time, even if everything went perfect for me, I don’t think I would have beaten.

Thanks to all the organizers for putting on the race and all the competitors for making it the most attended hill climb championships Ireland has ever run!

I’m not sure where the race will be held next year, but I’ll be ready – there is a green jersey I want to claim.

Full results, reports and photos can be found here.

2009 Kilmashogue Hill Climb

For many years there has been an off-road hill climb race up Kilmashogue as part of early and late season training. At the start of the year it's a trial to see where you are at, and at the end, see if you have improved. This year, like the last few years, Team Worc had it as part of their club race.

This year the course has changed a little from when I set the unofficial record (I guess to make it official it has to be in a race) up the climb in 2007. It is pretty much the same with the same start and end points but a slightly more direct run in the middle of the fireroad section meaning that it is about 70 meters shorter. Personally, I preferred the old route – but you gotta work with what you got.




It had been a while since I had used the Schwalbe Furious Fred tires and as the climb is not technical, they were the perfect choice to get a bit of extra speed up the hill. At an astonishing 300 grams each they dropped the weight of my S-Works Epic down to 9kg. The Epic really did feel like my road bike with the setup.


My warmup to the race was not exactly conducive to giving me a fast time. The Shay Elliot Memorial road race on Sunday, a 3.5 hour endurance/tempo MTB ride on Monday and some tired legs when I rolled up to the start line on Tuesday. I didn't feel too bad warming up and the evening was nice (no strong winds) so I thought a fast time was still possible.

The climb profile

Despite being a mass start climb, my strategy was no different than it would have been if it was an individual TT – start easier than you think you should, push hard on the flatter sections (because it is so easy to ease off the power when you are not climbing), and pin it for the last few minutes.

As we started off, I went to the front and for the first minute or two heard a few bikes behind me. As I turned off the tarred road onto the fireroad a few minutes in, I only had Robin Seymour for company. We stayed together for the next minute or two until I increased my tempo on the flatter section – from there on out I just pushed hard to the finish line rolling over in lots of oxygen dept.



At 11:47, I set a pretty good time up the climb that will be pretty tough to beat. When the new section up the climb beds in a little more it should get a little faster and at the end of the season I might just turn up fresh :)

Thanks Team Worc for inviting me along and running the race.

Results are below and there was a report about the race on the Team Worc website.

1 Ryan 11:47
2 Robin 12:37
3 Evan 13:34
4 Joe 14:15
5 Dave 14:34
6 Robert 14:42
7 Ian 14:58
8 Paddy 15:10
9 Andy 15:12
10 Stu 15:20
11 Paddy M 15:37
12 Gordon 15:40
13 Vinnie 16:24
14 Mark 16:39
15 Ray 17:37
16 Rachel 17:55
16 John 17:55
18 Paul H 19:24
19 Owen 19:45

Kippure Hill Climb - March 2009

I have been meaning to put a post together for some of the hill climbs I took part in for a long time. Although one of the most suffering intense cycling pursuits, I have a certain love for hill climbs. You versus gravity with little tactics... Being a mountain biker, much of my time is spent riding up and down hills so in training I get lots of practice and like putting that into good use in a race. At about 73kg, I'm not the lightest climber in the world but I think it is one of the things I'm pretty good at on a bike.

Well, this year started off with a very low key climb. Kippure mountain is the highest point in the Wicklow Mountains with a paved road and there is always much discussion on various forums about climbing the final section. It's pretty short and not too steep but weather conditions (it is almost always windy) make it a tricky enough ascent.

A group of mostly road cyclists that congregate on boards.ie (click here for the thread about the climb) formed the attendance on an almost perfect evening with blue skies and amazing visibility.

My profile - power is smoothed

My climb went okay – I was experimenting a little with pacing (easier on the flat sections) and left a little too much in the tank at the end but like everyone who was out, I enjoyed the evening.

The vital statistics
Time: 9:26 (gate to gate)
Distance: 3.3km
Climb: 225m
Average Grade: 6.6

Results for the climb are available here.

2008 National Hill Climb Championships

Last weekend was a pretty big weekend of racing for me as there were two National Championship events being held. On Saturday, the National Hill Climb Championships were being held in Linsfort, Donegal over the Mamore Gap, while on Sunday the National Cross Country Marathon Championships were being held in the Wicklow Mountains.

In this post, I'll just focus on the National Hill Climb Championships. Preparation began for it (outside of training!) in the leading week when I started to try and shed a little weight from my road bike. A super light set of wheels and full carbon saddle brought my bike weight down to 6.9kg (including pedals and the Garmin Edge bike computer).

My 'pimped' 2008 Specialized Tarmac Expert

Next hurdle was actually getting there. The race was about 5 hours drive from my home in Dublin so I staged it in two sections with my Dad kindly offering to cover most of the driving. (Driving takes a lot out of me and with the marathon on the Sunday, I was trying to conserve as much as possible). Due to the distance, I was not going to be able to have a look at the climb before the race so this is all I knew.

• A very tough climb – maybe the toughest in the British Isles
• 1.9km long with 250 meters of climb
• 10 bends and 4 switchbacks

After a very friendly signon we all headed over to the bottom of the Gap – it was at this point that the rain and wind really picked up. The climb was going to be wet into a strong headwind – as if the elevation gain was not enough to contend with!

I got on the Turbo Trainer to warm up (something I don't use very often but found it perfect in this case) and got to the start line ready to go. To save weight, I didn't use my power meter for the climb but I had practiced pacing on a climb this length a few times recently so my basic plan was go a little easier (from a perceived effort point of view) then I think I should for the first two minutes and then pick it up – hopefully my power output would be pretty well averaged out over the climb.

5,4,3,2,1 and I was off up the hill. The next few minutes were mostly a blur with the odd self questioning - “why am I doing this?” - usually, this is a good sign – it means I'm pushing hard. The climb was very very steep – the hardest I've seen in Ireland by a long way and my 39x25 was two high a gearing for me to ride the hill the way I wanted. In general, especially more recently, I like to spin while climbing. About 80-90 RPM while seated and around 80 while standing. I basically had to stand almost all the climb, using all my mountain biking smooth pedalling skills to not spin out the rear wheel on the slippery tarmac while only pedaling at about 50rpm. After a lot of pain, I looked down at the Garmin to see I covered 1.55km – only 350 meters to go, but those 350 meters were like a wall. Already far into oxygen dept and a huge headwind I hit the final section which averaged out at a 19% gradient – I wish I had lower gears. I kept pushing and the crowd cheered me on as I made the final push. I crossed the line, placed my bike carefully at the side of the road (making sure not to damage the super expensive borrowed wheels) and promptly collapsed. I had no thoughts in my mind that I could have pushed harder – better gearing would have helped a lot, but I really did give it everything.

Looking down the climb

I don't even remember this bit!

The prize giving was held back in the Laurentic Bar in Linsfort where the supporting club (North Pole CC) put on a huge spread of food - the race was super well run by North Pole CC. The poor bar staff looked on at is as if we were a pack of locusts :) and it was not even a long race!

Suffer suffer suffer - picture from here by Marian Lamb

In the end, my time up the climb of 8:50 which was enough to secure second place – missing out on winning the Championship by a mere 7 seconds! (If only I was a kilo lighter...) Ronan Mc Laughlin who rides for the Pro outfit AnPost/Sean Kelly won the event – he looked smooth as I watched him pass as I returned down the hill.

There was only 14 seconds in the top 3 places

Results and a report are available here.

After all this excitement, it was a return drive to Monaghan with my Dad and then I drove back up to Dublin to start preparation for the following days marathon. It was a busy weekend.

I have to say a couple of big “thank yous” from this weekend. I really appreciate the support from Shane Connaughton from Cycleways, Eoghan (sorry – I need to get your second name) and Ross McClure. They helped me out with seriously lightening up my bike, Eoghan and Ross giving me the use of their mega light Lightweight wheel-set. Those things are ridiculous! I would be getting a pair if I did more road racing to warrant such an expense! Also, a big thanks to Dad for driving me to and from the race and supporting me around it - it was a huge huge help!

So next year – 7 more seconds... I'm getting closer :)

2007 National Road Hill Climb Championships

Last weekend (I've been busy since so no updates) I took part in both the National Hill Climb Championships and the National 'B' Road Race, both of which, as I mentioned earlier, where in my home town of Monaghan.

Saturday's hill climb had a really late (for me at least) start of 3pm so I spent most of the day before hand just wondering around Monaghan. I even ended up being the first person to sign on for the race. There was a little confusion over the starting order etc... and it ended up that I was going to be the first off – not really what I wanted as I would have no 'rabbit's to chase... Also, finding out so close to the start about the starting order meant that I had a pretty terrible warm up... For a 6 minute event, the warm up should have been crucial!

Anyway – with an anchor for a rear wheel (was using my training wheels as my light wheels were still being serviced) I waited for the countdown... 50 seconds I was told.... I back pedaled a little and the chain dropped on the lower, 39tooth ring (the climb, as it was so short at 2.7km and only 150m of climb was a big ring only climb)... I thought I had lots of time – so I told myself, don't panic, I'll get it on... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... The guy said 50 seconds when he meant to stay 10!!! Crap, I flaffed about with my gears as I started up the hill loosing a bit of time. The climb was very short with several down hill bits so it was never really going to suit me – I would have much rathered a nice long 15-20 minute (or longer) sufferfest. I crossed the line in 6:25 which, when everyone had ran was enough for a 7th place. I was happy enough considering the mistakes that I made (warm-up, gears, wheels etc...) but I believe I should have easily been another 15 seconds faster. (Also, the last heavy week of training wouldn't have helped!) Not enough to touch the overall winner, David McCann though! Fellow mountain bike, James McCluskey finished a few seconds behind me.

Sunday morning was the turn of the road race. The course was a 13km loop with about 175m of climb per lap (yeah!). We were going to be doing 9 laps so around 3 hours of racing. My plan for the race was to conserve as much as I could during the first half and then be ready to work really really hard for the last 30k or so. (Simple, I know – but I'm not that experienced in road races!)

The first few laps went by pretty easily – high/low pace takes a bit of getting used to but I was actually really enjoying the race. There were a couple of nice descents that really seemed to flow on the road bike. Half way through the race, I ended up bridging (with 2 others) a 20 second gap to a break that I thought was going to stick. A while later the peloton caught us again :( Early in the 7th lap, the break of the day got away and unfortunately I missed it. They didn't get too much ahead but by the time we started the 8th lap it was 1:30. The peloton flexed a bit (of the 50 or so riders remaining in the peloton, about 6-7 were working) we brought it down to about 30 seconds... Enough so that we could see the break. At this point I felt very strong but the others that were working with me seemed to have had enough and were happy with letting the break win. After another 10 minutes of trying to urge the peloton on I gave up with that and with about 10-12 minutes of racing left I decided to really test my legs and see if I can catch the break which had a 40 second lead at this point. I worked hard up the hills (and unfortunately, into the wind for a chunk of it) and actually caught 4 or 5 of the break but not enough for me to be pulled up to the top ten. (I finished 12th in the end) I was disappointed about missing the break and not getting a better result but I was happy with how my body and my legs felt for the second half of the race... What I lacked in this race most of all was experience. As a training exercise, it beat going out on a solo ride for a few hours :)

The official results from the weekend are here.

Chasing Cows...

I'm in Monaghan (my home town) for the weekend as the National Hill Climb Champtionships are on here this weekend. I prerode the course today and something funny happened - there were stray cows everywhere, feckin pooing all over the lovely road :( Also, each one of them thought that they could take me on the climbs so they ran with me each time. I had no problems dropping them ;)


The course is actually really short (less then 4k) and not very steep. It is actually an undulating climb with not much elevation change. A track sprinter could do well tomorrow. Not really my type of climb. It climbs 150 meters and descends 40 meters.

Finally some dry (ish) weather...

The last week has been reasonably dry which has been great for making the trails fast again. I had almost forgotten how to ride fast on dry trails as we have had to deal with so much slomp this year. With the dry trails I've mostly been riding the mountain biking and getting ready for the British races and the Irish Marathon championhips at the end of September.

I'm also probably going to give the National Road Hill Climb Championships a go next weekend. They are actually being held in Monaghan (Irish capital of drumlins - not mountains) on a climb that's not very big or long. I'm not sure of the climb it will be on but I know the mountain and it's only about 250m high so the race will probably be a 10 minute effort... I still have to find a nice light set of wheels to use for it? Anyone got a spare set for Saturday? Sub 1.4kg?

The view from the Hell Fire Club (believe me, this was a 'nice' day!)

Mel and I cycled home from Joe's BBQ on Saturday night, this is Mel in a good tuck on one of the descents on her commuter bike...

A Weekend of Hill Climbs - Kippure and Kilmashogue

This weekend turned out to be a weekend of timed climbing races. First off was the Team Worc Extreme Hill Climb. It was a handicapped, (small) group start road climb. The course wasn't a constant climb (see the profile) but was almost 20km long and had 748 meters of climb. Robin, James and I were the last to start so we had many 'rabbits' in front of us to catch. We worked well together for the first 'rolling' 30 minutes of the race and we started to catch some of the earlier starters from about 25 minutes in. The conditions were very windy up around the Military road so our time wasn't going to be setting any records. Into the wind for the final few kilometres before the turn off to the final ascent of Kippure I somehow ended up on the front – unwilling to put much work into the wind I cruised along at a recovery pace as we all tried to recover a little before the final steep (17% in places) ascent of Kippure. As we made the turn and accelerated towards the masts, it was James and I in contention. We ended up playing cat and mouse the whole way up... Unfortunately, I miss timed my final sprint (I thought the penultimate bend was the last) and James pipped me to the post for the fastest time of the day – with the handicaps in place, we were still a little off the overall win. The Irish National Hill Climb Championships are on in a few weeks so I might give them a go – hopefully I'll have my light wheels serviced by then as I had to ride my 'heavy' training wheels for this race.

A graph of the climb from my Garmin

After a false start on the morning spin (more about that in a later post) I ended up heading out on the Epic for an afternoon spin. This week has been mostly (race aside) about recovery so I was only going to be out for a couple of hours but I still wanted to do one hard short effort. Every time I feel like this it's good to give the Kilmashogue hill climb a go. I physced myself up for a fast time and rode half way up it for a warmup dumping my bottles and saddle bag in the ditch, rode back down and made a go for it. I went hard from the start but was careful not to over do it on the steep sections so that I would have enough in my legs to really hammer on the less steep sections. I was about 2:54 in when I turned off the road for the first time (I remember last year doing this when I was really happy if I was under 4 minutes at this point!), negotiated the closed barriers (another few seconds could be saved here) and hammered on up the hill. I tried to remain relaxed and not over cook myself but I noticed that I was riding fast – Big and 8/9 for the 2% 'flat' section. By the time I got to the quary I looked down at my watch and I was still under 10 minutes – I remembered reading a report by Robin from a few years ago when he said he was at 10:something at this point and yet he still posted the second fastest (recorded – as far as I can find) time up the climb (he did a 12:13 in 2001 - the record of 12:12 was set by Craig Brady in 1997). I put my head down and hammered the last second hopping to stay in the low 12 minute mark. I crossed the crest of the climb and hit the split button – I looked down to find 11:56 a new (if unofficial) Kilmashogue Hill Climb record. I let out a few cheers and then realized that I need to get my breath back before I fall over. My heart rate average was actually a little low for the climb (173 – my LT is usually around 178 – last year I averaged 190 up a 17min climb in the states) so I might be able to squeeze a little more time out there. The weather conditions were pretty much perfect though – dry with little wind but some fresh gravel and the closed barriers would have slowed me a bit. A great end to a recovery week :)

My HR versus the climb... The coloured bands are my heart rate zones

The view from Kippure

Descending (and climbing) around Kippure today was crazy. One minute beautiful sunshine, the next, mist, cold and time for thermal arm warmers. At least it wasn't raining...