The glimmer of success

A hill climb podium position and the power of small victories. It’s all relative, right?

National Hill Climb Championship

A ride five years in the making and all over in 3 minutes and 12 seconds.

Back to the hills

Back among the stick insects. Hill climb racing. Competitors so thin they almost disappear when viewed in profile. Sleek and minimal, it’s hard to believe a human is crammed inside. Widths and waists measured in millimetres in the pursuit of milliseconds.

Why do cyclists climb mountains?

A strange addiction. Climbing to the skies, slow motion, pain, body revolting, hour after hour of mental questions. Why am I climbing this mountain? We’re a strange bunch us cyclists. Speeding along dressed in tights, bottoms padded, riding great distances much to the bemusement of non-cyclists. To them it’s unfathomable that riding up a mountain, […]

Ridiculous and repetitive cycling challenges

What is it that compels us to seek a life less ordinary. Or in this case, a cycle ride less ordinary? We humans span the range of adventure. Perhaps you find comfort in routine and the familiar? Or does a lack of change discomfort, nay disturb? The truly adventurous do not want change. They need […]

Riding the cobbles of Ronde Van Calderdale

Cobbles and cycling. Belgium right? The Classics of the early season calendar. Moules et frites. Passionate fans, grim weather, steep climbs. Not Halifax, England. Pie and chips, bleak post-industrial landscapes and well, cobbles, steep climbs and the desolate moorland. This is the scene for the Ronde Van Calderdale route, a tribute to the Spring Classic […]

Double trouble – Catford and Bec hill climbs

Not today. It’s Sunday. Rest day. No work, no nothing. Two horrible hill climb races in one day? No thanks, not for me. I awoke rested but still sleepy, my body refusing to wake as if it knew what was ahead. Eugh. Where the hell was my inner chimp when I needed him? Any other […]

Swains Lane hill climb race

Climber’s cough plagues me. My lungs burn. It is six hours since I raced up Swains Lane in the brilliant Rollapaluza Urban Hill Climb race. Regrets? Sure, but only my tactics! Hosted on my local hill, Swains Lane, a short sharp lung buster I’ve had an on-off relationship with for many a year. I’ve climbed […]

Watford Velo Hill Climb – My first race to the skies

Drum roll please… many years in the making, I finally entered and completed a hill climb race. And yes, I loved it! What kind of animal looks forward to pain, who destroys their body in pursuit of seconds and metres gained? The hill climber. A strange beast. I’ve always enjoyed hill climbs. There’s nothing quite like the […]

Cycling in Pembrokeshire

A warm up ride through the Brecon Beacons seemed like a good idea when sat at my laptop, not so much when sat in the saddle. It’s been a while since I last cycled in Wales, how quickly I’d forgotten the only flat roads in this land are supermarket car parks.