Bit of an update

It dawned on me the other day that it has been a month since my last blog post. This wasn’t intentional but I’ve been busy trying to sort things out for the year ahead. Rather than the piecemeal approach to taking on the climbs that I took last year I need to be more organised and tackle climbs on a regional basis in 2013. This is why I now have a huge map of the UK covered in marker pen and sticky labels to look at and a wall planner. Never before in my life have I felt so anal about something that I’ve needed a wall planner but apparently that point has now been reached. Mind you the planner is still in its packaging so maybe I’m a bit more laid back about this whole thing than I initially thought.

 

My planning for 2013 has started, honest

So far I have sorted out when I will be riding the remaining Kent and Surrey rides. They should hopefully be dealt with on a flying visit to the South East in late February. I say hopefully as the weather can still be a bit variable in February so I need to take the fact we are still in the depths of winter; Box Hill in the snow could be awkward. Mind you I do have some studded tyres in the garage…

In April I’m planning to spend a week taking on the remaining climbs in the Midlands, including the fearsome road up to Riber Castle, and a couple of the Yorkshire climbs. May will see me hopefully finishing off Wales and so on as I make steady progress up the country. The plans past May are still a bit unresolved at the moment but are rapidly taking shape.

On the training front January got off to a good start. Despite the appalling weather I’ve been getting up the local hills faster than ever before and feeling smooth on the bike. The only problem is that riding up lots of hills has left me good at winching myself up short sharp gradients but hopeless on longer rides. I’m going to need to build some longer easier rides into my training schedule or I’m going to be found wanting on the longer climbs. Keeping a decent smooth cadence on flatter rides just seems to confuse my legs at the moment which is rather disconcerting.

The only other problem has been that every single road I ride along seems to be rim deep in mud, bits of undergrowth and gravel. The winter weather hasn’t been kind to the roads of North Devon and despite wearing recently fitted mudguards my trusty old Surly Cross Check looks like it has just been fished from the bottom of a river. My Uncle John has only been out for one ride so far this year and it took me a while to get used to it; it feels a much stiffer and flighty bike than the Cross Check.

Hopefully getting my fixed gear bike finally sorted will help me sort out my pedalling issues. The On One Macinato is pretty much finished. Sorting out the chain line was a bit time consuming but the bike is pretty much there. I’ve struggled to get the brakes set up how I like them and that is the only thing holding me back at the moment. Hopefully an upgrade to better quality cables this weekend will let me take it on it’s first proper ride. So far I’ve only been up and down the street outside my house on it to check nothing will fall off. With spongy unresponsive brakes it has been a bit of a daunting bike to ride. My initial impressions of the bike are that it is sharp handling, responsive and potentially quite fast (with the right gearing) and I’m really looking forward to finally taking it on some decent rides. I just need to remember not to stop pedalling when braking or cornering as having to dig a pedal out of your calf muscle every so often quickly gets annoying.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll have a bit more to report back on with regard to the new bike soon. To be honest until I start getting stuck back into the climbs I feel like I’m just treading water.

2013 is here - Time to get busy

Tis the season to be jolly in the garage

Some people like to spend the festive season eating and drinking too much. As I was working between Christmas and New Year I decided to spend what free time I did have more productively. There are only so many garish Christmas specials I can watch on telly so I have been busy in the garage servicing my bikes and building up my latest training tool.

I decided to get the build of the On One Macinato underway as I need to start using it soon. As it is destined for a hard life with a lot of winter riding I decided a sensible first step would be to waxoil the frame. Waxoil is smelly stuff and fairly unpleasant to spend time with in a small garage so after leaving the garage to air out for two days after applying a liberal coating to the inside of the frame it was safe to start installing the headset. I’ve gone for a Hope headset as I was able to get it at a decent price and even a simple bike can get away with the odd bit of bling. Like many home bike mechanics I fit my headsets with a mixture of proper and improvised tools; fitting the crown race took a lot of brute force and swearing but the rest of it was a doddle.

 

A little bit of understated bling for what is actually quite a cheap bike

I’ve decided to do the decent thing and actually cut the steerer tube down to an acceptable length. I now have a suitable workbench and a clamp on guide for cutting steerer tubes so I really don’t have a excuse to not do it when I build a bike anymore. I have tried to avoid getting all medieval and taking a hacksaw to my bikes in the past but the whole process seemed to go OK and I suspect the Uncle John will be receiving the attention of my hacksaw blade before long.

My local bike shop has been helping me put together the drive train. I’m going to start off with a 40 tooth chain ring and 19 tooth rear cog. I suspect that gearing may be a little high for some of the steeper North Devon climbs but then the whole point of the bike is to build something that will help me up my strength so maybe that won’t be such a bad thing. The chap who runs my local bike shop also knows a thing or two about building wheels and has put together a lovely back wheel for the Macinato. A fixed back wheel is a lovely looking thing with a sparse clean appearance. To somebody like me who has only ever ridden bike with freewheeling hubs the fixed back wheel is also a slightly frightening concept. Not being able to freewheel will take a bit of getting used to so I’ll be fitting flat pedals for the first few rides. I’ll also be equipping the bike with two brakes. I know it is trendy to fit a fixed gear bike with only one brake (at the front) but I’ve been a dedicated avoider of fashion my entire life and I like the idea of two brakes. I do after all live at the top of a hill. The SRAM Rival brakes from my failed rebuild of my old Bianchi will be handling the stopping duties.

 

There is something very satisfying about watching a bike come to life. It now has wheels and just needs a bottom bracket to be ready

　

My venerable old Surly Cross Check has also been receiving a bit of attention. I’ve been meaning to get it resprayed as the paint is looking really scruffy after three years of hard use. However, there is still a bit of life left in the components currently fitted to it despite the scuffed look of the chain set and derailleurs. As a result the mudguards have gone back on and it will be pressed into service as my all weather training bike. Fitting mudguards is always a thankless task and seems to take longer than logic would suggest it should.

If I got it resprayed right now I would only end up putting the old stuff back in it which would be missing the point of trying to revamp it a little bit. I also want to keep the Cross Check as a spare bike in case the Uncle John develops any problems that keep it off the road; the schedule for next year is already shaping up to be a hectic one and I want to make sure mechanicals won’t get in the way of completing the remaining 70 climbs.

Planning for the year ahead

With 70 climbs still to go and a lot of leave to use up before the end of June I’ve started to plan my attack on the remaining hills. So far this has largely involved trying to get holidays booked and buying a large map so I can see where all of the climbs are in relation to each other. Actually it is a bit more complex and there is a lot of route planning and accommodation booking to do in the next few weeks.

 

Behold, the map of fear. Actually I still need to add a few more climbs to it...

If everything works out and I can get the training in over the next couple of months it is possible that I could reach the 80 climb mark by the end of June. I learnt a lot last year about what I’m able to do, how the travelling impacts on my ability to get up some of the climbs and just what my weaknesses are. I think tackling another 50 of the climbs by the end of June is a realistic target, albeit one that is going to require a fair bit of discipline to achieve it. If I can manage it I can take my time over the final 20 climbs in late summer and early autumn. That’s the rough plan anyway. Now, I’ve got some more sticky labels to put on my map…

　

Plans for the winter

In December I usually take some time out from cycling. The weather is bad, the days are short, the traffic gets worse and I’m normally pretty busy doing other things. This year I also need to give my right knee a rest and start planning for the next 70 climbs so December will be a busy month.

December is also the month when I spend hours in the garage getting angry and shouting at tools and bicycle components as I attempt to service and upgrade my bikes. This year will be no different with my Cross Check needing a bit of a rebuild and the Uncle John needing a few tweaks to it’s setup. I haven’t quite got the riding position sorted out yet and I feel a bit cramped when going down hill. The Cross Check I feel more stretched out, more in control and just more confident all round.

I’m also going to be spending some time putting yet another bike together. This bike is going to be rather focussed in it’s form and purpose and I’m building it purely for winter training. Normally I’d spend the winter slogging through the bad weather on my old Thorn touring bike. This winter I’ll be riding a fixed gear bike. Don’t worry, I’m not about to buy skinny jeans and grow some dubious facial hair and then spend my time hanging round trendy coffee shops. I’m building a fixie because over the course of the last few months I’ve grown rather fond of the lower end of my bikes gears. I know from riding a single speed mountain bike that having only one gear on my bike will force me to attack every hill I come to and a fixed gear should also help me smooth out my pedalling a little bit; I’ve tried every technique under the sun to get up the hills more efficiently this year with a result that I sometimes spend too much time deciding how I want to pedal rather than just getting on with the job of riding up hill. Training on a fixed gear will hopefully get my top end power back; I’m not sure whereabouts I lost it but I don’t seem to have the kick I need on the steeper sections at the moment.

I was also persuaded to build a fixed gear bike by the fact On One were knocking them out at a stupidly low price on their website a while back. For £149 I managed to buy a Macinato frame and fork. First impressions of the frame are that the quality is pretty good. The welds are neat and the frame is quite lightweight. The fork is actually heavier that the frame and the paint on both is OK in terms of quality although it does look like a paint sprayed over bare metal finish which will no doubt look a bit tired after some hard use.

 

The Macinato is very good looking for such a cheap frame

The bike is being built to a budget that befit’s the low price of the frame. Most of the components are already lying around in the garage. All I need to add to the pile is a drive train and a back wheel. My local bike shop will be building the back wheel for me. I’m not sure whether the owner of the shop was horrified or impressed when I told him I was intending to build a fixed gear bike for riding around North Devon. I didn’t dare tell him I’m intending to take it over Exmoor at some point. I haven't ridden a fixed gear bike before so the first couple of rides could be interesting.

 

A sure sign my winter riding is going to be hard

Anyway, that’s my plans with regard to the garage. I’ve also decided to start planning next years rides early and there is now an improbably large map of the UK on my wall. Time to get out the marker pens and sticky labels…

Toys Hill

Well, here it is, footage of my last climb of 2012. The days are getting shorter and the weather is getting worse so it is time for a break in my attempt on the 100 greatest climbs. It was always my intention to spread the climbs out over an extended period but I was hoping to have completed around 40 of the hills by this point. Knee problems earlier in the year and some just plain disastrous trips to Wales have put a dent in my plans but no bother, there is always 2013. Besides, the first 30 climbs have highlighted some areas where I need to do some work so hopefully next year will see a stronger and more organised me take on the remaining 70 hills.

On the 17^th November I took on 3 hills and the last one I rode before heading home was Toys Hill in Kent. It is a fairly tough climb with the gradient eventually ramping up to 18%. After setting up in the car park at the top of the hill I had a rough descent to the bottom. The road surface is very heavily pock marked with pot holes and broken tarmac in places and despite running 28mm tyres the alloy frame and fork on the Uncle John were really giving me a pounding on the way down. My faithful old Surly Cross Check may be a bit heavier and less efficient on the steep ascents but there are times when I miss not bringing it with me and this was one of them; it just seems to smooth out the rough stuff a little better.

Anyway, after bouncing my way to the bottom of the climb it was time to stick on the helmet cam, fire up Ass Cam and see what I could do on the way back up to the car. Toys Hill starts with a long gradual ramp up in gradient and for a brief period I was in the big ring. My top gear riding didn’t last long and before I knew it I was starting to gradually work my way down through the gears. Still, it was nice to have one climb where I didn’t start in bottom gear.

The strangely disappointing Toys Hill car park. You expect a view after the pain the climb puts you through...

 

One thing I wasn’t expecting to suffer with on this climb was the heat. Despite it being November and the weather at the start of the day being foggy and cold the day had turned into quite a mild one. About half way up the climb I realised that overshoes, winter gloves etc would be a hindrance and, sure enough I started to slowly overheat. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that half way into the video footage my gloves disappear. I also ended up unzipping everything that could be legally unzipped and taking off my shades. The heat rising from the collar of my jacket caused them to mist up and seeing where I was going was actually quite useful.

As the gradient ramped up I started to slow and flag a bit. By the time I reached the final 18% ramp I was locked in bottom gear and grimly spinning my way to the top willing the hill to end. The last couple of hundred metres weren’t pleasant and I faded quite badly but I did eventually make it back to the car and that was it, climb number 30 complete. It is nice to finish the year on a round number. Depending on how the weather behaves over the next couple of months it is likely to be late February before I climb back on the Uncle John and start riding uphill slowly again. That’s not to say that I won’t be doing any riding in the meantime. In fact I have quite a few related projects to get cracking with that will hopefully make next years final 70 climbs a bit more manageable. You’ll have to stay tuned for further details…

South East Adventures

Finally an update. I’m still sorting out the video for my climb up Toys Hill but as it will be my final climb of 2012 it is probably fitting that it has it’s own blog update.

Never ride up steep hills after skipping lunch

On the 16^th November I used a day off work to travel to West Sussex. After a couple of less than satisfactory attempts to tackle the climbs of South Wales I had the target of ticking off another 4 climbs and bringing my end of year total to 30.

I had a few things to do in the morning and as a result it was late morning before I was able to set off for the climb at Steyning Bostal. By the time I had navigated my way to the top of the climb it was getting quite late in the afternoon and the light was starting to fade. The visibility wasn’t helped by an autumnal fog that had started to settle on higher ground.

I was really hungry by the time I got parked up at the top of Steyning Bostal. I had a flask of soup with me and I knew from past experience that the contents of the flask would be on the verge of turning from luke warm to tepid. With the fading light being a real issue, I had stupidly taken small LED flashing lights with me, I decided it was best to crack on with the climb and at least do it with some light. Besides riding up a climb with a full stomach is probably worse than riding up with an empty one.

The top of Steyning Bostal is quite flat and I had a chance to warm up nicely before reaching the bottom, setting up the cameras and going for it.

The road up from Steyning has two stretches of 17% gradients but the rest of the hill is pretty easy going. You essentially ride up two big steps and there is even a pretty flat stretch in the middle of the hill. The first 17% step passed by without too much trouble and I decided to spin an easy gear on the flat section before the next in order to save energy. It is just as well that I did because as I started on the second step up in gradient my energy levels plummeted and I began to regret skipping lunch. Yep, the dreaded bonk hit me and it became a fight to maintain forward motion. I was reduced to gently pushing bottom gear around as I waited for my body to recover and find some energy from somewhere. Thankfully the second 17% section isn’t too long and before I knew it I was on the easier upper slopes, feeling slightly better, and able to push a bigger through the increasing gloom back to my car. By the time I reached the car my worst fears were confirmed as I found myself faced with a flask of tepid soup. Still, I was starving hungry at that point so it got eaten. There seems to be a fair bit of belching in the video footage of this ride. Not sure why but I blame it on being hungry.

The fading light was a bit of a concern on this hill

My overnight halt for the night was a Travelodge at Hickstead about 10 miles out of Brighton. I chose it mainly for the free parking and the close proximity to Ditchling Beacon which I would be riding first thing the next morning. Oh yes, it was also cheap.

Before settling into the joyless embrace of a Travelodge room I first had to deal with a receptionist who was apparently so bored with her job and life in general that I don’t think she could even be bothered to draw breath as she spoke to me. It was only later in the evening when I wheeled a bicycle past her in the hotel corridor that I managed to gain any kind of reaction from her and even then I suspect she couldn’t really be bothered to object.

 

Travelodge; not a great place to stay but at least it offered secure bike storage for the night

The Travelodge was a fairly grim example of the chain. Unloading stuff from the car was enlivened by a young Eastern European chap trying to stop his doped up girlfriend from wandering off into traffic and my nights sleep was disturbed first by numerous stag and hen do’s stopping to visit the onsite Burger King and then, much later in the evening at about 2am, by somebody doing slow laps of the car park in an ageing Renault Clio with a blown exhaust. Lets just say it was a relief when I left in the morning.

Time to revisit an old foe

November 17^th saw me up early and loading the car as the sun was struggling to rise. West Sussex had turned foggy overnight and I wasn’t sure what sort of conditions I would have to face on Ditchling Beacon. As it turned out only the very top was affected by fog and strong winds. The lower part of the climb was nicely sheltered at and for the first time that day I found myself overheating in my cold weather gear. I needed plenty of warm layers at the top but on the way up I got decidedly warmer than I was expecting.

This wasn’t my first time up Ditchling Beacon. About 8 years ago I took part in the London to Brighton bike ride. I didn’t enjoy Ditchling the first time around; there were thousands of people wobbling all over the road and after being brought to a halt one to many times I eventually gave up trying to get any forward momentum going and pushed my bike up most of the climb. I was quite gutted at the time at having to walk up such an iconic  climb so it was good to see that first thing on a Saturday morning I could enjoy a cyclist free hill. Whilst I was a bit slower than I hoped to be it was quite an easy climb. OK, so I huffed and puffed my way up it but the pedals were going round easily enough.

 

As I’d driven up to the car park at the top before riding to the bottom I passed two mountain bikers making their way up. One was flailing away in bottom gear and the other had been reduced to pushing his bike up. I was satisfied that I wasn’t quite as slow as them.

 

Apparently the South Downs are lovely and offer impressive views...

 

 

Bring on The Wall

From Ditchling Beacon I headed over to Forest Row and the ride up Kidds Hill, also known by the more sinister name of The Wall. The fog that had spoilt the view nearer the coast wasn’t present at Kidds Hill but the views from the car park at the top weren’t much to write home about. The climb itself wasn’t too long but having the steepest part of it stretched out in a straight line with all of the gradient on display was a bit off putting. I settled into my usual rhythm of starting gently to get warmed up and then eventually clicking my way down through the gears. It wasn’t a spectacular performance although I did have the pleasure of holding up a tractor that was unable to get past me because of the traffic going down the hill. I live in a rural area so I considered it payback for all the times I’ve been late for meetings.

Just as on Ditchling the cold conditions at the top of the climb were countered by milder conditions on the way up. The Wall is quite a sheltered climb and at the half way point my shades steamed up completely. As I was on the dead straight section of the climb at this point I considered it a bonus as it hid the gradient from me.

Once back at the car park at the top of the climb it was time to stick the bike back in the car, reset the sat nav and head over to the final climb I would be riding for 2012, Toys Hill. It transpired that Toys Hill wasn’t going to be childs play and I was rather glad after completing it that it was the 30^th and final climb of the year. That story can wait for another update. To be continued...

Quick Update - 30 climbs now complete

I’m waiting until I’ve edited the videos before posting a full update but this weekend I spent a night away in West Sussex so I could complete 4 of the remaining climbs and get my total up to 30 before I take a break for the winter.

On Friday afternoon, and racing the fading light I managed to bag Steyning Bostal. It was actually quite a nice climb and was quite straightforward to ride. I rode it after 4 ½ hours in the car and I was pretty pleased with how well it went. The climb reaches 17% in a couple of places but the steeper sections of gradient are essentially two steps and the sections of climb in between them were relatively easy going.

After a slightly disturbed night in a Travelodge outside Brighton (more details to follow with the full update) I spent the Saturday morning riding Ditchling Beacon, The Wall and Toys Hill. Ditchling Beacon was pretty foggy at the top but the climb was far less fearsome than I remember it from my London to Brighton ride a few years ago.

Ahh, the glamour of taking on the 100 Greatest Climbs; yet another Travelodge room and video editing to be done

The Wall was short, steep and over with fairly quickly. Nice little climb though, if a little daunting when you can see its entire length stretching out in front of you. After completing the Wall it was onto Toys Hill. My knee was starting to feel at its limits by the time I reached the final climb (tendonitis) and whilst I would like to be witty and say that Toys Hill was childs play I suffered on the final steep ramp up to the finish. Still, it is done and I am now 30% of the way through the 100 climbs. Time to rest my knee, get some solid training in and begin planning my spring campaign.

I’m busy editing the videos and should have them all done and uploaded by the weekend. I’ll make sure they are accompanied by a full write up. I don’t like the piecemeal way I’ve been doing the recent updates so words, pictures and videos will all be published together this time. Watch this space.

Jiggers Bank

This ride didn't go quite as planned. I had managed to schedule my ride up out of the Ironbridge Gorge on the same day that a 2 week road closure for road repairs started. I was able to ride the first part of the climb but just before the 10% gradient kicked in I had to change the route I followed.

In the 100 Climbs book Simon Warren mentions an alternative route out of the Gorge and I felt I should take that and avoid a wasted trip. It proved to be a much steeper route to take, although the gradient was only steep (about 17%) for a few hundred metres.

I've no doubt I'll be back in the Ironbridge area at some point next year but for now my alternative route will have to make do as ride number 26. On the positive side the weather was perfect and Ironbridge is an attractive place to suffer on an up hill bike ride.