Club Hill Climb Championship
October 7, 2016A few weeks ago an email had been circulated to our club by the secretary about the 41st Wigmore CC Hill climb, and so it came to pass that on Sunday 2nd October at 8am the usual meeting point I found myself waiting for Matthew Reuter the only other idiot taking on this challenge.
I was cold having (wrongly ) decided for the last time this year to wear bib shorts and top & mitts but we set off on the 31 miles trip to the venue at Hollingbourne just past Maidstone.
We made good time due to a tailwind and stopped off for a Costa coffee in Maidstone high street before arriving at the venue too early! Yes riders we had ridden 31 miles our legs were ready but we started to cool down & the acid was building in my legs. Matthew went off 45 minutes after we arrived fully fueled up by the consumption of a fruit salad on route.
I took off nearly 70 minutes after arriving and my legs were done before I started.It was a well organised and popular event with most of the 90 entrants turning up on what turned out to be a fine dry day. As I pushed up the hill I was pleasantly surprised by the crowds of riders on each side cheering on the riders this gave me a boost and made me try even harder.
I met Matthew at the top and after a free tea & some cake we waited for the results the first rider made it in 3.04 failing to take the £200 prize for 3 minutes or less.We then rode for home at a steady pace when Mathew had an idea to take a short cut to get off the A20 and avoid Wrotham hill – bad idea! As a few minutes later after 52 miles of riding & one hill climb we rode up Vigo hill. THANKS!
One last push for home coping with a slow puncture on the way but back safe and sound but very tired.
Why don’t you give it a try next year? It’s only 1350 yards of pain!!!
What were our times you ask ? Who will get the WKRC hill climb trophy at this year’s Xmas ball? Trevor aka Quintana 5 mins 11 sec and was the fastest vet in the 60-69 age group receiving £20 prize and Matthew aka Froome 4.32 who got £10 for being number 50 out of the 73 finishers!
Trevor