Hollingbourne Hill Climb – A Riders View
October 24, 2013
30 seconds. Ooops better clip both feet in.
10 seconds. Concentrate. Everything in place. A few deep breaths (saw Chris Hoy do that. He seems to know what he’s doing.)
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Away.
Little stand to get up the pace and then settle back down into the saddle. It’s not too steep at the start and the places to get out of the saddle have already been noted. Legs were probably warm enough and are now starting to get sore, feeling the strain and pain in my thighs and calves.
Am I going too hard too early? Probably ease of a little whilst thinking about that but then concentrate and keep pushing through all the while feeling the resistance of the road coming back up through the wheels, frame, crank, pedals and into the legs. The legs. Having to weave around potholes and poor surface. Don’t want to feel those.
Then the corners come and time to get out the saddle. The pain eases as the transition from sitting to standing takes place, only for a short but appreciated amount of time. Then worse than before, calves ache, thighs burn, heart and lungs working hard. Real hard. Up, up, up. On, on, on. Someone calls out my name, the crowds start to cheer, trying not to look, but it’s nice. Encouragement is everything. My head responds but my legs know it means I’m at the steepest part.
No time to think, to suffer, just keep on digging. The hill eases of and I sit back down. Shit, can’t keep cadence and so it’s back up to dig away again until it’s the right time to sit back down. Hill eases right of and I spin away and think about changing up. Realise it’s better to concentrate on keeping the legs going as fast as possible and not risk a gear change. Then the line comes, it’s over.
Now the real pain begins.
Matt