Catford CC Hillclimb

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catford cc hillclimb hill climb

The classic Catford CC Hillclimb (held on Yorks Hill near Sevenoaks Kent, Sunday 21st October 2007) is the oldest cycle race in the world. It was first run on the then unmade road of Westerham Hill on August 20th 1887 and won by S.F.Edge of the Anerley B.C. (later to join the Catford), riding a newfangled chain driven ?safety bicycle?. Yorks Hill averages 12.5% but has two killer stretches of 1 in 4.

A small bunch of lfgss riders headed from Borough Tube down to this race where one of our own, “BMMF” was racing. brett and myself were being soft and riding geared road bikes, brett as he’d just built his and me because I’ve not ridden it for two months and it was starting to collect dust. Also with us riding fixed was Stompy, Lucky7, fatboyralph and jonny. Did I forget someone? Probably. It was great! Weather was nice and the hills were steep. Poor buggers on fixed had to put up with me getting all excited about riding up and down hills again.. hit 80kph down Westerham Hill after slogging up a rather steep incline towards Biggin Hill Airport (me ‘orse!). The ride out from Ealing to Borough and Kents Hill was 62k and took us 2:50 with a few stops to check brett’s faultless directions, catch breath, drop roadies, etc.

At the ride spotted more lfgss dudes: Roberto, wayne_f14, Bring Me My Fix (who raced and was the fastest fixed of the day), Mouse, winston. Again names slipping from memory’s grasp. Talked a lot of bike guff and watched some poor riders suffering up the hill. We were about 30m from the top and watched some riders limp to the finish, while others didn’t seem to be struggling at all and practically flew up. The crowd was great, lining the road, shouting support at the riders or things like “put it up a gear!!!” ๐Ÿ™‚

wayne's pic of bmmf climbing yorks hill

Image: wayne_f14’s pic of BMMF climbing Yorks Hill

The ride home was a bit of a slog but good fun with gears (ooh sacrilege!) as I could finally use the big ring and get some real pace on. On the way back called into the Rapha sale/Rapha photo exhibition at Host Gallery on Old St. I bought a pair of their Fixed shorts for ?30. Cheaper than a pair of Endura 3/4s so I figured what the hell?! Arrived home knackered but happy as fsck! I like riding.

Catford CC Hill Climb HRM graph

Image: My HRM graph for the ride out to Yorks Hill

lfgss catford hillclimb thread with pics, etc.

my crappy phone-cam pics

Cycle Parking St Pancras.. or is there? November 14th Protest

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st pancras abysmal cycle parking

Eurostar moves to the new St Pancras International station on 14 November. But provision for people cycling is abysmal. Come join us at the official opening to demand decent parking, safe access and carriage of cycles. Read on..

camdencyclists.org.uk – eurostar demonstration

Given my recent loss of bike parking at work and my subsequent scramble to build up a beater bike that I don’t mind having stolen from Liverpool St. station, this parking bullsh1t needs attention!

Ouch.. Turbo Torture..

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turbo trainer mag trainer

That was the worst indoor training session ever! Willesden CC have started their turbo sessions again. Now, if it was an evil hard session it wouldn’t be so bad, unfortunately it was the ‘worst session ever’ because I couldn’t fscking do it!

2 months of liver abuse while off the road bike has apparently left me very, very unfit! Started okay but pretty soon I was hanging over the bars on an express train to Vomit City while others were madly sprinting away.. Fsck! That’s it.. riding is going up, drinking going down!

In other news my work have removed my secure bike lockup so I’ve now got to build up a beater to lock outside.. due to some Londoners being thieving scum. Sonofafsckingbitch!

I already have the Armstrong frame..