Bolsover & District CC Hill Climb, 11 Oct 2020

My first open hill climb of the season (after our club one in Sept) and the only one leading up to the Nationals (which I was surprised to get into frankly, especially with the larger women’s entry which we have been a small part in promoting). My original plan was to ride two Peak District hill climbs in the weekend, and stay overnight, but I decided in the current climate not to do this. Ironically the one I therefore skipped was the now-infamous one which has been the subject of some serious controversy around equal prize money (or not).

The race I started had equal prize money, but this was never going to be an issue for me! It was a lovely day for a (roughly) 4 minute climb up a quite tricky hill near Chesterfield. The hill starts off flat (even slightly downhill) - ideal when you don’t have someone to hold you up at the start - and then heads up with at least 4 or 5 changes in gradient before a final steep pitch up round a bend to the finish. I have never ridden the hill before and there was no opportunity to ride it beforehand, other than on the way down to the start. I did my best to remember the significant parts on the way down. I had a decent long warmup and my legs felt a lot better by the time I was ready to start than they had that morning.

I set off from the start and paced it reasonably well - just would have liked a few more watts everywhere. I had in mind a 4 minute time and got 4.15, which ended up making me quite slow, especially as there were favourable conditions and lots of PBs (including the women’s course record which was smashed!). So I came nowhere, but that’s life - it could have been worse and I enjoyed it other than seeing the results!

Tim Phillips

Larry Hickmott for VeloUK.net