Oxford/Cambridge/BUCS Hill Climbs, 21 Oct-5 Nov 2023

Oxford Uni CC Hill Climb - 21 Oct

Oxford Hill Climb is one of my favourites of the season as it’s a nice chance to visit home roads during university term. The early start is always a little painful but the team made up for it with ‘good’ chat and general excitement for the day out. The climb is 1.77km, with an average of 5.4%, max of 11%.

Once again it was a cold and wet start. I had a chance to recce the course a couple of times, and had raced it the year before, so I felt well prepared on the start line. I feel the race was well paced and I went as hard as I felt I could on the day but I was a little disappointed to miss out on the podium by a second. I had also hoped to go sub 5 but put in a 5:01. A strong result nonetheless but I didn’t quite meet my self expectations. Although considering the very disrupted summer and lack of consistent training in the lead up to this race I really can’t be too disappointed! 

Cambridge Uni CC Hill Climb - 29 Oct

If I thought Oxford Hill Climb was wet, CUCC hill climb put it to shame. It was an absolutely lovely day until the torrential rain which happened to coincide with when I was ‘warming up’ and racing. Given the conditions the goal of the warm up was just to try and get warm, or more accurately not get too cold. I think I just about managed this, or at least looked warmer than most when I rolled up to the start line. 

The CUCC hill climb is raced up the staggering heights of Gog Magog just outside of Cambridge. It's not typically what people think of when they think of a hill. There is an elevation gain of 39m in just under a km with an average gradient of 4.2%. I feel as though I paced the climb well, though I probably could have pushed a little harder on the second ‘kick’ as I always think the end is further away than it actually is. 

I was pleased to come away with my first hill climb win. The women’s field was pretty small but, as Tim says you can only race against who turns up! Coming mid-pack in the men’s side was a good result, though I would have liked to have gone sub 2. Overall, it was a good race, and proof that I shouldn’t have put it off for 4 years for fear of being the weakest there. 

BUCS Hill Climb - 5 Nov

BUCS Hill Climb is always a great event as they put the women’s race in the afternoon so the atmosphere when you are racing is always amazing. Unfortunately in the week leading up to BUCS I was quite under the weather (two previous weekends racing in the pouring rain didn’t seem to help), so I wasn’t feeling in the best form for the race. My body definitely reflected this sentiment as the warm up felt very hard for something that should have been relatively easy (and the HR data definitely showed it). 

It was pouring with rain during my warm up. I warmed up on the turbo to try and stay warm but as the race was about 5 km from HQ I inevitably got quite cold on the ride over. My goal going into this event was to put in a better power and get a better result than last year. In the end my power for the overall race was lower than last year which was a shame but what I did have was used much better. The race was relatively well paced, though I’m still trying to work out if having power data on my screen whilst I’m racing works for me. In the end I put in as much effort as I could on the day and ended up with a top 20 and a faster time than last year despite the worse conditions and power. This race season just goes to show that experience does matter in these situations! Though I’ve enjoyed hill climb season I am looking forward to some winter base miles, training camp in spain and then TT season.

Maddie Angwin