For professional bike riders, the end of September means the World Road Championships, Paris-Tours, Il Lombardia and then rest. On the domestic scene, though, things are just getting going for some. Out come the flyweight climbing experts and the funny-bikes engineered for ultra-low weight, for the hill-climb season is in full swing.
It’s a short but intense season, running more or less from the beginning of September and culminating in the National Championships which, this year, is to be held on Somerset‘s Porlock Hill in the South-West on Sunday 25 October.
Compared to the short, sharp efforts that often characterise the Nationals course, Porlock (the toll road rather than the steep main road) is a very different beast. A shallow rise over a four-mile distance means that it could pique the interest of power riders, while the usual hill-climb winners will have to adjust their approach.
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Reigning men’s champion Andrew Feather (HuntBikeWheels.com) tells Cycling Weekly that he has made “significant changes”, and has been working on a new approach all year.
“It’s really different for me this year because the Nationals is on a very shallow and pretty fast climb,” he says. “Typically on those climbs I’ve always not been very good because of my position – I’m always very upright, out of the saddle, and catch a lot of wind.
“I made a conscious decision really early in the year to really work on my position,” he adds. “So I’m now riding all the hill-climbs in the drops. I’ve extended my reach by six centimetres, I’ve dropped the whole of the front end of the bike by five centimetres. I’ve taken in handlebar width from 42 to 32 [cm]. So some pretty significant changes.”
Now riding an S-Works Tarmac – which he says is “really fast, and you know you’ve got the highest pedigree ride in terms of the WorldTour” – Feather has been targeting longer races this season, and his new approach seems to be paying off. So far this season Feather has won six out of six hill-climbs, including the three-mile Nebo Road Hill-Climb in Wales, and the 4.5-mile Great Dunn Fell event, which featured a gradient comparable to Porlock Hill. However, says Feather, it’s really all about the Nationals.
“I could win maybe all of the races until the Nationals and lose that one,” he says. “So yeah, I’d much rather it be the other way around.”
(Image credit: Andy Jones)
For three-time former hill-climb national champion and last year’s silver medallist Illi Gardner (Cardiff Ajax CC), the longer course presents a welcome change from the short and steep stuff. One of the best climbers in the world, not just the UK, she says she is “excited for the longer distance” and has already recce’d the climb.
“I think the only thing is that the wind could have a bit of an influence because it’s quite exposed at the top,” she tells Cycling Weekly. She adds: “I kind of just take the same approach to all of the [hill-climbs]. I’ve never got too into the equipment and aerodynamics. Although I should probably at least try to wear a skinsuit because in previous years I’ve definitely sacrificed a few unnecessary seconds just for not doing that.”
Gardner has not changed her approach at all this year, although her training has taken into account this weekend’s Everesting Championships in Sicily, where she will be defending her title. The Welshwoman has completed two Everesting Roam rides – an Everesting in which the same hill is never climbed twice – at around 200 miles each.
“I nearly quit many times,” she says, “I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to do many more of those.”
After this weekend’s Everesting champs, Gardner will shift focus on shorter hill-climb events and, she says, will race “quite a few more times” before the National Championships.
Porlock hill – the gruesome details
There are two ways up Porlock Hill, which overlooks the north Somerset coast. The original main road climb is famous for burning out the clutches and brakes of cars, as well as the thighs of cyclists. The toll road approach used by this year’s Hill-Climb Championships is a more civilised affair.
Running approximately parallel to the main road, the official stats clock in at 4.2 miles at an average gradient of 5.5%, numbers that sound more than manageable on paper but will no doubt see the riders as spent at the finish as any other Championships.
