Some racers optimise their bikes to the hilt for the British National Hill Climb Championships, cutting every surplus gram from the frame and components for courses that generally reward the lowest possible watts per kilo.
This year’s venue, Porlock Toll Road, was a little different. The Alpine-style Somerset ascent averages 5.5% for 6.6km (4.1mi), so it put less emphasis on weight and more on aerodynamics than usual. A strong headwind in the closing kilometres even encouraged some riders to ride time trial bikes, aero bikes and deep-section wheels, as you can see in our bike tech gallery.
But often, the best climbers don’t seem to worry much about their bikes. Instead, they let their legs and lungs do the work, just like Ezra Bateman did. The 16-year-old from Scarborough won the junior boys’ title and recorded the day’s fastest time of 14:31:08, fractions of a second quicker than senior men’s champion Ed Laverack and runner-up Andrew Feather.
Latest Videos FromCycling Weekly
This result followed a season of spectacular hill climbing results for the Decathlon CMA CGM U19 rider. He came within seconds of beating now double national champion Laverack on Snake Pass and matched 2021 champion Tom Bell’s course record on Prospect Hill. During his road season, he competed at prestigious races such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Cycling Weekly’s photographer was on the ground in Porlock to photograph Bateman’s team-issue Van Rysel RCR-R Pro.
(Image credit: Mark James)
The RCR-R Pro is currently Van Rysel’s lightweight climbing bike, although we expect it will soon be replaced by the more aerodynamic-looking prototype Paul Seixas raced at the Tour de France.
Bateman’s dad Jon told us this SRAM Force AXS build weighs 6.9kg. Not bad for a pretty-much stock bike, minus the bottle cages.
(Image credit: Mark James)
Bateman didn’t switch to a single chainring, as many competitors did, to save weight and receive a small aero bonus. Instead, he chose pro-size 54/41T SRAM Force chainrings with an integrated power meter. In a post-race interview with Monument HQ, he refused to disclose his power data, presumably following team orders.
(Image credit: Mark James)
At the back he’s running what is probably a 10-33T cassette, and might have needed that largest sprocket if he stayed in the huge 54T big ring.
(Image credit: Mark James)
This wheel and tyre combo is also stock. The 50mm-deep Swiss Side Hadron rims would have reduced drag at his 27km/h average speed – the wheels were paired with Continental GP5000 S TR rubber. Had the course not been wet and strewn with storm debris, it might have been tempting to ride the GP5000 TT TRs, but Bateman didn’t need their lower rolling resistance.
