Hey, was just wondering if there were any other users building up to the start of the hillclimb season in a few weeks?
I qualified for the national hc last year (and then was on my arse for a month with glandular fever before it) and am hoping to have a tilt at a few this year again.
Two questions:
What sort of training plan are you following? What’s the craziest bike mod you’ve made to save weight and what have you got down to?
Hey, I also raced the national last year. I’m not currently using TR mainly because I have not been doing anything specific but now about to build for my next HC on the 15th September. To be honest, I’ll just be doing my own thing this year as I don’t think the the intervals need to be complicated and I will just put my training together myself.
My bike was 7.2kg last year, I’m hoping to try and drop that by 1kg with some simple mods.
I was hoping to do my first Hillclimb season this year but have had to have surgery and am hoping to be back on the trainer next week and I’ll see where I stand.
I’m 198cm and 80kg, so I’m not exactly aiming to be a champion, but have always found the atmosphere to be great (and do live a slice of cake), so thought it’d be a bit of fun.
I’ve had a look around the forums, but TrainerRoad doesn’t seem to have anything specific for it, having said that Chad did make some suggestions about building your own plan which should help:
Will be my second season doing some hill climbs, mainly for a bit of a change and some fun at the end of the road season. At 75kg, I’m unlikely to be near the top end of many events too soon, and budget means the HC bike will be my road bike without bottle cages on 
I’m currently trying to get through MV Short Power Build, mainly because I’ve really felt (and seen the numbers) that my fitness has tailed off quite significantly through a season without enough structured training and/or breaks. Having mainly been sustained power focused since last winter, if anything its nice to have different sorts of workouts to do - even if you have to swallow your ego a bit, and drop the FTP to the level its fallen!
I’ll probably largely stick with this, though I might swap out the race simulation/float workouts (e.g. Pierce/Whiteface) for outdoor hill climb practice sessions.
These would be going out to hills that are about the length of those of my main events (in my case, 2-3 mins), and going pretty much full gas up them as ‘race’ simulation, then giving myself long recoveries in between to be as fresh as possible by the next one.
Tbh I think one or two indoor Vo2 type sessions, plus the above ‘outdoor’ practice is a solid enough basis. If you ride hard up a lot of hills, you won’t be badly placed (especially if your fitness is still decent off the back end of the road season).
If you’re focusing on shorter “southern” hill climbs - like me - then that outdoor practice is pretty important for getting your anaerobic snap going, and learning what it feels like to put the power out up a hill (as I’m writing this, I’m realising a bit of sprint-style work should probably go on my plan!)
I did the Catford / Bec hill climb combo 2 years ago and really enjoyed the experience. This year it’s just my club’s hill climb - although it’s on the same course as the Bec HC anyway!
Lots of vo2, some anaerobic workouts for snap from 3-4 weeks out, and a good week of mostly easy riding to make sure you’re fresh.
Except this year I’m going to Gran Canaria immediately before the hill climb, so I’ll have (a) done way too much riding, and (b) eaten way too much at the hotel buffet.
I started a new base phase about six weeks back, am going to get through half a short power build and do a few weeks mixing short and longer VO2 efforts before my first event.
Weight has come down to 66kg now, hopefully lose a bit more before mid September.
Currently planning to take the bar tape off as well as the bottle cages and have just made the switch from Shimano to Time pedals. Bar tape, pedals and cages should be about 400g total saved, enough to get me under 8kg I think. Have a single chainring crankset I can install to save another 150g if I’m really desperate haha
I moved house a couple of months ago, but until then lived less than a 10 minute ride from this years National Championships course. Definitely focusing on southern climbs, but having spent so much time living at the foot of Dartmoor, snappy isn’t really my speciality.
Hmm. Not far from me…when is it, what’s the entry criteria?
Hi Joe, it’s a Cycling Time Trials club event (Type B), on 12 October. Sign on usually from 1000 at the top of White Lane, first rider off 1045.
This means it’s open to guest riders, who must be a member of a CTT-affiliated club. We charge guests £5 to cover the CTT levy.
Note that it’s not closed roads, so although we try to discourage drivers from using the road, we can’t legally stop them. So if you want to do the same course on closed roads (and with noisy spectators), you’re better off entering the Bec CC open hill climb event which I think is the next day.
I’ve done 3 hill climbs so far this year. Long Hill where I grabbed 3rd, only beaten by TT bikes which was the faster setup. Then I got 9th at Bradfield and then 7th yesterday at Bolsover.
Not been a good 10 days though as I’ve had tight calves and a sciatica which limited my training last week, hoping the next 10 days will be good before one of my target events (Hardwick) on the 15th,
I’ve been doing some all out 60s efforts with power PB’s coming each session. Each week I plan now to keep those up and throw in some longer 5-10 minute repeats. I will intersperse that with an easy ride and a 3 hour ride when not racing that weekend.