The Hill Climb – or 6 minutes of hell

I spent the summer climbing more the equivalent of more than times the height of Everest riding the Tour de France one week ahead of the pros.  We took on Mont Ventoux twice in the same day (two vertical miles), with another mile of climbing over the 85 miles until we got there.  But that sort of climbing, whilst brutal and challenging on the legs doesn’t leave your lungs burning or a feeling of total emptiness.  The inter-club hill climb challenge, taking on both ascents of the Col du Neville Holt did leave me empty with lungs burning.

The riders

It was great to get to the usual start point at Sainsbury’s, a little earlier than normal, to meet some eager riders ready for the challenge.  A steady ride out through Ruston (testing the legs up the hill), Pipewell and Bringhurst brought us to the village hall at Medbourne for signing up.  Unforeseen circumstances the day before and the morning of the ride meant we were without four of our “guaranteed” point scorers and I was a little worried but my spirits lifted when I saw Josh Brown ready to ride.

The valiant riders for Kettering were:

·       Josh Brown
·       Steve Webster
·       Iain Callaghan
·       Cyril Burgess
·       Eddie Smith
·       Eddie Hennah
·       Andrew Brown
·       Scott Barber
·       Haythem Rashed
·       Lucas Buksh
·       Lucasz Adamczyk
·       Me – Andy Parker

The result

I was delighted to find that Josh Brown topped the pile at the end of the event with combined time of 4 minutes 22 seconds but a really strong showing from Welland Valley decided the destination of the trophy.  Still a cup of tea and a few biscuits and a bacon roll for the carnivores at Medbourne village hall put a bit of life back into the legs for a decent ride home.