LONGSTONE EDGE HILL CLIMB

Abbey – Wednesday the 5th of August 2020 in Derbyshire

On the Hill

We arrived at Great Longstone in the middle of the afternoon. When we got there we had to find the start place. Then we drove the course so I could understand where to go. We also found the road leading to the start line from the finish/sign-on area.

We drove the course a few times to get used to it. We stopped at a couple of places, I did a practice start and I also rode up the steepest section of the hill to get a feeling for it, and to know if my gears were right.

After waiting at the car park near the top of the hill for a few hours, we decided that I wouldn’t ride the full distance down to the start because it was a very long way to ride on open roads on my own. We stopped around a mile from the start, where I got out and rode to the start. I warmed up near the start on the closed road.

I was number 5, so I needed to be at the start-line quite early. I started at 18:35, but at the start I couldn’t get clipped in, although I had practiced lots. Around half way through the race I ran out of breath and I think it slowed me down a bit. I have sports induced Asthma. I did use my inhaler, but I still had breathing problems.

As I got further up the hill, some people who I did not know were shouting my name out, which made me go a little faster. I had never ridden the hill before, so it was not easy to know how much effort to put in or when to push harder. At the end I was so warn out, I couldn’t even sprint.

If I did it again, I think I would try to clip in a bit faster and try to sprint at the end no matter how much pain I was in. I would also understand it better and I would know where to push.

I really enjoyed this hill climb and it was a great experience.

I came 3rd in the under 16s/Juvenile female category. I am not really built for hill climbs, as I am really more muscular in my legs and more of a sprinter. Whereas most of the other competitors looked very light.

Female Juvenile U16 Results
Driving to the line.
Bumping into hikers asking about Abbeys Sponsors, Stonham Barns. Turned out they hadn’t come to see the race, they were just walking and came across it. They are from Woodbridge, nice surprise.
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