Training

Mark South said:

Around Cambridge, for example, there are a lot of short steep climbs.
There's also BLOODY, CURSED CHAPEL HILL (which I mention for those of you
who know it :-) which is steep and not short enough.

Bl**dy h*ll, that's not steep and its just up the road from me. Hasn't even
got one chevron in either direction

Tony

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mark South said:

Around Cambridge, for example, there are a lot of short steep climbs.
There's also BLOODY, CURSED CHAPEL HILL (which I mention for those of you
who know it :-) which is steep and not short enough.

Bl**dy h*ll, that's not steep and its just up the road from me. Hasn't even
got one chevron in either direction

Yes, but the lot I used to ride with always used to plan their routes so that we
went over it after the first 100 km or so :-)

Still, freewheeling down past the cement factory at 65 km/h always made up for
it to me ;-)
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

Mark South said:

Yes, but the lot I used to ride with always used to plan their routes so
that we went over it after the first 100 km or so :-)

Another factor for the hill steepness algorithm - distance cycled to get to it
;-)

Tony

On Mon, 31 May 2004 13:06:50 +0100, Gawnsoft

() said:

Or you could tell us about the steepest or most
sustained gradient you have round your way.

Steepest round my way? Baldwin St. at 38% or 1 in 2.66.
I've only managed about a third of it before the lungs give out.

Most sustained? Probably the road up Mt. Cargill, although Swampy
Summit is higher the road up it is more undulating.

Stopping to gawp at the scenery is a good excuse for taking a
breather. I've gawped at a helluva lot of scenery round here. :-)

Nice piece on the web about hills, including two mentioned here.
http://www.bikereader.com/BikeReader/contributors/Ainsley/hills.html

--
Matt K
Dunedin, NZ

On Mon, 31 May 2004 21:52:51 +0200, "Mark South"

() said:

"Whingin' Pom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

We have tracking headwinds round here. Not as malicious as the East
Anglian ones,though.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Matt K
Dunedin, NZ
Mountainous, with long Evil Hills.

Nobody forces you to live so close to Antarctica and so damn far from anyone
else. Bloody unsociable lot!

True. The bragging rights in a "steepest hill" contest are small
consolation for living round here.
Apart from the lack of traffic, stunning scenery and hospitable locals
which must be why the Kiwi gummint makes us wear PFDBs otherwise
everyone would be out on their bikes and no-one would get any work
done at all.

Oh, just to stop any envy, we had 60mph winds, torrential rain and a
max temp of 5C the other day. Not great cycling weather.
--
Matt K
Dunedin, NZ

Mark South said:

I presently live right between a whole lot of Alps and a whole lot of other
mountains. As I see it, there are two aspects to the issue. One is how steep
the climbs are that you encounter. Another is the length of the climbs that you
encounter.

Agreed... my first experience with hills on a bike was Denmark. I didn't
have a granny ring at the time (or anything appropriate for riding up hill
with full camping gear (except a horribly high level of rowing fitness)),
and my approach with those rolling hills was to zoom down one, use my
speed to get up the next, with a bit of sprinting at the end to get to the
top. Worked fine. The next year we went through the Ardennes and the
Vosges, I tried the same approach, only to find after sprinting to the
"top" that there was more hill around the corner...

Roos

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mark South said:

Yes, but the lot I used to ride with always used to plan their routes so
that we went over it after the first 100 km or so :-)

Another factor for the hill steepness algorithm - distance cycled to get to it
;-)

along those lines, it's been said that the question posed by the Ironman is "How
fast can you run a marathon when you start totally knackered?"
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

"Roos Eisma" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mark South said:

I presently live right between a whole lot of Alps and a whole lot of other
mountains. As I see it, there are two aspects to the issue. One is how

steep

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

the climbs are that you encounter. Another is the length of the climbs that

you

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

encounter.

Agreed... my first experience with hills on a bike was Denmark. I didn't
have a granny ring at the time (or anything appropriate for riding up hill
with full camping gear (except a horribly high level of rowing fitness)),
and my approach with those rolling hills was to zoom down one, use my
speed to get up the next, with a bit of sprinting at the end to get to the
top. Worked fine. The next year we went through the Ardennes and the
Vosges, I tried the same approach, only to find after sprinting to the
"top" that there was more hill around the corner...

I find it's much more mental effort to get up a hill when you can't get a
running start at it.

There are a lot of hills like that here. I find that on one of the city bikes I
have regular use for the 22x24 :-)
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

"Whingin' Pom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 31 May 2004 21:52:51 +0200, "Mark South"

() said:

"Whingin' Pom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

We have tracking headwinds round here. Not as malicious as the East
Anglian ones,though.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Matt K
Dunedin, NZ
Mountainous, with long Evil Hills.

Nobody forces you to live so close to Antarctica and so damn far from anyone
else. Bloody unsociable lot!

True. The bragging rights in a "steepest hill" contest are small
consolation for living round here.

That's what I thought :-)

Quoted message said:

Apart from the lack of traffic, stunning scenery and hospitable locals

Antarctica is even more so.

Quoted message said:

which must be why the Kiwi gummint makes us wear PFDBs otherwise
everyone would be out on their bikes and no-one would get any work
done at all.

I never heard of any work being done in NZ anyway....

Quoted message said:

Oh, just to stop any envy, we had 60mph winds, torrential rain and a
max temp of 5C the other day. Not great cycling weather.

In East Anglia, that IS great cycling weather. You just don't want to go out on
a bad day!
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen