Castlemaine CC Hill Climb TT - Mt Alexander, Sept 17th 2011.

On Saturday Von, Stephen Lane, and I headed out to test our 'riding skyward' form on the 5km 7% climb of Mt Alexander with Castlemaine CC. It had been a while since I'd been up a hill that climbed for more than a few kms, so we were out there early and did a recon lap, scoping out the course - where it kicked up, corners, and the location of the finish. Even with minimal event promotion there were still around 20 riders lining up to set a time up the climb.

I've been putting out good power on flat and rolling TTs, this would be a good chance to see how the power was on the road bike when it was pointed upwards. It'd also be a good test against an old TT rival, and new team mate, Stephen Lane. He is 8kgs lighter than me and is at home in the hills. We'd done a rough calculation and I'd need to be putting out 40W more than him for a similar time (discounting a whole lot of other variables). The challenge was on!

Castlemaine CC had issued me #1 and had me starting last - chasing everyone. The first km was the fastest part of the course, so I saved the legs and effort until the road really kicked up. Just as it did I passed someone's lunch they'd painted the road with. We weren't racing for sheep stations, but it was worth enough for someone to lose their lunch over. (top effort whoever it was!). The power numbers were surprisingly good at the halfway mark where I started catching riders. Anyone I passed could hear me coming as I was breathing like a wounded animal, it didn't sound pretty but it was doing the job. Right turn at the top, all out to the line. 399W average for 15:37. Close enough to 400, so I'll round it up and claim to have finally cracked that one! Lane in 2nd place only 56 seconds down, HCC club mate Paul Ambry in 4th place with a new 20min power PB, and Von 1st woman and 6th overall.

Seniors Results:
1st Shane Miller       15.37
2nd Stephen Lane       16.34    
3rd Paul Maltby        17.38
4th Paul Ambry         20.35
5th Luke Daly          21.37
6th Veronica Micich    23.15     
7th Christian DeVrieze 23.20     
8th Ian Revell         23.25    
9th Shirley Amy        24.43     
10th Daniel Jackson    28.24   
11th Emma Waldron      29.41  
12th Derek DeVrieze    34.05

Full Results and Castlemaine CC write up: Here

Thanks to Castlemaine CC for running the event. A great course to test ourselves, welcoming visiting riders, $6 entry fee, portable toilet provided, friendly officials, and accurate timing. The weather was a bonus - plenty of sunshine and just a touch of wind.

Still so much to improve on, so I'm back to working on the building blocks to keep those numbers jumping. Final lab 1hr lab session coming up this week, then a 100km epic hilly road race this Sunday with Blackburn, followed by a TT up the 1:20 the following week..... Always something to keep training for!