Hillclimb: second, or second last...

Simon Brooke said:

.................................... and that's not bad, I
think, for thirty three years older.

Not bad at all. Well done. I hope the winner feels suitably embarrassed
beating a person 33 years his senior by only 46 seconds. He should have
whipped your ass. I would expect he'd buy you a pint to say well done if
he was old enough !!

Simon Brooke said:

Did my first official hillclimb today. Off road, on rough track, and
actually one of my favourite training climbs so I knew it pretty well.
Only 200 metres vertically...

It's a bloody lonely discipline, hill climb! I started last, and I only
saw one other cyclist all the way up. Worse, I think, than time
trialling in that sense. And hard, hard, hard because the hill just
never lets up. I took the Mantra because it climbs well, but it was
having a problem staying in second gear so I was having to shift up to
third every time the hill eased a bit and then down again to first for
the next steepening. And the track deteriorates as the climb goes on,
the first eighty or so good, the next sixty or so through the wood very
rough and rocky, and the final forty or so over the moor both rough and
rocky and covered in four inches of mud and cow [censored].

By the time I came through the gate at the top of the wood my lungs felt
as if they could not give any more, but there's nothing to pace
yourself against - you can't see any other competitor to compare your
performance against - so you just have to keep on. And the horribly
slimy disgusting surface through the next two hairpins encourages you
not to stop - you _really_ would not want to put a foot down in that
stuff. My helmet felt horribly hot and tight on my head

Just as I was pulling out of the second hairpin, and out of the worst
part of the climb, a medium large raptor - a little smaller than a
buzzard, and with narrower wings almost entirely white on the
underside, but with black wingtip feathers - got up from the hillside
to one side of the track. I'm not certain but I think it may have been
an osprey (despite the habitat being entirely wrong) and if so that's a
first for me.

And after that the track was a little easier, not so steep, the mud
mostly not so deep, but I had no acceleration left. I made it up to
fourth gear out of twenty seven, up over a brow, finish in sight, give
it everything (which is embarrassingly not much), cross the line, gasp
for breath for several minutes.

Time: 19 minutes 46 seconds.
Winning time, by a sixteen year old whose been competing in Scottish
Championship mountain bike races all year, 19 minutes 0 seconds.
Which means I'm second, only 46 seconds adrift... and that's not bad, I
think, for thirty three years older. But the gloss comes off it a bit
in that there were only three finishers, and the third had made a wrong
turn and lost time.

Still, I feel pleased with myself.

Bit late in the season, isn't it? I thought most of them were at the
end of September!

Simon Brooke said:

Just as I was pulling out of the second hairpin, and out of the worst
part of the climb, a medium large raptor - a little smaller than a
buzzard, and with narrower wings almost entirely white on the
underside, but with black wingtip feathers - got up from the hillside
to one side of the track. I'm not certain but I think it may have been
an osprey (despite the habitat being entirely wrong) and if so that's a
first for me.

An osprey at this tme of year? I think not, they're all snug and warm
in Africa now. More likely to have been a hen harrier or goshawk.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

in message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

Just as I was pulling out of the second hairpin, and out of the worst
part of the climb, a medium large raptor - a little smaller than a
buzzard, and with narrower wings almost entirely white on the
underside, but with black wingtip feathers - got up from the hillside
to one side of the track. I'm not certain but I think it may have been
an osprey (despite the habitat being entirely wrong) and if so that's
a first for me.

An osprey at this tme of year? I think not, they're all snug and warm
in Africa now. More likely to have been a hen harrier or goshawk.

Not a Goshawk, I think, the underside of this bird was largely white
with the wings very noticeably white, with a black stripe-like mark and
black primaries. The pictures of Goshawks I can find are noticably
barred on the underside and seem to have pointed wingtips. This bird
has splayed primaries like a buzzard or eagle, but the wings noticeably
longer and narrower than either. I didn't get a good view of the back
(I was racing at the time) but I think it was a dark greyish brown.

Don't know about a hen harrier. Is there a good picture somewhere on the
Web?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

X-no-archive: No, I'm not *that* naive.

in message <[email hidden]>, MSeries

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

.................................... and that's not bad, I
think, for thirty three years older.

Not bad at all. Well done. I hope the winner feels suitably
embarrassed beating a person 33 years his senior by only 46 seconds.
He should have whipped your ass. I would expect he'd buy you a pint to
say well done if he was old enough !!

I was pleased. Mind you, it may be because the tougher people weren't
out today. Still, the lad who beat me has a reputation for being very
fast up hills so three quarters of a minute in nineteen minutes does
not feel bad.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

:: Wisdom is better than weapons of war ::
:: Ecclesiastes 9:18 ::

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

Just as I was pulling out of the second hairpin, and out of the worst
part of the climb, a medium large raptor - a little smaller than a
buzzard, and with narrower wings almost entirely white on the
underside, but with black wingtip feathers - got up from the hillside
to one side of the track. I'm not certain but I think it may have been
an osprey (despite the habitat being entirely wrong) and if so that's
a first for me.

An osprey at this tme of year? I think not, they're all snug and warm
in Africa now. More likely to have been a hen harrier or goshawk.

Not a Goshawk, I think, the underside of this bird was largely white
with the wings very noticeably white, with a black stripe-like mark and
black primaries. The pictures of Goshawks I can find are noticably
barred on the underside and seem to have pointed wingtips. This bird
has splayed primaries like a buzzard or eagle, but the wings noticeably
longer and narrower than either. I didn't get a good view of the back
(I was racing at the time) but I think it was a dark greyish brown.

Don't know about a hen harrier. Is there a good picture somewhere on the
Web?

Try <URL:http://www.homepages.mcb.net/wormwell/HH1.htm> - looks to me
as though it might fit the bill.

Apparently they have a wingspan of about 100cm - 120cm dependant on sex.

--
Andy Leighton => [email hidden]
"The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_

Simon Brooke said:

I was pleased. Mind you, it may be because the tougher people weren't
out today.

That doesn't detract from your achievement, you can only beat the other
competitors. Perhaps they you won the pyscological battle and scared
them off.

On 5/12/04 1:29 pm, in article
[email hidden], "Simon Brooke"

Quoted message said:

By the time I came through the gate at the top of the wood my lungs felt
as if they could not give any more, but there's nothing to pace
yourself against - you can't see any other competitor to compare your
performance against - so you just have to keep on.

This is why you need a HRM ;-) it gives you personalised pacing..

...d

In article <[email hidden]>,

Simon Brooke said:

never lets up. I took the Mantra because it climbs well, but it was
having a problem staying in second gear so I was having to shift up to
third every time the hill eased a bit and then down again to first for
the next steepening.

Heh. Reminds me of when I hired a bike in Oz, and did 19Km of unrelenting
uphill at a low gradient (but in hotter temperatures than I had ever
experienced before). The gradient needed a mid-range gear, but the middle
chainring was unusable, so I had to drop down and it became like 19Km steep.

Quoted message said:

stuff. My helmet felt horribly hot and tight on my head

Fortunately this was before Oz discovered concentrated-heatstroke.

Quoted message said:

Time: 19 minutes 46 seconds.
Winning time, by a sixteen year old whose been competing in Scottish
Championship mountain bike races all year, 19 minutes 0 seconds.
Which means I'm second, only 46 seconds adrift... and that's not bad, I
think, for thirty three years older. But the gloss comes off it a bit

Heh, congrats! I think I'd have taken a wrong turn on that, if only
to manufacture a feeble excuse for taking twice as long as you ....

--
Nick Kew

Simon Brooke vaguely muttered something like ...

Quoted message said:

Time: 19 minutes 46 seconds.
Winning time, by a sixteen year old whose been competing in Scottish
Championship mountain bike races all year, 19 minutes 0 seconds.
Which means I'm second, only 46 seconds adrift... and that's not bad, I
think, for thirty three years older.

Nice one, congratulations.

Quoted message said:

But the gloss comes off it a bit
in that there were only three finishers, and the third had made a wrong
turn and lost time.

Hey, you competed, you tried, and you did a creditable time. If more people
got off their arses and did something there'd be a shed load less whinging
going on. Enjoy your good fortune .. Glossy or not .. 😉

--
Paul ...
http://www.4x4prejudice.org/index.php
"A [censored] is a [censored], no matter what mode of transport they're using."
(8(|) Homer Rules !!!

http://www.ardice.com/Games/Video_Games/Adventure/Text_Adventures/Design_and_Development/Authoring_Systems/ADRIFT/

in message <[email hidden]>, Andy Leighton

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook

(') said:

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 13:29:53 +0000, Simon Brooke wrote:

>Just as I was pulling out of the second hairpin, and out of the
>worst part of the climb, a medium large raptor - a little smaller
>than a buzzard, and with narrower wings almost entirely white on the
>underside, but with black wingtip feathers - got up from the
>hillside to one side of the track. I'm not certain but I think it
>may have been an osprey (despite the habitat being entirely wrong)
>and if so that's a first for me.

An osprey at this tme of year? I think not, they're all snug and
warm in Africa now. More likely to have been a hen harrier or
goshawk.

Not a Goshawk, I think, the underside of this bird was largely white
with the wings very noticeably white, with a black stripe-like mark
and black primaries. The pictures of Goshawks I can find are
noticably barred on the underside and seem to have pointed wingtips.
This bird has splayed primaries like a buzzard or eagle, but the
wings noticeably longer and narrower than either. I didn't get a good
view of the back (I was racing at the time) but I think it was a dark
greyish brown.

Don't know about a hen harrier. Is there a good picture somewhere on
the Web?

Try <URL:http://www.homepages.mcb.net/wormwell/HH1.htm> - looks to me
as though it might fit the bill.

Yup, that could be it.

Quoted message said:

Apparently they have a wingspan of about 100cm - 120cm dependant on
sex.

That would be about right.