ESCA Hill Climb - Firle Beacon - 21/10/12

As no one has posted a Blog about this recent event I thought I would have a go at putting something down.

The morning started with fog, mist and a cold wind and the top of the Beacon was not a pretty sight. In fact you could not even see the top. The Road appeared to just stop in the sky.

 
However, a week in cycling is a long time and the weekend before was a completely different picture as the next photo shows as seen from Edwards camera phone.

Anyway, 33 hardy soles had entered in advance for this event but on the morning seven did not start for one reason or another. Two of which were Hastings riders namely Chris Watson and Joe Jenner. Not sure why Chris wasn't there but Joe wasn't feeling very well and it transpired that he had a urine infection so we will let him off. However, five Hastings riders lined up and because there were only 26 riders everyone managed to secure points for the club. Participating was:

Malcolm Daly              5:21.2
Simon Grogan             5:53.8
Mark Boorman           6:57.5
Edward Jenner            7:20.1
Chris Parker               7:29.6

Overall winner was Pete Tadros of Ingear with 3:49.0. Well done and congratulations to Pete

I'm afraid I only took a photo of Ed coming up as I didn't realise I was going to write up this entry otherwise I would have taken some more. As you can see there was a good crowd near the top to cheer on all the riders.

What is not widely known is what happened on the Beacon the weekend before. Both Edward and Joseph wanted to know why my Brompton was in the back of the car when I took them over to reacquaint themselves with the climb. The answer was that I was going to have a go as well on my Brompton. I was told I was mad and would not be able to do it 'on that thing'. Ignoring the laughter I descended the Beacon at a somewhat reasonable pace (as the Bromptons steering can be a bit twitchy at times) and I did not want to loose it. Anyway whilst the two young guns attacked the hill at a great rate of knots (with carbon fibre, lycra etc) I went for a warm up.

Then dressed in suitable Brompton attire (black shoes, jeans, shirt and Jacket) I started to climb the hill. The gears on the Brompton are of a good range and at my own pace I continued the climb. Must admit towards the end the breathing got somewhat heavy but the little wheels kept turning. And, much to the boys surprise I made it (just). Big smile on my face (after I got my breathe back) and my Bromptons street cred went up a notch or two. Photographic evidence below. The time of 13 mins was nowhere near Mr. Tadros but who cares, the little bike had an adventure and has now gone back to it's day job of commuting. I don't want the bike to worry too much but I haven't told it yet that I may ask it to try and get me up Battery Hill at some stage.