Kingston Hill - Training

 Kingston Hill - Training.

More good weather and a chance for a longer ride.

I'm intrigued by Everesting, which is to cycle up and down a particular hill as many times as it takes to equal the ascent of Everest. It's nearly nine thousand metres  - 8848m to be precise.

Finding the right hill is important. If it is very steep, you do not have to ride up it as often. If it is shallow, then the miles will be longer. Perusing the Hall of Fame shows a large variation - from 200km to 400km.  All the ascents have to be done in one riding session, and 400km in a single day is a pretty big feat in itself, even without any hills.

I do not think I could actually do it. But if challenges were easy why would they be called challenges?

I'm intrigued enough to start work on it, to test the water so to speak, and my first idea was to go and find a particularly popular hill and see how it feels.

Kingston Hill is nowhere near Kingston, being in the Chilterns near Stokenchurch. It's less than two hours from my house and I checked the maps and headed over. The climb is around 1.3km in length, and 110m of climbing which makes an average gradient of 8.5%. 

It was a hot day, and I climbed a fair amount before I got there. My idea wasn't to try to go up fast, but to see how it would feel with already tired legs.

I arrived at the top and cycled down to look for the start point. My first impressions of going down were that I needed to brake quite a bit. I was unsure of the road surface, and the corners. I didn't fancy it in the dark or if I was very tired. (subsequent descents went better as I got used to it - I didn't brake at all on the final one and caught a car which was being more cautious than I was).

When I reached the flat at the bottom I went too far - there is a long straight section and I went all the way to Chinnor Road, about 0.5k too far. I turned back. My Garmin bike computer was already complaining anyway - as I'd programmed the climb, and it had also detected the climb from my course map, and wanted to start the segment.

1st ascent. It starts easy, 5%, 7%, 8.5%. Then there is a sustained harder section. My Garmin was telling me 18%, and though I did have to stand on the pedals a few times, I know it was only 12.5%. This is still pretty hard. Things ease off eventually. There is a corner at the top where the 'official' climb finishes, but I went a bit further and stopped for a drink. 

2nd go. Back down again, faster this time, I found the start point more easily, and a small place to turn my bike just beyond it. Even though the sun was strong, this climb goes up through trees and is completely shaded once the gradient really kicks in. It is hard work. The road surface is fairly good, but my front wheel hit one of the few potholes, and as my speed is so low I wobble a little. There are not many vehicles, but I was overtaken at that precise moment, and so couldn't pull out to avoid the hole.

3rd and final attempt. Really fast down this time. (times went 1:49, 1:43 and 1:40 for the steep part of the descent). I had already decided this would be the last, so I pushed a little harder. I'd seen someone cycling up as I went down and vainly thought about chasing them. This also made me think that maybe Everesting would be easier and more fun (and more likely to succeed) as a team effort. I did go up a little faster, and got my heart rate to a new record!

My three times were 6:52, 7:00 and 6:46. (I climbed here once before, back in 2018 and did 6:49 - so my final effort was a new record for me. These are not fast times, and all were done on tired legs.

So why only three ascents? I decided it is just too steep in that middle section. My bike's gearing is already pretty good for hills ( I had it 'upgraded' to do Hardknott Pass) and I couldn't sit the whole way up. My current thinking is that if cycling for say 15 hours, I'd prefer to be able to stay sitting, only maybe being forced out of the saddle for very short sections. So I eliminated this hill fromm any possible Everesting attempt. The descent is also a bit too fast. I can see complacency and tiredness causing a fall.

I was hot and drinking far too much of my water so decided to turn back for home, another 2 hours ride away. I did run out of water, and get very hot and tired because of that.

I've almost completely decided against Everesting in general now. Almost. I will look for other hills. It would mean a whole day cycling the same place, maybe a bit boring Even if I never do it, the training is great anyway :-)

   

Box Hill Gravel - Solo Ride

 Box Hill Gravel - Solo Ride

This post is just some musings on a ride I did at the weekend by myself.

Saturday weather was fine, and I fancied doing a longer gravel ride. I decided Box Hill was a worthy destination and got to planning. 

I tried the Komoot app on my phone, and then because I was having some difficulties downloading to my Garmin from there (I could have done it, but extra faff) I tried the Strava website instead and it calculated  pretty much the same route as far as I could tell. It was just a case of a simple point and click on start and end points and I had about 100k of riding.

Interestingly, the return leg is completely different, and did not look as interesting, with a lot more road sections. However, I prefer a circle to an out-and-back, so I went with it.

I am still not really used to the Garmin 1030+ bike computer I have, and I spend quite a lot of time arguing with it. I started following it to Swinley Forest - and I know the best way there for off-road - but my route was different. No worries, I just followed the Garmin.

But once inside the forest (where I entered by the wrong gate), the Garmin threw a wobbly and did a complete reroute trying to send me out to the dual carriageway. I ignored this, tried to start the routeing again and eventually gave up and started riding what I thought was the right way. As usual, I got lost, and went around in circles for a while. Eventually I persuaded the computer to give me a proper route, and made it to the exit near Bagshot. I lost about 30 minutes, but I guess it was fun in the forest.

Followed some roads, a little gravel past an MOD training area, and then went down some steps at Deepcut onto a canal. I've never been here or even heard of the Basingstoke Canal. This was a revelation really. Peaceful and almost deserted, 4km track by the canal passing multiple lock gates. I'll be back here for a walk.

Basingstoke Canal

There were a lot of roads after this, then I arrived in Guildford. I usually struggle through the town on a bike getting stuck in busy traffic. Even this route started with some dodgy dual-carriageway, but then I was onto a nice path by the River Wey. After crossing into the town I was routed up some quiet, and very steep streets - that's Guildford for you. I emerged from the town at Pewley Down - another new place - it has terrific views but I was late and not stopping. Probably the best riding section of the day was here, through some forest and quiet roads with little elevation, past Newlands Corner (not stopping again) , Denbies Hillside and a steep descent into Dorking.

I know the cycle path to the bottom of Zig-Zag hill well, but then rather than take the road up, my route was the more direct and steeper flint strewn path. I struggled on this. The vibrations, and the narrowness, threatened to knock my front wheel over the left edge. I was tired, and hot, and didn't fancy falling, so I walked some of it.

About four hours after setting off, I was finally at Box Hill - and sat down to enjoy the view and to eat my snacks.

View from Box Hill

Robert at Box Hill

I took the main road back down - faster, and no gravel, so less likely to cause me an accident.

Quickly I was diverted off road again near Mickleham, and into my least favourite part. Although it was nice to be off road and in woods, there were very rocky/flinty paths, and lots of ups and downs. It was hard work. 

I went over the M25 - I always like to take a photo on motorway bridges for some reason.

Bike on bridge over M25

Down then through a town (Ashstead) and then onto some flatter paths. Then - disaster. I hit something on the track, and heard an ominous pfttfuufff sound. Fearing the worst, I stopped and felt the pressure on my rear tyre. I wasn't great. A few seconds later, there was none. My first MTB puncture in about 10 years.

At least it was warm and sunny. I had a spare tube and slowly and carefully replaced the old one. All in all I took about 25 minutes, but it is best to take time and get it right - mistakes can damage your new tube, and I had just the one spare, and no puncture repair kit. Only five cyclists, in three groups passed me in this time. Two of the groups, one being a young woman riding solo, stopped to ask if I was OK and had everything I needed.

There was a little climb on Ashtead Common - on a very grassy track, some nice paths, and a strange bit of field at Arbrook Common. Then I was in Esher, and the last section of the route was all on roads.

By now I had run out of my 750ml drink, and my two cereal bars and my banana. I looked for food. I stopped at a Nisa just outside Walton and bought a can of coke, a scotch egg and a big bag of Hula Hoops (this was enough to get me home - well, that and a few more Jelly Babies)

The next hour was boring - Chertsey, Virginia Water and Ascot - all roads I know very well, but slow as I was on my knobbly tyres. I could see better off-road options in places - I will try and do a better route for the future.

It was a long but enjoyable day. 

• I found a lot of new places - and will be back to explore on foot
• I had no problems with fitness (though never pushed it really)
• I have no injuries which slow me down
• I tested my MTB puncture repair in the wild and passed - my pump is very small, quite slow to inflate, but really does the job well. 
• Learned more about the quirks of my Garmin 1030+. I need to master this. It's battery life is good, after 7.5 hours it only went down to about 64%

Actual Ride here on Strava