CUCC Hill Climb Championship 2018

Posted on 5th November 20185th November 2018

Following the successful revival of the CUCC Hill Climb Championships in 2017, on 4th November 2018 we once again headed to the much-feared Gog Magog for the 2018 Championships – 900m at 4.2% & reaching the heady heights of 67, one of the few ‘climbs’ we’re blessed with in Cambridgeshire. Additionally, this year saw the event move up to be a CTT Open event and occupy the prestigious spot as the last hill climb of the season!

CUCC member Felix Barker storming up the hill to take victory

Fortunately, unlike last year, we were blessed with a fine November afternoon for a bike race, and 38 riders readied themselves to scale the climb (some even considering it warm enough for a dip in the deep puddles near sign-on!).

Mathilde Pauls (Sigmasport) stormed to victory in the women’s event in 2-05, with Elspeth Grace (Cambridge University CC) not far behind with 2-15 and Marilou Boddé (Cambridge Triathlon Club) rounding out the women’s podium with a 2-32. Sadly CUCC women’s captain and last years winner, Ffion James, was unable to attend and defend her title, with the European Cyclocross Championships taking precedence (who’d have thought it!).

CUCC member Tom Simpson giving it everything

In the men’s event, Felix Barker (Cambridge University CC) clinched victory by the narrowest of margins over teammate Seb Dickson (Cambridge University CC), with them posting 1-36 and 1-37 respectively (No doubt a rematch will be had on CUCC’s training camp in January!). Promising fresher Isaac Brown (VC Londres) then claimed third a further 5 seconds back on Dickson and only one second ahead of 4th place!
Unfortunately, CUCC Treasurer Ben Ferris was unable to reproduce the blistering form that saw him claim the win in CUCC’s town bike hill-climb up Castle Hill last Monday, just sneaking inside the top 15 with 1-57.

A big congratulations to all riders who closed out the season’s racing today, especially to those who made their racing debuts! Our thanks go to Matthew Bond and Max Vesty for their impeccable organisation of this year’s event.

More photos are available here, and full results on the CTT website.

BUCS Team Time Trial Race Report

Posted on 16th April 201817th April 2018

Cambridge had a successful day at the BUCS TTT, with the Men’s A team winning with a new course record and the Men’s B and Women’s A teams both placing third and setting times that would have seen them win previous events. Read on for a race report by Ali Golby.

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BUCS Hill Climb Results, Report and Photos

Posted on 30th October 201730th October 2017

After missing last year’s event in Stirling (lovely spot, a very long way from Cambridge), CUCC were back with a strong presence in 2017. The race was held on October 28th on Pea Royd Lane in Stocksbridge near Sheffield, a steep sub-3 minute climb that was used (in a 400m longer format) for the 2014 Nationals. The women were first up, with President Jess Atkinson coming in 14th and Carrie Bedingfield following in 17th in a competitive field. Felix Barker (8th), Seb Dickson (13th) and Rob Walker (17th) made up the Cambridge men’s team who placed second on the day, while Tom Simpson had their backs in 18th. Toby Cowell was 36th, Luke Fisher 59th, fresher Jack Brown managed 70th despite having his start botched and Seán Irving was 83rd. Full results can be found below.

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BUCS Road Race Results

Posted on 21st May 201715th February 2018

The Women’s Race

The women’s race started at 10am, so Jess and Lottie chose to drive up to York on the Friday night rather than have a 5am start and 3 hour drive pre-race on the Saturday. A course recce on the Saturday morning was rather eye-opening as it had a series of short, steep climbs ramping up to 18% at points. This was to be Lottie’s second ever road race (the first being BUCS RR in 2015), but Jess has a lot of road race experience spanning seven years and this was one of the hardest courses she’d seen. The plan was to stick in the bunch as long as possible and make a call at the end if they were still at the head of the race.

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BUCS TTT Results

Posted on 21st May 201715th February 2018

The Men’s Race
First up on the day were the Men’s B team, hot off the disappointment of BUCS ruling them ineligible to receive a (silver) medal at either the BUCS 10 or BUCS 25. Team time trialling is a difficult discipline at the best of times, but the lumpy course near bath provides a few extra challenges with some tight corners and puncture-inducing potholes thrown in for good measure. Riders Ali Golby, Oli Mytton and Rob Walker had got in a small amount of practice together beforehand, which paid off with a level headed and well controlled ride.

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BUCS 25 and Varsity Results!

Posted on 1st May 20174th May 2017

Cambridge men top the Podium, Men’s Teams 1st, 2nd and 4th overall, smash Varsity. Women’s Team 5th, Narrowly lose Varsity.

Saturday marked the 2nd of the BUCS Cycling Championships, this one over a much longer distance of

Luke Fisher – 12th

25 miles. Although a similar style of event, 25 miles is a markedly different distance to race over than 10, requiring a much greater degree of self control and pacing, and having much more chance of things going wrong. It also incorporated the 70th edition of the Varsity match with Oxford.

Up for the honours were 12 men- 5 were returning from last year (Including all 3 of the Half Blues), and of the 7 new riders, 5 were freshers. With the fastest three from Cambridge earning Half Blues (and the opportunity to try for the discretionary Full at the National Championships later in the year), competition was almost more fierce between the Cambridge riders than with the other Universities! Although we were feeling pretty strong and were definitely the favourites after a dominant performance in the shorter 10 Mile Championships, a lot can go wrong in 25 miles.

Fresher Luke Fisher (Tit Hall) was the first to start in the whole competition- a somewhat unknown quantity having been absent from Cuppers, but he came through to take nearly 10 minutes off his PB, a very impressive feat. This laid down a good marker, so much so that it ended up being good enough for 12th, just 14 seconds outside of the top 10. Whilst Luke was riding, former CUCC President and BUCS Champion Ed Bradbury dropped by to support his brother, and later on the old Senior Treasurer of the club came along too to cheer us on!
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CUCC Touring to The Boat Race!

Posted on 20th April 201720th April 2017

Early on the 2^nd April, 11 intrepid cyclists gathered as CUCC teamed up with Cambridge University Triathlon Club on a voyage to the boat races. Proceedings kicked off with a classic jaunt up chapel hill, perfect to wake us up on our way out of Cambridge. After a mere few miles, most of us realised it was considerably sunnier than we had expected… cue a major kit change for most! Off with the jackets and base layers, on with the sunglasses!

Shades, Cycling Cap, and a Pint

The sun stayed with us as we made our way South, covering the slightly more undulating terrain of Hertfordshire. Having covered roughly two thirds of our distance, we reached St Albans. We found ‘The Mermaid’, where half the group settled down for a pub lunch, pints and all, whilst a second group sought out the more traditional cycling staple: coffee and cake!

Relaxing in the sun at The Mermaid

Having refuelled and regrouped, we jumped back on the bikes with London firmly in our sights. Before long, we passed the M25 and our ride began to change. Narrow winding roads became a single straight busy road which would take us directly into the centre of London. Progress was marred by traffic light after traffic light. Despite attempting to stick together, Matt and Harshal were lost to what we would later find out was a double puncture.

Finally coming to the end of this seemingly endless road, the Marble Arch appeared before us. A combination of confusing Garmin directions and lack of London knowledge led to much guesswork through the capital, but the views were not compromised. Thinking we were on the mall, some of us initiated a sprint, reminiscent of the final stages of the London 2012 Olympic road race, only to realise this was not in fact the mall, but an adjacent road. Despite this, we soon found our way to Buckingham Palace where we joined the many tourists, taking some all-important ride photos!

Striking a pose in London

17976419_10208714746215693_1900361147_o After a quick stop at the palace, the ride continued over Westminster bridge before we split off to find various friends at the Putney and Hammersmith bridges. We were greeted by an awesome atmosphere on a beautiful day for the boat races! Huge respect goes to all who competed in the races with particular congratulations in order for both Cambridge women’s boats!

Although I can’t speak for the rest of the group, the journey home came with its own issues, attempting to carry a road bike on the underground whilst others confused my Cambridge cycling shorts for a rowing overall, thinking I had just come from the river.

In all, a great day’s cycling covering 70miles on what couldn’t have been a nicer day. Thanks to all who came, we look forward to cycling with you on touring rides in the future!

CUCC Touring – CUCC takes Oxford!

Posted on 17th April 201718th April 2017

Back in February six cyclists met at Brookside on a Saturday, at the normal time. This could have been mistaken for any regular old ride, but no. Not that day. That was the start of the much anticipated CUCC Touring ride to Oxford!

We set off a shade after 9:30, and it was clear from the start that there was going to be a slight headwind all day, as if cycling the 130km on its own wasn’t enough… but we pushed through, setting a decent pace, and the first 30 miles flew by. Rob got a puncture soon after, and whilst this was being fixed, Emilie took out some peanut butter filled dates and offered them around, which means it’s time for the return of my food blogging; so strap in boys & girls because here it comes:
With the appearance of, well, dates with peanut butter smushed in, I was not convinced at first. But I was wrong. Who knew such a simple combination could be so good?! Would recommend, even just for the insane amount of calories in them: 10/10. Food blogging over.
Anyway, we were back and away in no time.

Shortly after, we stopped in Woburn and settled in to a nice café for some lunch. After figuring out there was a button on the table to call over the waiter (wtf), we eventually got served. Back out on the road again, we now had less than half the distance left, with the sun shining nicely over head, we were well on our way to the Other Place.Continue reading→

BUCS 10 Success for CUCC!

Posted on 17th April 201718th April 2017

On Saturday the 9th April it was the BUCS 10 Mile Time Trial Championships, held just outside Oxford. The format of the racing, a time trial, sees each competitor try and lay down the fastest time they can around the 10 mile course. On top of this, the Team medals would be awarded on the combined times of the fastest 3 from each University.

In the Men’s Competition 48 Universities were represented and 7 Cambridge riders qualified – fewer than the year before. The Women had 4 qualify for their event, but bad luck (and shoulder dislocations!) lead to just 2 taking the start. With only one rider seeded, both men and women were regarded as outsiders for the titles- one person from a Scottish University even forecasting that Cambridge ‘would go off a bit of a cliff’ this year and stood no chance- laying down a bit of a challenge!

WOMEN’S CAPTIAN JESS TAKES THE START

With one rider put off every minute it would be 3 hours before all the times were in, making for an anxious wait to see how riders compared. Soon, however, it began to show that the Cambridge Men were doing pretty well! The fastest time crawled slowly downwards throughout the course of the afternoon, until it came to a halt with Cambridge’s Oliver Mytton setting a new fastest time of 20:23 with 110 people still to go. This ended up standing unchallenged for over half an hour- despite some seeded people coming and going, the person coming closest was Fresher Ali Golby, 9 seconds back in his first showing for Cambridge.Continue reading→

Lee Valley Velodrome Trip 17.3.17!

Posted on 19th March 201719th March 2017

Raring to go!

As Lent term drew to a close, 14 intrepid CUCC adventurers wobbled onto to the boards at Lee Valley Velodrome in London, many for the their first time. After a seamless train journey, we arrived in plenty of time to watch the riders in the session before us riding around the track, and to check out the bankings which reach an impressive 42 degrees!

Luke, Toby and Matt fighting vertigo

Now it was time to don the lycra and walk down the Corridor of Champions to collect our noble steeds, the hire bikes. We also had to restrain Tom and Arnav from jumping onto the mini pump-track that was set up in the track centre.

Pre-session photo

Whilst Arnav, Tom and Jess (who have ridden track before) had a great time diving up and down the track and generally messing around, the nine beginners had a pep-talk from our lovely coach, Ricky. After a bit of time rolling around the Côte D’Azur to get used the to fixed gears, they were all up on to the boars and within half an hour, everyone was riding up around the blue line (half way up the track)!

Lining up for the Team Pursuit – Team 1

It is almost inevitable when riding on the track for the first time that you will momentarily forget to pedal, but of course the gear will keep going and so you’ll get thrown forward. If you’re unlucky this will result in a trip over the handlebars, otherwise you just get a small heart-stopping moment which is enough to stop you from doing the same ever again. Thankfully no-one took a trip over the handlebars in this session, however Rob came closest with his rear wheel hopping a good half-metre – kudos for holding that one up Rob!

Team pursuit – Team 2

After some through-and-off drills that inevitably got gradually faster and faster, we were split into three teams to end with a small team-pursuit competition. The race was eight laps and the time was taken from the last person to cross the line. Team One, comprising Tom, Luke, Matt and Rachel, came third. Team Three, comprising Rob, Ben, John and Jess came second, and the clear winners were Team Two, comprising Holly, Becca, Arnav, Toby and Johnny.

Team pursuit – Team 3

All in all, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the trip and are all keen to go back for more – even those who said “it’s just going round in circles, innit” (most notably, a certain Yorkshireman).

Post-session smiles!

CUCC’s next trip to Lee Valley will be at the end of the Easter term for those that are gunning for BUCS Track. Until then, don’t forget to pedal!

‘Safety First’ policy for CUCC members on public transport