The Polocini Winter Sprinter.

Yesterday was our first long ride together of 2013. The event - The Polocini Winter Sprinter.

There were two routes on offer, one of 30 miles and one of 60 miles, which is the one we opted for.

From the event start at Woodford, we headed off a bit earlier than everyone else, so we weren't late back. The first 38 miles as far as the feed station were mostly flat apart from Swiss Hill.

Swiss Hill appraently has a bit of a reputation for being fierce, and at times unrideable. However I had recently fitted a 34 tooth max cassette to Minipips bike, so he made it to the top no problem, spinning away, sat in his saddle. (see footnote).

The feed station had lots of hot soup and cake which we were both ready for.

From the feed station, the course started undulating, and we noticed that there were at times a head wind. Definitely the harder part of the day.

6 hours and 37minutes after our start, we rolled back in to event HQ.

I was quite pleased that we'd maintained a decent moving average speed too. This bodes well for when we do some Audaxes later in the year.

A well organised event, with a course which is mostly on quiet roads. Great to see lots of the usual suspects out riding too.

(footnote)
I'm no scientist, but to me it makes sense to make climbing hills for kids as easy as possible. Whilst they're young, grinding up hills on the equivalent of 42:21 can't do there joints any good, plus it's far more tiring for them. Unless they're bike has a triple chainset, get the biggest cassette you can on the back.

Hit The North.

This last weekend me and my boy entered Hit The North . I did the grown ups race, and Minipips did an hours skill session followed by a race which was all organised by British Cycling's Go Ride people.

He won a gold medal, and a buff.

Afterwards he was caught by a mate of mine honing his bike handling skills.

Then on Sunday we nipped out for just a short ride in the sun. Only 6 miles, but with 1000 feet of ascent.

The Polocini Hill Climb

I've mentioned the Polocini Coffee Shop before on here. Well in addition to making fine cakes and coffee, they also organise cycle events.

Yesterday they debuted their first hill climb, at the nearby Cowlishaw Road.

My lad wanted to enter and had is own special disclaimer form that I had to sign.

The weather was not particularly pleasant but we warmed up on the mile ride from the cafe to the start.

The hill climb is about 1.2 Km long. It starts off quite flat before kicking sharply at a 1 in 5 gradient, then relenting slightly before a fast slightly downhill finish.

Minipips set off just before me, and I'd warned him not to go too fast at the start. I passed him just as the road started to rise up, with more words of encouragement.

Some 4 minutes after I made the finish, Minipips rolled up too.

(Photo Courtesy of Chris Wilkinson, who took lots more hill climb photos)

He's never actually made it up a 20% climb before.

What was also good about this event is that there were two other kids taking part too.

Afterwards, we dropped back down into Romiley avoiding patches of ice on the road, before adjourning back to the Coffee Shop for a free Coffee and Cake.

Not bad for a fiver eh?

Results below.

Bookmark this link to keep up to date with the other Cyclosportives Polocini organise.

One last note, not only do Polocini encourage kids to take part in their events. If they are under 16 and accompanied by a parent, they ride free.