Robert Lofthouse

As a matter of interest, I was sooo in the mood for doing hills after Pokey and I parted company on Saturday (no really, honest), that I tackled a tricky little loop around Westcliff, here is the map, it's 5.5 kms long, and is done in a clockwise direction. The little stretch up Tyson (circled in rd on the left of the pic) is about 350m at around 15%, and the little stretch between Parlinghurst and Woodview (circled in red on the right) is about 250m at the same gradient. This second climb, however is an alleyway, and is only really comfortable on an MTB - doable on a road bike as well, but you have to pick your line carefully to stay on the tar section , otherwise you start riding in dirt ruts. Awesome little loop, and does wonders for trying to build up strength. The section parrellel to Jan Smuts (past the Hotel), is a sharpish climb on it's own, before you get to the little aleyway, and the section which runs Parrallel to Crscent and Westcliff (at the top of the loop) is on an incline, puntuated by speed-bumps, which keep breaking any kind of rythym you may be trying to get into. I can't take credit for finding the loop, though - Nic White did a write up in a past Ride Mag issue which detailed the route - he called it the "Mini Tour Of Flanders" for it's sharp little climbs, speedbump negotiation, and bit of pavement work occassionaly. uploads/kingcompass/images/2006-04-18_155932_Westcliff_Loop.GIF I finished my ride with a trip up Munro Drive - Houghton, and finally Sylvia's (the cobbled section).

Hey Pokey, don't forget his route also includes Northcliff Hill !!!

Ok, slowpoke and I did it on Saturday, and I must admit ... I was a little disappointed - it was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be. There were 2 tough sections, just after the one harirpin bend on Hearn, the other just after the right turn (also on Hearn) which ultimately took you pretty much to the top - both of theses sections averaged 15% gradient (for about 200m each). The rest of the sections were steepish (around the 6-8% mark), but easily doable. Pokey kicked my butt - my excuse was I was there on mtb MTB with knobblies (extra resistance and weight) and no front shock lockout (lotsa bouncing when I stood up, so seated spinning was the order of the day, and I'm nowhere near fit enough to make that stick properly). Ok, ok, I had lower gears, but that just means you can go slower and take it easier - speed goes out the window when you engage granny gear - so I left it out totally. Nice ride though, and something I will include as part of my regular route. Pokey even suggested that we organise a monthly Hubbers hill climb up and down. It took us 30 minutes to get to the top and come down the back of the hill and arrive back at Northcliff corner (and that was at a nice pace) Now I just need to do Doreen to see what THAT fuss is about - but I'll do it on my road bike this time.

I hear Doreen is a kicker - only problem is that it's quite far out for me - Northcliff is about 90 minutes ride from my place (at a steady pace), so I pretty much use it as a turning point to start making my way back home. I just figured that seeing as though I go that far, I may as well just incorporate a quick trip to the top into the route as well .... to catch the view, you see smileys/smiley2.gif

Does anybody here ride Northcliff hill (to the top) regularily. I'm thinking about including it in a "Heavy Hill" route, and have been looking at the map book to try and plot a course up and down. However, not really knowing the roads that well means that I'm really flying blind, so... what is the best way up (right to the top) and down, which would gain maximum hill climbing benefit from this, the one single big climb in the area. I'll be coming from the East, so use Linden / Northcliff corner as an initial reference point - a route which starts on the Fairlands side doesn't help me much.

If you flick the gear lever the right way, then you'll change gears the right way, otherwise you'll change gears the wrong way !! smileys/smiley2.gifsmileys/smiley36.gif I would imagine changing gears while putting a heavy load on the drivetrain would be considered "wrong" as you'll be exerting large amounts of stress in a forwrad direction (through your pedalling action), while at the same time, you'll be exerting lateral stress on the chain, which theoretically, can't be good for the chain ! kingcompass38798.6628472222

I can attest to that - the last time I ever saw you in the "flesh" was when you started descending that rocky little big downhill at the Logwood classic - left me standing, and I wasn't taking it easy. That would have been one of the instances where I thought that going for a new DS rig was something that must happen immenently.

Hmmm, it appears that S-Series Sram stuff, which competes directly with Shimano (and is Shimano compatible) is what everybody seems to consider inferior. The X-Series stuff, however, I understand to be a little bit of a cut above the S-Series stuff. This is not compatible with Shimano.

hey d-r, interesting to hear you vehimence regarding not using Sram, why so anti ? Please don't answer the way a certain other member of the board does, by saying that Shimano is the only thing to use simply because a famous ex-cyclist did smileys/smiley2.gif

I can't believe it ... Marius is Speechless - excellent Michelle smileys/smiley32.gif