We had a dozen riders show up tonight on a lovely sunny spring evening for the Pelham hillclimb. The field split up quite quickly, led by Beau, who sprinted from the get-go and was never seen again. Patrick's ride summary said "I don’t think I’ve ever been dropped before the left turn on this one before", and you can be sure Patrick was moving pretty quickly.

After the rabbits got away, we had a solid group of four or five up the opening stretches of Buffam Rd, before Andy's pace-setting started to take its toll. I clung to his wheel with grim determination, and eventually looked around and noticed there was nobody else with us. I barely managed to get over the first big rise with Andy, and shamelessly sat behind him for most of the flatter middle section. We stayed together up and over the wall, and then I managed to pip him at the end, which made me feel just a tiny bit guilty.

Martin and Madeline came in right behind us in a pretty intense sprint, and Shawn and Melissa had a close finish also. Up in the front, Beau managed to stay ahead of Patrick and Ryan to secure the win, along with an overall #2 time on this climb (behind Owen's phenomenal 16:24 from a few years ago). Several others rode earlier, giving us a total of 15 for the day.

Next week we're back in Hatfield for the Long Time Trial -- come join us!

Full series results are available here.