The Gillingham Wheelers annual Double Hill Climb took to the usual challenging gradients of Bulbarrow on Saturday morning.
Following two continuous days of rain, the numbers of competitors were a little low with a number of ‘no shows’. However, 5 riders took to the slopes, starting with the 1.9km at 8% (with ramps of close to 20%) of Woolland. Daniel Eastment of First Chard Wheelers sprinted up in 6:19 closely followed by GDW’s own Micheal Sleeman.
The second climb of Stoke Wake (2.89 kms at 5.3% average, though with a downhill start and a 20% ramp mid way up it is tougher than the overall stats suggest) followed 45 minutes later with the gap narrowing between Daniel and Michael over the climb. Daniel’s excellent time of 7:51 was only 4 seconds ahead of Micheal and 20 secs ahead of 18-year-old William Sharman.
The McWilliam brothers from Bournemouth were cycling for family honours (and the over 50s crown). David managed to squeeze ahead of Richard, but promised to re-battle next year.
Thank you to those who braved the conditions to both help out and to compete, and also to our friends at Bamboo Coffee for their support.
