TalkingShop: Hill Climb Championship Post Race Reactions

VeloUK spoke to winner Gunnar Gronlund , Matt Clinton and Mike Cumming after the Hill Climb Champs last Sunday …

Race report-Results-Photos: Click here

Gold Medallist: Gunnar Gronlund “I’m over the moon to win a national championship. I have been a man on a mission since mid September to be able to win this today. I have had a roller coast year and decided I wanted to end the season on a high. I got talked into trying the hill climbs and RST-Trigon stepped in as personal sponsors.”

Gunnar riding the Trigon RC29 to a British title.

“I have really enjoyed the racing, I love climbing and that is the type of rider I am so being able to get the jersey on my first attempt, it’s awesome. I still haven’t found a team for next year and would love to stay in Britain. That was another reason to do the hill climbs, to show sponsors what I can do and I really do hope I can find something for next year.”

“I had great support from Trigon. They supplied me with a few different bikes and I had a super light option but in the end I went for a stiffer model, which I rode with Lightweight wheels and SRAM Red groupset and a proper TT bar. I have been riding it a lot and used for a several other events as well and I am pretty sure I had the best set up for this climb.”

“The wind wasn’t too bad, big ring all the way using normal gears, 53 and 11-23 on the block…”

Bronze Medallist: Matt Clinton
“I set off steady and got to the halfway point riding within myself and got a shout that I was five seconds up. Apparently I was 12 seconds up at one point, but then after the midway point it was a bit more exposed, and I was riding a disc so the speed I had gained on the bottom half I think I lost it there.”

“Maybe using two deep sections would have helped. I wasn’t far off though and did my best after preparing as well as I could for the race. I gave it my all but it’s a difficult one to judge the pacing of unless you have ridden it several times at race pace.  Read more on his effort on his blog ….

L-R: Matt Clinton & Mike Cuming

Mike Cuming (Twenty3C-Orbea)
“I turned up and most people were on Time Trial bikes and I’d come on my road bike. It is nice to have a change though and let some of the other some people have a go. It was different to the short steep ones I have done. It was a bit fun and you get stick from people saying what are you doing that for but as its close to where I live, why not?”

Looking ahead to the winter where he’ll be working in his dads bike shop in Macclesfield, he says he doesn’t intend going crazy preparing for the season with Rapha Condor Sharp. “Everyone I have spoken to has said to me don’t panic, take it easy, build up slowly and that I have the whole of the season to impress people.”

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