The Welsh hill climb champs were on The Tumble this year, and I was really looking forward to it. A climb that is 5 km long is perfect for me, and looking at the entry list before I knew I could win, as there was one rider who could possibly beat me (In my opinion). There was a lot of rain on Friday and Saturday, and it was still raining when we arrived at Govilon. Signed on and set off to ride the course, while most people just drove up the hill. Looking back, I think this gave me an immediate advantage. The hill was great, even though it was half road, half river. At one point I was weaving all over my side of the road trying to find the driest line, before giving up and getting wet.
Dad drove me back down to the bottom while I warmed up in the car, and go prepared to go on the rollers. While I was warming up the rain eased and I wasn’t too cold. I got to the start line a couple of minutes before my start time, and my start was good and I rode onto the mountain.
I went up the first few hundred metres a bit too fast and I had to back off a little bit. The road had dried considerably since I rode it just a couple of hours earlier, but it was still wet, and still cold. With about a mile to go the climb eases, and I went into TT mode for the last few minutes. The last straight was horrible but great for a last effort sprint, and I finished with a time of 14.48. To make it incredibly suspenseful, one of the riders in my category finished with roughly the same time as me (I was watching while on the rollers at the top), and that made for an incredibly nervous trip back to sign on.
We got back to sign on and the results weren’t up yet, which was incredibly disappointing. I was already nervous about the result, and then they started writing them on, one by one. As I was towards the end, I had to wait for a long time before they put my time up. My time went up, and I got 14.48, which is just what I thought I got. The final Juvenile got a time of 14.59, I had won! The presentation was a bit chaotic, and all I actually received was a winner’s cap, however I think there is a trophy to be given out at some point. This was my first ever Welsh Champions title, and I hope it won’t be the last!