Pacing yourself over the length of the course is vital. It is best not to start too fast because once you go "into the red" there is no place to recover on an all up-hill course. Ideally you should ride just at your aerobic-anaerobic threshold (see sports physiology text book) with a dip into the anaerobic zone (a.k.a the red) only in the last couple of hundred metres. So as you cross the line you can expect blurred vision and be just about ready to puke! (puking on the course is generally regarded as bad practice as it makes the route slippery for your fellow competitors)

Training for hill-climbs (unsurprisingly) should involve riding up hills. A general goal should be to increase your tolerance to lactic acid. Riding hard up long hills will allow you to identify the sensations resulting from reaching your aerobic-anaerobic threshold. Pushing too hard will increase your lactic acid to intolerably painful levels! With a bit of practice you should be able to get to know your body and be able to ride "on the limit". A simple but effective training method is then time yourself up a suitably tough hill a number of times with a gentle free-wheel back down acting as recovery. With each ascent you can expect lactic acid levels to build more quickly and fatigue to set in. Simply repeat until you take more than 20% longer to climb the hill than your first attempt.

Danny Axford