Sado Hill Climb 2010 race report (by Andrew)

Report by Andrew:

Turned out to be great weather over the weekend, and I enjoyed my little trip over to Sado. Only a small field showed up for the race (79), but I had a good ride and got 2nd overall (best in age class). The winner was very strong and I simply couldn't raise my pace when he put in a big dig on a very steep section with about 3km to go on the 15km course.

The course climbs from the small seaside village of Aikawa up past a huge old gold mine and up onto the Sado Skyline to peak at around 950m. It is one of the toughest courses around as there are long steep sections of well over 10% and some really steep hairpins where the inside of the corners must be 20%. Soon after the start we got into the climb proper and I went to the front and whittled it down to three of us, feeling in good form. But I was quickly in my lowest gear (39-25) and having to do long sections of dancing to keep my momentum.

It felt good to be at the front for a change and I was pretty much dictating the pace - easing off a bit after some of the steeper sections to recover a little. Then we were two as we neared the halfway mark and there followed a longish downhill loosing 100m or so of elevation. I had a look at the other guy and he looked strong behind his shades. He even gave me a friendly warning about the descent to follow. I got a small gap on the descent but we were together again soon once the road climbed again.

Then just as the road turned a corner and went up a steep straight he jumped me and I could not respond. He was soon out of sight on the following twists and had gained more than a minute on me by the finish. Really a spectacular climb and course that suited my dancing climbing style so I hope they can make a success of the event in the future and attract more entries.

For my efforts I won a 5kg bag of Sado new rice! The problem was that I had to ride for an hour or so with it on my back to get to the ferry terminal! Next time I should send it by Black Cat.

Results