In the short space of a fortnight we have just done another great Red Bull event, they sure know how to put on a good event and we sure are happy to help out.
Saturday the 29th January, 2011 saw another new format for bicycle racing. The Red Bull Hill Chasers.
This event pitted cyclists from all walks (wheels?) of life to race each other up Park Street in Bristol in a dual format. The street was closed especially for the event and all the cars that were still parked on it were loaded up on to the back of lorries and taken away. That would have been one stinker of a surprise for the owners when they got back!
The course was 250m long, 3m wide and went up a 1 in 12 gradient. The course was cleverly pinched down to 1.5m in two sections to help with rider tactics. Both the start and finish were decorated with the ubiquitous Red Bull inflatable arches and neon lights lit the track like some crazy runway.
The start housed a BMX hydraulic gate to hold the riders back. The gate ran on the random start system which dropped after a few beeps, these beeps can happen straight away or can be delayed. The BMX guys train on these all the time so they were going to be first out every time.
The first of the eliminations were over really quickly, it quickly became apparent that the road bikes were very quick at the top and the BMX riders had very good gates. This proved an advantage for them as they utilised block tactics and even had a go at moving across and ramming the other riders. This was all fair and great tactics as it evened the field and provided great entertainment. Our own rider, Neil brushed off an attempt at ramming by a bmx racer but Neil knew it was coming!
The racing was fast and furious, our own Jon Watson was up and it looked like he won, it transpired that his foot unclipped near the line and sadly lost his first race.
Surface rider Chris Akrigg won his first, all bets were on for Chris.
James Hoppe sadly went out representing Charge bikes, his gears were skipping around and couldn't get down the power to defeat his fixed geared opponent.
Tom La Marche showed an amazing pair of legs in his first ever race! The young FGFS rider from Philly just beat Trials rider John Shrewsbury up the hill. Tom is a superstar and showed a new side to his personality. The crowd and commentators loved it, "Viva la fixed gear trick bike!". The poor fella went white at the bottom. It just shows how versatile the Scissor is after success in the Minidrome and hillclimb. I think we need to find some more uses for it. Let us know.
The next draw for Charge riders was unlucky, Rich Cunynghame and Neil Cousins against each other. Both are racers through and through and both wanted to win badly. Cunny really wanted to make up for the Mini Drome a few weeks ago and Neil wanted to get a great place. The race was tight with Neil edging it out toward the end, the Ti Skewer road bike had the advantage but Cunny's quick accelerating Blender Ti and lightning fast 4x gate starts were perfect. With starts like that he will do well at 4x this year!
So with Neil through, Akrigg through and Tom through it was time for more racing.
Sadly Akrigg lost out to Tom Palmer on the BMX. Tom La Marche went out to a fast road rider and Neil was put up against Dave Wardell. Another race against someone from the Charge family. Dave had a good gate and blocked Neil but Neil powered past after one of the chicanes and Dave couldn't match it.
All were out now apart from Neil. He went on to race Tom Palmer and even though Tom tried to barge him out of the way, Neil kept his cool and powered on past.
Neil then raced Chris Metcalfe next and was feeling really tired by now, Chris showed him a clean pair of heels and was gone. Neil rolled back down and he had changed colour to a white/ green combo.
Time for the 3rd and 4th place race and the acid in Neil's legs got the better of him, he rolled past in 4th place and Ben Superior into a deserved 3rd place.
The final was between Chris Metcalfe and Paul Derrick. Both went off like rockets and continued that way all the way up the road! I have a feeling they could have done a few more races too. Chris won and picked up a custom gold coloured Charge Plug Freestyler. 2nd and 3rd place picked up silver and bronze Charge Plug Racers.
A big thanks to Red Bull and also Bristol for closing the street down for the event. A massive thanks to all of you in the crowd too! Your cheers made it so much easier for the riders to get up that hill.
It was great seeing the different disciplines sharing the same environment. It was such a true celebration of cycling. Let's do some more!
