00:00Oh Jesus!
00:02Oh shut my mouth!
00:04I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
00:13Hill climbing is probably the toughest discipline in cycling that you've never heard of.
00:17In the months of September and October every year in the UK
00:20you can always find a group of cyclists racing up the most hellish gradient they can find
00:24in what can only be described as second degree fun.
00:27And the format for these events is pretty simple actually.
00:30Basically it's rider against the clock up the steepest piece of tarmac that the organisers can realistically find.
00:36Which is why today we are here at Swains Lane in London for the nichest of niches, an urban hill climb.
00:43Sam has dragged me here today to Swains Lane which is arguably one of the toughest climbs in the capital.
00:48900 metres, an 8% average gradient might not sound like much but this one is going to hurt.
00:5420% maximum gradients, full gas racing and Sam's even got a little trick up his sleeve which is going to make my day even more painful.
01:02That's absolutely right. As an ex-junior hill climb champ I think that you've already got enough of an advantage over pretty much everybody here.
01:09So I've brought along this.
01:18This is the Rally Chopper. Now it was created back in 1972 and then it went on to become really popular in the 80s.
01:25Thanks to films like ET, The Goonies and then more recently Stranger Things.
01:29So this bike really does have a proper cult following which is why you're going to be riding it today.
01:36So Joe, how are you actually feeling about this challenge?
01:38Well, as much as I'm not looking forward to lugging all 18 kilograms of this bike up Swains Lane today, I think it does fit the ethos of the event quite well.
01:47There's Brompton categories today, there's two categories for cargo bikes.
01:51So I think actually I'm not going to be quite as out of place as I might be in a traditional hill climb.
01:57You're going to fit right in to be honest. So if you had a goal for today though, what would you like to achieve?
02:02Well, to put things into perspective, I think the course record for this climb is around just over the one minute mark.
02:08I had a look at what the best Brompton time was last year and that was about 2 minutes 12.
02:12I will genuinely be over the moon with anything less than three and a half minutes.
02:16Three and a half minutes. Okay, I reckon we make that the target for the day.
02:20And if you can get under three and a half, I'd be very impressed.
02:23And actually, to be honest, I'll be impressed if this bike makes it to the top in one piece.
02:50I'm between that and the other guys.
02:52So come on, George Dean!
02:56Come on boys!
02:57Come on, look up, look up!
03:00Oh, Jesus...
03:02Yeah!
03:08Boxer! Boxer! Boxer!
03:32Yeah!
03:35Yeah!
03:36Yeah!
03:38Ha ha!
03:40Oh!
03:42Yeah!
03:44Oh!
03:46Oh!
03:48Oh!
03:50No!
03:52Oh!
03:56Oh!
03:58I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
04:12How are you feeling, Joe?
04:14Yeah, it's been a while since I've felt like this, to be honest.
04:18Yeah, it was really good fun, though.
04:20I chucked it into gear two to start on the less steep bit,
04:23and it pinged into gear three.
04:25My legs went like, oh.
04:25So I sat back down, knocked into one,
04:30sort of measured my effort on the less steep section,
04:33and then when it kicked up, just dropped the bike.
04:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:37It was good.
04:42So, Joe, how'd you get on?
04:43You know what?
04:44All in all, not too bad.
04:46I think pacing, as I mentioned earlier on Cameron, was pretty good.
04:51With hindsight, actually, I think the pacing was better than I realised.
04:53Initially, I thought maybe I went out a little bit too easy,
04:56but with hindsight, I think I got it pretty much spot on.
04:59So happy with how I rode and pretty happy with the time as well.
05:02So put us out of our misery.
05:04What was your time?
05:05Two minutes 21 is the official time.
05:08But the thing is, I think we need to put some of that into context
05:10because I think the winning time of the day
05:12or the fastest time of the day was 1.17 or 1.18.
05:16It was about that.
05:17So essentially, you were a minute off the quickest of the day.
05:21And we know people have gone slower as well.
05:23Yeah, and in fairness, I'd be really interested to see
05:24how that compares to the Bromptons as well.
05:26Because as I said last year,
05:27I think it was 2 minutes 12 or something was the quickest Brompton time.
05:31But yeah, we'd have to see.
05:33I'd be really chuffed with that as well.
05:34To be honest, I'm pretty glad I made you come up on this bike
05:36because the amount of love that the Rally Chopper has had today
05:39has been phenomenal.
05:40Absolutely.
05:41People have been throwing it back to their past.
05:43Kids have been loving it.
05:44So all in all, a fantastic day at the Urban Hill Climb.
05:47If you guys enjoyed the video,
05:48then please do drop in a like,
05:50subscribe to the channel for more content,
05:52and we will see you again very soon.
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