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.
02:50So come on exactly, exactly, exactly!
02:51Come grab yourę! Come on!
02:53Come grab yourę! Come on!
03:00Lord Jesus!
03:02Come on, stir up on that!
03:06Oh my god!
03:08Oh my god!
03:09Oh my god!
03:36Oh my god!
04:06I 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 2 to start on the less steep bit.
04:23And it pinged into gear 3.
04:25My legs went like...
04:26Sat back down, knocked into one.
04:29Sort of measured my effort on the less steep section and then when it kicked up just...
04:34Full gas.
04:36Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:37It was good.
04:42So Joe, how did you get on?
04:44You know what? All 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.
04:54Initially 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, what was your time?
05:052 minutes 21 is the official time.
05:08But the thing is I think we need to put some of that into context because 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.
05:20And we know people have gone slower as well.
05:22Yeah, and in fairness I'd be really interested to see how that compares to the Bromptons as well.
05:26Because as I said last year, I think it was 2 minutes 12 or something was the quickest Brompton time.
05:32But yeah, we'd have to see. I'd be really chuffed with that as well.
05:34To be honest, I'm pretty glad I made you come up on this bike.
05:37Because the amount of love that the Rally Chopper has had today has 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, then please do drop in a like, subscribe to the channel for more content,
05:52and we will see you again very soon.
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