00:00Oh Jesus!
00:02Oh shut my mouth!
00:05I 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
00:34that the organisers can realistically find
00:36which is why today we are here at Swain's Lane in London
00:39for the nichest of niches, an urban hill climb.
00:43Sam has dragged me here today to Swain's Lane
00:45which is arguably one of the toughest climbs in the capital.
00:49900 metres and 8% average gradient might not sound like much
00:52but this one is going to hurt.
00:5420% maximum gradients, full gas racing
00:57and Sam's even got a little trick up his sleeve
00:59which is going to make my day even more painful.
01:02That's absolutely right.
01:03As an ex-junior hill climb champ
01:05I think that you've already got enough of an advantage over pretty much everybody here.
01:09So I've brought along this.
01:17This is the Rally Chopper.
01:19Now it was created back in 1972 and then it went on to become really popular in the 80s
01:25thanks to films like E.T., The Goonies and then more recently Stranger Things.
01:29So this bike really does have a proper cult following
01:32which is why you're going to be riding it today.
01:36So Joe, how are you actually feeling about this challenge?
01:39Well, as much as I'm not looking forward to lugging all 18 kilograms of this bike up Swain's Lane today
01:44I think it does fit the ethos of the event quite well.
01:47There's Brompton categories today.
01:49There'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
01:56traditional hill climb.
01:57You're going to fit right in to be honest.
01:58So if you had a goal for today though, what would you like to achieve?
02:02Well, to put things into perspective
02:04I 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 two minutes twelve.
02:12I will genuinely be over the moon with anything less than three and a half minutes.
02:16Three and a half minutes.
02:17Okay, 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.
02:58Oh, Jesus
02:59Go, go, go, go!
04:05I don't know whether to laugh or cry
04:10How are you feeling Joe?
04:14Yeah it's been a while since I felt like this to be honest
04:18Yeah it was really good fun though
04:19I chucked it into gear 2 to like start on the less steep bit
04:23And it pinged into gear 3
04:24And my legs went like
04:26Sat back down
04:27Knocked into one
04:30Sort of measured my effort on the less steep section
04:33And then when it kicked up just
04:34Full gas
04:35Yeah yeah yeah
04:36It was good
04:42So Joe how'd you get on?
04:44You know what all in all not too bad
04:46I think pacing as I mentioned early on Camel was pretty good
04:50With 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?
05:052 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
05:22Yeah 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
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 has been phenomenal
05:40Absolutely
05:40People have been throwing it back to their past
05:42Kids have been loving it
05:43So all in all a fantastic day at the Urban Hill Climb
05:46If you guys enjoyed the video
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05:51And we will see you again very soon
05:56And we will see you again
