Quite the mouthful of a title today. And a new route, I think, for me. That said, I have done Fox Hill before, but it’s been a while.
Whilst doing some pre-ride research into the London Loop Reverse, I found out this is an event only route. It has occurred to me on many an occassion, particularly early on in my Zwift riding days, that there is no easy way to ride Fox Hill.
For those that aren’t aware, Zwift’s London map has four climbs. These are:
- Box Hill
- Fox Hill
- Keith Hill
- Leith Hill
Of the four, I would say Box Hill is the most commonly climbed hill on the map. Fox Hill is Box Hill in reverse, or to put it another way, the descent of Box Hill is the climb of Fox Hill, and vice versa.
The route itself is 15km.
However, the route description from Zwift Insider has this down as 230m of climbing. It’s not. It is ~200m.
Believe me, I was paying attention to that figure more than anything else.
Being 15km, this one was always going to be fast. And the Fox Hill climb comes really early on – slightly over 2km in.
So two things then.
Firstly, make sure you have warmed up. Because this one starts fast, and you need to be on it pretty much immediately if you want to make the bottom of the climb with the front of the pack.
Secondly, unless you’re a very strong climber, expect to get dropped at some point on the climb.
As with all Zwift races with climbs, if you can make it over the top of the hills with the bunch, you stand a remarkably strong chance of being at the front when you get to the end.
Or, if you get dropped, it’s basically race over – as far as a top 10 finish goes.
I was under no illusions I would be with the front runners by the top of the climb. My only objective was to give a solid effort for the full 2.4km / 120m of climbing that is the marked section of Fox Hill KOM.
Whilst I wouldn’t say this was my strongest ever racing climb, I feel like this went about as well as could be expected for a lunch time effort after a very stressful morning. There’s only so much that two slices of toast and a cup of coffee can do when it comes to powering a man uphill.
One other thing about Fox Hill is that, like Box Hill, a flat section is counted as part of the timed KOM when you hit the top. Factor that in, because the whole 2.4km @ 4.3% thing is misleading. There are some 10%+ parts of this climb, one long and rather smarting effort at the start, and then a thankfully shorter one not too long after.
From the top it’s a long down hill, longer and more gradual than the ascent, but still fast. I managed to pack up with two other riders, and by the time we got to the bottom we had been caught by a further 3(?).
After the descent it’s time for the leg snapper / escalator of hell. You will know that little section of fun, I’m sure. Well, it was a full gas effort today not least of which was because there was another group ahead that we were chasing. Shortly there after we caught them, and our bunch grew considerably.
At this point I’m looking up and thinking… hang on, 230m of climb on the whole route, and we’ve only done ~165m so far? Where is the other ~90m coming from.
Well, it’s not all plain sailing. Heading towards the finish line, it’s mostly gradually up hill. Lots of 1-3% stuff, so expect the bunch to put in a little bit of something to wheedle down the numbers.
Out of the saddle too early, partly because I was flagging and needed to make the crest of the final roller with the front runners to have any chance of placing in the top 30, and partly because I’d worked my ass off and wanted to get it all over and done with, I ended up getting well out sprinted by at least 5, probably more.
Even so, I feel like I gave it a good shot today. I gave it everything I had, and considering the stress of the morning it was a really good way to unwind. I came off exhausted, but happy.
That’s the first of what I believe is four events in the Race Like A Pro series. I honestly couldn’t tell you what’s coming next, but I can tell you tomorrow will almost certainly be an hour’s Zone 2.
Ride on.
