The finale of a uniquely British hill climb season took place yesterday in typically fitting drizzly and chilly British weather, when the CTT National Hill Climb Championships came to the Derbyshire Dales.
Rising straight up from Matlock’s town centre, racers needed to navigate just one turn on an 834m long course, but any 2025 wannabee champions also had the significantly bigger ask of climbing the savage Bank Road, with a maximum gradient of 22% and a 14% average.
> How to make your bike lighter
The road was lined with thousands of spectators from early in the day (including the Hill Climb Final Boss, no less), and to rise above over 400 other competitors meant running the gauntlet of an ever-tightening tunnel of fans that has to make this event one of the best cycling days out in the UK.
After walking up and down this bank all day, hats off to those brave enough to take it on. That savage climbing average is only brought down by a longer flatter drag up to the finish around that sole bend.
In case you weren’t aware, one of the most interesting aspects of these hill climb events revolves around the CTT (Cycling Time Trials) rules not being held back by any boring old UCI constraints. Any bike is fair game, and the lighter, the better. Forget about your 6.8kg weight limits or nanny state safety and kit requirements; the only thing you need to excel in this game is a helmet and a set of lights… that and the grit, legs, and lungs it takes to do a two (or three for most people)-minute max effort up a foreboding tarmac ramp.
Riders from as young as 12 to over 75 got a chance at a CTT National Age Award, and the Matlock start list read like a who’s who of top hill climb specialists, such as Andrew Feather, and defending overall champions Harry Macfarlane and Illi Gardner.
Crowd favourite Harry ‘Mac’ Macfarlane was racing on his brand-new Trek Emonda Frankenbike that’s so heavily modified, it hits the scales at just 4.8kg. It’s even more modded than the 15-year-old Cervélo RS Harry has previously raced on.
Another star taking on the steeps was recently-crowned Junior World Champion Harry Hudson, in his last ride for Harrogate Nova before moving to the Lidl Trek Future Racing squad for his big move up to WorldTour development level.
We caught up with Harry and his much talked-about Chinese Quick Pro Rwanda Worlds winning bike. This time it was slightly modified with some weight weenie-hacks for hill climb duties to help 18-year-old Harry defend his title, taking the junior open category win with a time of 2:20.8 – the fifth-fastest time overall on the day.
The younger Hudson brother, Finn, also placed third in the junior category behind another very promising 15-year-old Yorkshire rider, Clifton CC’s Ezra Bateman. Ruby Isaac was the quickest junior female, winning her race by a huge margin with a time of 3:24.
And talking of huge margins, in a game where time differences are usually measured in tenths, the overall men’s winner, Macfarlane, managed to stick a huge 5.1 seconds into rivals with a time of 2.14.7. Check out the fella’s stats above if you want an idea of what it takes to become a national champ at this game… Second place rider Kieran Wynne-Cattanach came in with a time of 2:19.8, with Andrew Feather just behind, clocking 2:20.4.
FTP rider Rachel Galler put on a very composed display of smooth power to win the female category by two seconds, besting last year’s winner Illi Gardner with a 2:59.8 ascent. Madeleine Heywood was third.
As noted on our live blog today, both senior winners were riding rim brake-equipped bikes, in an increasingly rare victory for stopping technology that is now a thing of the past on cycling’s WorldTour.
All the results can be found here, and you can browse our full gallery from the day above. Below are some more details about some of the most interesting bikes we saw on the course…
Harry Macfarlane’s Trek Emonda SLR
Harry Mac set a new course record on his sub-5kg machine. The old Trek rim braked Emonda is naturally stripped of paint but also has ‘MAC’ cut out of the downtube and covered in new carbon weave… because, why not?
Macfarlane was running some Favero Assioma dual-sided pedals, and a SRAM Red Etap groupset with 11-speed cassette and 30 tooth biggest cog. He’s also added a 38t hexagonal chainring from Spreng Reng, that is designed to improve the power phase of the pedal stroke.
The saddle from Berk is actually comprised of two broken saddles, mounted to an aluminium USE seatpost that is lighter than a carbon post. The rear LED lights (weighing 0.8g) from Ali Express are designed for toy models, and just about satisfy the rule that require riders to run lights.
Macfarlane used 770g Brisk Ultralight tubular wheels with Vittoria Corsa Speed tyres, and the brakes are from a Chinese supplier, presumably designed to mimic the famously weight weenie Cane Creek EE brakes. We’re imagining the little grip tape pieces on the shifters didn’t see that much action…
Harry Hudson’s Quick Pro AR:One
Onto the next Harry, and his much talked-about bike from Chinese brand Quick Pro. This is the exact same bike he used for his junior world champs victory, albeit adapted to be a bit more hill climb-specific and around a kilo lighter than Harry Rwandan race machine. It weighed in at 5.71kg on the day.
Quick Pro claim a weight of just 762g for Harry’s medium size frame, with pretty aggressive angles and made from Toray’s T1100 carbon fibres as a true single-piece monocoque
18-year-old Harry told us his tyre pressure “would be 75 or 76psi on the front and then 66psi on the back”, as he was looking for a bit more grip on the greasy surface.
“My gearing is a 38-tooth single front ring and then an 11-33 cassette at the back”, he added.
“The wheels here are new and aren’t quite available to buy yet I don’t think. They are Arceris and my set is around 750g a set; this pair have come up a little lighter apparently, and they couldn’t believe how light they were when we weighed them, so I’m very happy about that. I’m using regular Conti GP5000S tubeless tyres today.
“The 165mm Cybrei cranks are super light too, although I don’t have an exact weight for them. I’m still running 140mm and 160mm rotors, as I didn’t want to faff about too much changing everything.”
Harry also explained how it’s his last ride on the Quick Pro bike for Harrogate Nova but how happy he was about the Lidl Trek ride and how welcome he’s been made to feel on the new team for next year. Good luck Harry!
Finn Miller’s Viner Maxima 4.0
14-year-old Finn Miller was wandering round the crowds early on a mission to get as many signatures and messages of support as possible on the sanded-back Viner frame him and his dad Darren where both racing the champs on. It weighed in at 5.7kg.
Matlock local Finn told us he has had two category awards at CTT events previously, and later managed a time of 3:39.8, which meant the most important result for him might just have been beating his dad Darren by over 40 seconds up the pair’s local brute of a climb. There wasn’t much chance of an excuse for Darren either when they were both riding the same sub-6kg bike.
Viner’s Maxima frame was originally listed at under 1kg new, and the Miller team managed to shave off 140g of paint (mostly Dad’s hand-sanding; Finn’s excuse was he needed to go to school) and a chunk more weight saving came from a mixture of Ali Express parts, Planet X brakes, and a single chainring set-up based around the hill climbers favourite cable-activated SRAM Red groupset.
Of course, the pair sawn off any unnecessary handlebar drops, and also plugged in a super lightweight hand laid carbon climbing wheelset with 20 spokes.
Scotty Chalmers’ Specialized Allez Comp (circa 2003)
Scotty Chalmers was one of the hundreds of keen amateurs making the pilgrimage to the Hill Climb National Championships. Scotty came to get a taste of climbing up through a wild noisy tunnel of braying spectators that’s truly unique to a top British hill climb event like this.
On his bike, that came in at under 7kg, Scotty told us: ‘I’ve built the bike around a twenty-odd year old Specialized Allez frame as it’s a great bike you can get pretty light’.
Let’s hope there’s enough rim wall left under that braking track on those lovely vintage red anodized Mavic Helium Wheels… Scotty also told us that yes, those 21c tyres were a bit slippery in places up the greasy climb.
The bars had the drops sawn off to save a few precious grams, and there was no bar tape or hoods either. Scotty used Truvativ carbon cranks and single ring with SRAM X9 10-speed set up, based around lightweight MTB tech.
“To be honest, the best thing about doing this race is the crowds and just getting to go through all those people”, he added.
“It’s got to the closest feeling to being a pro, and I just felt like I was on fire going through the thickest section of crowd. Then you come through that part and then just kind of go, oooer… but I think I’ve done OK. I’ve not even checked my time yet!” (Scotty managed a very respectable time of 3:21.7.)
Where you racing or spectating at the 2025 Hill Climb Nationals? Share you stories in the comments.
12 thoughts on “Chinese bikes and components galore, 21mm tyres and rim brakes FTW: some of the most intriguing bikes and set-ups from the 2025 National Hill Climb Championships”
My mate Mikey had one of
My mate Mikey had one of those USE posts on his Roberts MTB, I remember servicing it when I LXed her when upon his sad passing she was bequeathed to our mate chippy. Would have been mid 90s, but those were the days of foolish lightweightedness.
Hmm, I’ve one in silver dia
Hmm, I’ve one in silver dia 25mm with shim, now on my town bike – bought NOS in 2020 & going strong since then 🙂
This is my hillclimber, a
This is my hillclimber, a winter build project from a couple of years ago. Comes in at 5.9kg with pedals, and a pair of Inifini Lava lights to comply with CTT regs.
I reckon if I replaced the not-very-light 1480g Mavic Ksyrium SL25 wheelset with something else, and TPU tubes, I think I could get to sub-5.5kg.
Presumably those spacers
Presumably those spacers weight something? And you could lose those valve dustcaps…
That’s true, and if I were
That’s true, and if I were going all in, those bottle cage bolts could go, along with all that paint.
Very nice but is all your
Very nice but is all your climbing seated? I can’t imagine getting out of the saddle without the hoods for support.
It’s more comfortable than it
It’s more comfortable than it looks without brifter hoods, holding on to the bars at the forward bend, and still being able to reach the brakes and Di2 shift buttons. It’s a much longer frame than I’d normally ride, a 60cm rather than 56cm (frameset used to belong to One Pro Cycling Team, ridden by Kamil Gradek, it came with a 150mm stem!) so it would be a stretch to ride on hoods or drops. You wouldn’t want to ride a century on it, but it works for short climbs.
Did any women ride the
Did many women ride the National Hill Climb Championships? You’d think not looking at the photos in this article. So few pics of women in the main feature and roughly image 60/86 on the gallery before they feature. Seriously road.cc, women ride bikes too. [Edited, since the captions have been updated]
There’s a picture of Rachel
There’s a picture of Rachel Galler, the winning woman up there.
hsam wrote:
Not equally represented for sure but the first action shot (second photo) of the rider in pink and purple is clearly a woman and the eighth picture in the main feature is women’s champion Rachel Galler in action.
72 in the female category,
72 in the female category, and 297 in the open category, so roughly 1:4.
The main feature seems to contain two of the former, and only one of the latter, so it’s actually the females who are overrepresented there. Although not as much as the juniors – I make it seven of them, and only 66 took part.
The first female rider in the gallery appears to be number 54. 31 of the shots before that aren’t actually of riders at all (mostly bikes, a few ‘colour’ shots) – take those out and it’s more like 23/50 – still a fair way down, but not quite as bad as 60/86 suggests. Counting distinct riders only, by my reckoning it’s 12/35, or thereabouts. My guess is they’ve just been added in the order they were taken, since several riders (and bikes) have multiple consecutive shots.
Although riding the same bike
Although riding the same bike as Finn, I (his Dad) had a pretty valid excuse for being slower. A year ago I was in hospital with an aggressive blood cancer. Being able to race this year was incredible (scan in March showed a full response to treatment and no signs of any cancer) if rather slow. Hopefully it will be a closer battle at next year’s hill climbs.