The Hill of (the) Hill's People#

Sun, 09 Apr 2006 13:00:00 +0000

I'm not an etymologist, but I find this stuff entertaining to play with. -ing is an Old English placename suffix peaning "people of", and "-don" is likewise Old English meaning "hill". So the cycle circuit where we're holding the time trials for the Le Mans fast team is in a place that might plausibly be the hill of the people of the hill.

(But, in fact, probably isn't. It was known as Hillendone when the Domesday Book was compiled, so had no -ing suffix anyway)

Anyway, a bunch of us went there on Sunday to have a look around, skate the course and do some relay changeover practice. This was also my opportunity to find out if my leg is actually skate-safe - which, happily, it is. The circuit is a mile long, less hilly than Eastway (though still hard work up the back straight when there's a headwind and nobody to draft) and the start/finish line is on the downhill straight, so I imagine that one could work up a fairly brisk pace down that if doing more than one lap at a time (we weren't - we were changing over on that straight, so losing time). Will need to work on: right crossovers. Six laps (two warmup, two with gaps for changeover, then two back to back when my partner missed the changeover for his third lap).

Conceded that it was the first time I'd skated since Berlin (in fact, the first time I'd skated in a fortnight except for 40 minutes in Berlin ...) but I was struck by just how much difference a draft - and a flat course - makes. I was pushing harder to get a 29km/h average around Hillingdon than I was in a 32-24k pack in Berlin.

After that, back into town to marshal the Sunday Stroll - or anyway, the first half of it before the heavens opened and gave us a very very wet skate back to Hyde Park. My bearings may never be quite the same.

[ 20k? Something like that ]