I survived.. 97th /150. (just looked on ctt web site and I'm now 96th.. even better) I've never, ever tried so hard.. The crowd was awesome, cheering each rider on by name. I was lucky enough to watch the 2nd place rider at the steepest point at half way, the speed he was going was ridiculous!

Defending champion, James Dobbin, finished 21st after having to borrow a bike as he snapped a carbon crank arm while doing his warm up!
 
I started one minute after the winner Matt Clinton, when he set off he attacked it at a rate I could have maintained for about 100 yards... His reward was the the title, and plenty of sickness at the top, and again a few times more as we rode together some of the way back to HQ.

So, anyone up for next year? If I can get in the top 100 others in the club should manage top 50 (Simon Wilson, ex St Johns, was 40th).. Lets get a team together...

Dave..

-- Edited by davep at 23:08, 2008-10-27

I drove to Matlock today to pre ride the hill.. I figured it would be nice to know exactly where the finish is! Turns out Bank Road is very similar to Ankerdine in gradient and distance. I think the best I can hope for on the day is about 3mins 20seconds. The winner is likely to do 2mins 30seconds!

Photo of Data from my Garmin, comparing ankerdine (lower line) to bank road matlock (top line).