From cigarettes to the stripes: Harry Macfarlane’s climb to the top
He smoked, drank and drifted — until a bike ride changed everything. A year after claiming the National Hill Climb title, MacFarlane reflects on transformation, freedom and finding his way uphill.
Harry Macfarlane isn’t your average cyclist. A viral content creator and ex-smoker, the 28-year-old proved that anything is possible last October when he became the National Hill Climb Champion, etching his name in the history books alongside the likes of Brian Robinson, Malcolm Elliott and Chris Boardman.
“It was pretty wild to win it. Something I never thought I could do,” he tells The British Continental, looking back on his journey to the top step of the podium twelve months ago.
Macfarlane, a video producer by trade, is chatting openly having just released a deeply personal YouTube video he’s been sitting on for almost a year. “I just really enjoy making funny videos about stuff and getting people into cycling really. I try to make cycling seem fun, and somewhat accessible,” he says, as we discuss his 23-minute masterpiece which covers one of the most remarkable transformations in the sport, via some of Britain’s most loved eateries.
I was smoking, drinking, out in the pub five days a week minimum. I started getting arrested left, right and centre
“Like I say in the video, I was smoking, drinking, out in the pub five days a week minimum. I started getting arrested left, right and centre. It was going down a bad path. Then cycling literally did change my life. If I didn’t pick up cycling, God knows where I would have ended up,” he reflects, confronting his past head-on.
Image: Mark James
A 50km ride while still a teenager provided Macfarlane with an initial spark of inspiration. Exhausted but exhilarated, he was hungry for more. “I was riding with my dad and his mates a lot at first, and they always said you’re pretty good, but it wasn’t until I was riding a lot more with some other people and started going out and taking some Strava KOMs, that’s when I kind of knew, and people actually told me, you’re pretty good at this. I’d literally been for a night out at the pub, woken up, had x amount of cigarettes, then taken a KOM in Surrey. People were like, what the hell is wrong with you?! How?!” he laughs.
It took Macfarlane more time to adjust to racing, however, finding his niche in hill climbs by the time of the 2020 National Championships. Synonymous with Britain’s autumn as much as the leaves on the road and the fitting of mudguards, for two months hill climbs are held up the nation’s most challenging gradients — a time trial format crowning the winner as the riders ascend one by one to the sound of cowbells and their racing heartbeats.
It’s a really friendly scene; it’s probably the most inclusive scene I’ve yet to find in the sport
“It’s a really friendly scene; it’s probably the most inclusive scene I’ve yet to find in the sport,” explains Macfarlane when asked what keeps him returning to the niche discipline year on year. “It’s run by the same people who raced it 50 years prior. There’s coffee and cake at the HQ before and after. There are all sorts of people who do it, from your elite racers to grandmas and grandpas, there are kids. It’s just a really nice community feel, everyone’s talking to each other. It’s not like a road race or a crit in London where everything is about which aerosock is faster. It helps that I’m good at them too – if I was really shit at them I probably wouldn’t do them!” he laughs.
Image: Mark James
Macfarlane is keen to point out some of the misconceptions around hill climbs, himself not fitting the traditional mould people may imagine when the two words are introduced. “People think you need to be super lightweight to be a hill climber, and maybe if you’re racing up Mont Ventoux that’s true, but in the UK most climbs suit more power climbers, and there are even some climbs that would suit a sprinter, like Monsal. There are even some super short ones where the riders that have won it over the years have been close to 90kg,” he explains.
In the UK most climbs suit more power climbers, and there are even some climbs that would suit a sprinter
“You don’t need to be super light and skinny to compete at a good level in hill climbs. I think I’m really lucky that in general I don’t hold onto fat. I actually put on weight for the hill climb season. I’m a big advocate of creatine and that puts on a kilo or two, but it works out in favour as I’m actually faster up the hill on that. I don’t follow a diet, I just make sure to fuel myself properly during training and after. Some hill climbers go through these crazy things like tactical dehydration. I don’t do any of that stuff; I just make sure I whack a bag of Haribo an hour before, then smash it up the climb.”
As famous as the races themselves is the specialist equipment that frequents them. Handlebars deprived of their drops, holes drilled in every component and even fixed-gear setups are all commonplace in an environment that can lay claim to being the birthplace of marginal gains. As such, Macfarlane’s bike drew almost as much attention as his win itself twelve months ago – a 2008 Cervélo frame adorned with graffiti drawn on it by the hill climb community, from competitors to friends and officials alike, finding itself on the pages of multiple magazines and online outlets.
Image: Mark James
“It’s been sat on the side, I’m going to clear-coat it and have it as a piece of art,” explains Macfarlane as to why it hasn’t been seen in the last twelve months. “The reason I’m not riding it, having won on it, is that I can’t do it any more justice than it’s already had. Its story ended perfectly when winning the Nationals – now it’s a priceless piece of memorabilia.”
In need of a new bike for this season, the Londoner has found a worthy replacement. “4.8kg with pedals,” he states with pride, riders able to throw reckless abandon to the UCI’s 6.9kg minimum weight under the hill climb governing body, CTT, rules. “There’s a guy called Neil who runs C-Technique, a carbon repairs and custom modifications specialist. I gave him the frame and he’s done all this crazy stuff with it. It’s absolutely nuts. He’s been the main mastermind, moulding the stem and handlebar, stripping the paint… I’ve only added some extra parts onto it myself. It’s been a fun project to get going, and it’s just fun more than anything else to break the sub-5 barrier.”
The only bad thing about being national champion is The British Continental always introduces you as the British National Hill Climb Champion
Despite his status as the current national champion, having beaten the likes of Andrew Feather twelve months ago, Macfarlane cuts a figure a little uneasy with his status and newfound fame. “The only bad thing about being national champion is The British Continental always introduces you as the British National Hill Climb Champion,” he laughs, recounting his season debut at the Peaks 2-Day in March. “I wasn’t on form, you put me as a favourite [for the Holme Moss stage] and everyone is like, oh, you’re going to win. Then I was like 26th!”
Jokes aside, Macfarlane appears to thrive in the role of the underdog, pointing out not only is his lightweight machinery a double-edged sword, but that the National Champion’s jersey can also be a heavy one on the shoulders. “You’ve got fewer excuses, right?” he says, flipping the question of whether having the lightest bike in the field gives him both a mental and physical advantage on its head, before turning to his custom red and blue-banded skinsuit adorned with his Rule 28 x Outliers team branding. “It’s always fun to wear it, and it’s a once-in-your-life thing,” he notes. “But it’s a weird one because you win the Nationals, but it’s a whole year until you can wear it. So much can change in a year with your fitness, so it’s a funny one.
Image: Mark James
“The first hill climb I wore it, I’d just come back from Girona where I wasn’t really training, I was just drinking beer and having a break. I went into this hill climb knowing Andrew Feather was going to be there and knowing I wasn’t going to win. I prefer being the underdog and not having as much pressure maybe, so it’s really nice to wear it, but at the same time there is this pressure to perform.”
I prefer being the underdog and not having as much pressure maybe, so it’s really nice to wear it, but at the same time there is this pressure to perform
Naturally, defending champion Macfarlane, the final rider to take on Bank Road on Sunday for the 2025 National Championship, is playing down his chances of retaining the title. “I’m not feeling as good for it, but you never know,” he admits, acknowledging the fact that even self-styled underdogs have their day.
“I think basically what’s happened is, I quit my job to go freelance a few months ago and I started riding loads and became really good for road racing, and had some really good road results. Usually, I won’t race the last few road races and start hill climb training, but because I was going so well on the road I kept my endurance training going and then had a break really late when the hill climb season had already started. So I came in late, with some really good road form. I was really good at doing longer efforts, but I hadn’t really been able to sharpen it to really short efforts as quickly as I wanted. I think other people have been able to hone their form for shorter efforts for the Nationals this year – I’m not quite there yet, just two or three percent off.”
Macfarlane’s decision to go freelance has already paid dividends in his road racing – the freedom, combined with his perseverance to overcome a serial cramping issue, which he describes as blighting him in “every race” up until this year, helping to deliver a pair of fourth places in the Witheridge and Wentworth Woodhouse Grand Prixs, and with them a late charge to break into the top ten of the National Road Series.
Image: Mark James
“I’ve been doing UK races for years, and also working a full-time job. Now I’ve gone freelance I want to do a lot more racing, maybe abroad, but I guess the main thing is to have fun, which has always been the case,” he explains, looking to the future with broadening horizons and a deeper ambition.
I want to do a lot more racing, maybe abroad, but I guess the main thing is to have fun, which has always been the case
“I haven’t seen a decline in my fitness, or my weight, since I quit smoking, I’ve just been getting better and better year on year.
“The power numbers I can do in a hill climb and the weight I’m at would translate well to the track. My best efforts are between one and four minutes; it’s not a world away from the kilo or pursuit on the boards. We’ll see where the sport continues to take me, but I’m open to opportunities.”
As he lines up to defend his crown this weekend, the story feels almost full circle — from cigarettes and cell bars to KOMs and championships. Whatever happens on Bank Road, Macfarlane has already proved that cycling can offer redemption, reinvention and a sense of belonging — all in one dizzying, uphill sprint.
Harry Macfarlane isn’t your average cyclist. A viral content creator and ex-smoker, the 28-year-old proved that anything is possible last October when he became the National Hill Climb Champion, etching his name in the history books alongside the likes of Brian Robinson, Malcolm Elliott and Chris Boardman.
“It was pretty wild to win it. Something I never thought I could do,” he tells The British Continental, looking back on his journey to the top step of the podium twelve months ago.
Macfarlane, a video producer by trade, is chatting openly having just released a deeply personal YouTube video he’s been sitting on for almost a year. “I just really enjoy making funny videos about stuff and getting people into cycling really. I try to make cycling seem fun, and somewhat accessible,” he says, as we discuss his 23-minute masterpiece which covers one of the most remarkable transformations in the sport, via some of Britain’s most loved eateries.
“Like I say in the video, I was smoking, drinking, out in the pub five days a week minimum. I started getting arrested left, right and centre. It was going down a bad path. Then cycling literally did change my life. If I didn’t pick up cycling, God knows where I would have ended up,” he reflects, confronting his past head-on.
A 50km ride while still a teenager provided Macfarlane with an initial spark of inspiration. Exhausted but exhilarated, he was hungry for more. “I was riding with my dad and his mates a lot at first, and they always said you’re pretty good, but it wasn’t until I was riding a lot more with some other people and started going out and taking some Strava KOMs, that’s when I kind of knew, and people actually told me, you’re pretty good at this. I’d literally been for a night out at the pub, woken up, had x amount of cigarettes, then taken a KOM in Surrey. People were like, what the hell is wrong with you?! How?!” he laughs.
It took Macfarlane more time to adjust to racing, however, finding his niche in hill climbs by the time of the 2020 National Championships. Synonymous with Britain’s autumn as much as the leaves on the road and the fitting of mudguards, for two months hill climbs are held up the nation’s most challenging gradients — a time trial format crowning the winner as the riders ascend one by one to the sound of cowbells and their racing heartbeats.
“It’s a really friendly scene; it’s probably the most inclusive scene I’ve yet to find in the sport,” explains Macfarlane when asked what keeps him returning to the niche discipline year on year. “It’s run by the same people who raced it 50 years prior. There’s coffee and cake at the HQ before and after. There are all sorts of people who do it, from your elite racers to grandmas and grandpas, there are kids. It’s just a really nice community feel, everyone’s talking to each other. It’s not like a road race or a crit in London where everything is about which aerosock is faster. It helps that I’m good at them too – if I was really shit at them I probably wouldn’t do them!” he laughs.
Macfarlane is keen to point out some of the misconceptions around hill climbs, himself not fitting the traditional mould people may imagine when the two words are introduced. “People think you need to be super lightweight to be a hill climber, and maybe if you’re racing up Mont Ventoux that’s true, but in the UK most climbs suit more power climbers, and there are even some climbs that would suit a sprinter, like Monsal. There are even some super short ones where the riders that have won it over the years have been close to 90kg,” he explains.
“You don’t need to be super light and skinny to compete at a good level in hill climbs. I think I’m really lucky that in general I don’t hold onto fat. I actually put on weight for the hill climb season. I’m a big advocate of creatine and that puts on a kilo or two, but it works out in favour as I’m actually faster up the hill on that. I don’t follow a diet, I just make sure to fuel myself properly during training and after. Some hill climbers go through these crazy things like tactical dehydration. I don’t do any of that stuff; I just make sure I whack a bag of Haribo an hour before, then smash it up the climb.”
As famous as the races themselves is the specialist equipment that frequents them. Handlebars deprived of their drops, holes drilled in every component and even fixed-gear setups are all commonplace in an environment that can lay claim to being the birthplace of marginal gains. As such, Macfarlane’s bike drew almost as much attention as his win itself twelve months ago – a 2008 Cervélo frame adorned with graffiti drawn on it by the hill climb community, from competitors to friends and officials alike, finding itself on the pages of multiple magazines and online outlets.
“It’s been sat on the side, I’m going to clear-coat it and have it as a piece of art,” explains Macfarlane as to why it hasn’t been seen in the last twelve months. “The reason I’m not riding it, having won on it, is that I can’t do it any more justice than it’s already had. Its story ended perfectly when winning the Nationals – now it’s a priceless piece of memorabilia.”
In need of a new bike for this season, the Londoner has found a worthy replacement. “4.8kg with pedals,” he states with pride, riders able to throw reckless abandon to the UCI’s 6.9kg minimum weight under the hill climb governing body, CTT, rules. “There’s a guy called Neil who runs C-Technique, a carbon repairs and custom modifications specialist. I gave him the frame and he’s done all this crazy stuff with it. It’s absolutely nuts. He’s been the main mastermind, moulding the stem and handlebar, stripping the paint… I’ve only added some extra parts onto it myself. It’s been a fun project to get going, and it’s just fun more than anything else to break the sub-5 barrier.”
Despite his status as the current national champion, having beaten the likes of Andrew Feather twelve months ago, Macfarlane cuts a figure a little uneasy with his status and newfound fame. “The only bad thing about being national champion is The British Continental always introduces you as the British National Hill Climb Champion,” he laughs, recounting his season debut at the Peaks 2-Day in March. “I wasn’t on form, you put me as a favourite [for the Holme Moss stage] and everyone is like, oh, you’re going to win. Then I was like 26th!”
Jokes aside, Macfarlane appears to thrive in the role of the underdog, pointing out not only is his lightweight machinery a double-edged sword, but that the National Champion’s jersey can also be a heavy one on the shoulders. “You’ve got fewer excuses, right?” he says, flipping the question of whether having the lightest bike in the field gives him both a mental and physical advantage on its head, before turning to his custom red and blue-banded skinsuit adorned with his Rule 28 x Outliers team branding. “It’s always fun to wear it, and it’s a once-in-your-life thing,” he notes. “But it’s a weird one because you win the Nationals, but it’s a whole year until you can wear it. So much can change in a year with your fitness, so it’s a funny one.
“The first hill climb I wore it, I’d just come back from Girona where I wasn’t really training, I was just drinking beer and having a break. I went into this hill climb knowing Andrew Feather was going to be there and knowing I wasn’t going to win. I prefer being the underdog and not having as much pressure maybe, so it’s really nice to wear it, but at the same time there is this pressure to perform.”
Naturally, defending champion Macfarlane, the final rider to take on Bank Road on Sunday for the 2025 National Championship, is playing down his chances of retaining the title. “I’m not feeling as good for it, but you never know,” he admits, acknowledging the fact that even self-styled underdogs have their day.
“I think basically what’s happened is, I quit my job to go freelance a few months ago and I started riding loads and became really good for road racing, and had some really good road results. Usually, I won’t race the last few road races and start hill climb training, but because I was going so well on the road I kept my endurance training going and then had a break really late when the hill climb season had already started. So I came in late, with some really good road form. I was really good at doing longer efforts, but I hadn’t really been able to sharpen it to really short efforts as quickly as I wanted. I think other people have been able to hone their form for shorter efforts for the Nationals this year – I’m not quite there yet, just two or three percent off.”
Macfarlane’s decision to go freelance has already paid dividends in his road racing – the freedom, combined with his perseverance to overcome a serial cramping issue, which he describes as blighting him in “every race” up until this year, helping to deliver a pair of fourth places in the Witheridge and Wentworth Woodhouse Grand Prixs, and with them a late charge to break into the top ten of the National Road Series.
“I’ve been doing UK races for years, and also working a full-time job. Now I’ve gone freelance I want to do a lot more racing, maybe abroad, but I guess the main thing is to have fun, which has always been the case,” he explains, looking to the future with broadening horizons and a deeper ambition.
“I haven’t seen a decline in my fitness, or my weight, since I quit smoking, I’ve just been getting better and better year on year.
“The power numbers I can do in a hill climb and the weight I’m at would translate well to the track. My best efforts are between one and four minutes; it’s not a world away from the kilo or pursuit on the boards. We’ll see where the sport continues to take me, but I’m open to opportunities.”
As he lines up to defend his crown this weekend, the story feels almost full circle — from cigarettes and cell bars to KOMs and championships. Whatever happens on Bank Road, Macfarlane has already proved that cycling can offer redemption, reinvention and a sense of belonging — all in one dizzying, uphill sprint.
Featured image: Mark James
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