CTT TT Series - Round 2

With the 1st round being cancelled this was my first real important event of the year, I have been training hard with some quality work being put in and it really being shown by my fitness improving all the time. It was now time to put this to the test in an event I really wanted to win.

Luckily with work I had to go to Nottingham during the week leading up to the event, so I was able to take a quick drive around the course on my way home, the course was a mixture of country lanes and a fairly major A road, with a steep descent after about 8 miles. We would be going down this hill at some speed in the race I felt. It was good to see the course before the day, at least I could plan things in my mind.

On getting to the HQ I decided to do a lap of the course on my bike to get to know the course whilst riding, and to get a bit of a warm up in. First thing the wind was light and with training wheels on, the course felt pretty quick, though to get to the top of the big hill meant climbing effectively for 8 miles, though it was an up and down rolling affair really. On my recce lap I felt able to push pretty hard down the big hill and it felt pretty comfortable, so was hoping for even more speed during the race.

As the seniors went off followed by the juniors and disabled riders, you could see the wind getting stronger and more gusty in nature. I had expected this and with the top veterans running 2 mins apart at least we all had the same conditions.

I had elected to use my new 90mm deep section front wheel, as from where I was although it was windy, it didn't seem too bad. This turned out to not be that smart a decision from me, after less than a mile I was blown all over the place, and found it quite a struggle with the gusty crosswind. As I turned at the first turning things got better however and with the wind being more from behind me I was able to keep up a good pace, this section was a gradual uphill, so I decided to just trying and up the power and keep the speed as high as possible. At least with every slight downhill it meant a nice micro recovery period.

In full flight
Picture courtesy of Ben Wimpory

The next turn was after about 5 miles and it was a good tailwind for the final slog to the top of Broughton Hill on the A606, I felt I was going well, power was good and felt on top of things. Speed was good as well even with it being uphill. The next part I was hoping would be my favourite part, the cracking descent of Broughton Hill, unfortunately as I was now again getting crosswinds it became a bit of a nightmare, and keeping the damn bike straight was proving difficult and at the higher speeds combined with the crosswind the wheel wobbles started again. My speed down it in the race was about 5mph slower than my early morning attempt, though getting to the bottom without killing myself seemed a better idea than going for a speed record. Once at the bottom of the hill with some shelter from the hedges I was able to get back on the power again and try and keep the speed high before I turned again towards the finish but this time I would have a stonking headwind.

I had tried to save something for this last section as it was mainly uphill and I knew it would be a headwind, also the surface was not as good as the main road, so it had plenty of things trying to sap the speed you had already built up. As I turned for the last 3 miles or so, the effort was starting to tell, and with the headwind it just seemed a real slog, the average speed was just falling away and no matter how much effort I put in the speed just seemed to continue to drop off. The last 2 minutes however with the road flattening out I just gave it everything I had, and thankfully the speed increased and coming around the last bend I was hoping to see the finish about 100 metres away, unfortunately the finish was a bit further away, perhaps only another 200 metres or so, but boy this seemed to be alot further when fully on the limit.

I had hoped beforehand that a 32 min lap was possible, but with the wind I wasn't quite sure when I started, in the end I did manage a 32 min lap, as I crossed the line with a 32:25. I was happy about the race, but unsure as to how well I would have done against my main competitor, Andrew Perkins. I did the usual 10-15 mins of riding gently to warm down and ease off the legs before heading to the HQ, it is always during this time you think about how you could have approached the race differently, and I always think I could have gone that little bit harder. In all honesty though I pushed as hard as I could, and I had given it my best shot.

On looking at the results I was very pleased to see that I had won the veterans event by 33 secs from Andrew, although certainly not a trouble free race with the wind I was able to do enough to win. The most stunning ride of the day was by Matt Bottrill though as he managed to smash the course record, each of his 2 laps (senior event was 2 laps of the same course) was faster than my own, the guy is just on another level.

Well happy to start the series off with a win, just got to try and do it for the remainder of the events. Next one is in 2 weeks time in Norfolk, not sure how hilly the course will be, but I hope it is as much fun as this course was. Certainly be back on that course again, really enjoyed it, and a massive thanks to Leicestershire RC for promoting the event.

Team Swift 10

One of the quests for a TT rider is to try and get below the 20 min barrier for a 10 mile TT, I don't often do 10 mile TT's however, being more of a long distance TT rider. The V718 in Yorkshire is probably the fastest 10 mile course and it is a long way to go to do just 10 miles.

I wouldn't normally travel that far for a 10 mile race, but I had purchased a wheel from a rider in Scunthorpe and we had arranged for me to collect it, and as Team Swift were putting on a race, I thought I could kill a few birds with one stone, collect wheel, do a fast 10, meet some of the team whilst I was up in Yorkshire.

I hadn't treated it as a special race however, this last couple of weeks have been like a mini training  camp, so I knew I would be going into the race on tired legs, and with no training carried out for 10 mile TT's. Added to this was a week off work, trying to balance the heavy training load with family commitments and the joys of spending 2 days traipsing around theme parks keeping an 8 year old occupied, meant my legs on Saturday morning were as painful as I have felt them in recent times. I did an early morning training session which seemed to at least help ease them off a bit.

Driving to Hull, it was good to see smoke coming from the chimneys going up vertically, considering the weather we have had of late, that was a nice pleasant surprise, added to that was the bright sunshine, and the warming temperatures, 11 degrees of thereabouts was positively tropical compared to a few days previously.

Legs felt better during my warm up, though to be honest I wasn't really putting much effort in, the ride to the start was at a harder pace (I was actually cutting it very close to getting to the start before my start time), and although they still weren't as good as they could have been they didn't feel too bad.

Even though I had a powermeter on the bike, I decided it was pointless trying to pace effort with it, I had no real idea of what sort of power I could sustain with the fatigue and the lack of any real 20 min all out efforts in training. I tried to pace it on perceived exertion, though as my legs were hurting from the off, that was proving fairly pointless as well, I just kept thinking I should really be doing other things LOL. Once up to speed, I just tried to keep a decent speed going, and with a slight headwind out I took pleasure in the fact that at least coming back should be faster, though no less painful.

I got to the turn in a decent time, the average speed being around 29.7 mph, I thought this was fairly good, and if the return leg was faster I should get below 20 mins. Losing nearly 1 mph around the turn was a bit depressing though, and I started the return leg with an average of 28.9 mph, it was going to be a real tough return, especially as I felt pretty cooked by this time.

 

Negotiating the Turn
(Picture courtesy of Richard Dixon)

At least coming back was faster and slowly the average speed rose, though is seemed an age before it hit the 30 mph mark, at least when it did it continued to climb as I got nearer the line. The finish on the V718 is ever so slightly uphill, so it always seems to take ages from seeing the finish to actually getting there, with the clock ticking away it seemed as though a sub 20 min ride was only just on the cards, but I was very pleased that I was only 19 secs off my PB which was done in better conditions on the same course.

My legs had held out, and the final drag to the line had seem me putting out very good power, proving that although tired I was still able to produce pretty good figures, and with one of the very few 10's I will do get another sub 20 min ride.

Back at the HQ and looking at the result board, it was no surprise to see Andy Tennant win the event, but 2nd to 6th were separated by 8 secs, it was that close at the top. Pleased to have slotted in in 5th place, and very encouraged that in a fresher state I could have done a better time, as mentioned earlier I hadn't really targeted the race, it was just a see how it is type of race. Power was pretty good as well, certainly not the best I have done, but pretty close and a good sign for the target races later in the year.

Next race will be round 2 of the CTT TT Series on the 21st April, no doubt another solid week of training before a slight taper for that, and hoping that the training load I have attained will be put to some really good use when fresher.

Team Swift 10 Result

1st Andy Tennant - 18:59
2nd Adam Gascoigne - 19:31
3rd David Crawley - 19:34
4th Michael Ellerton - 19:35
5th Steve Berry - 19:36
6th Lee Tunnicliffe - 19:37
7th Jonathan Shubert - 19:43
8th Scott Burns - 19:44
9th Simon Beldon - 19:46
10th Steve Irwin 19:51
11th Andy Jackson 19:52

Winning team was Team Swift :-)