ECCA 100

The ECCA 100 is a potentially a quick 100 mile TT, as it is based on the A11/A14 around Newmarket. I had entered in the hope of improving on my current best 100 mile time of 2013, which was 3:40:53. The forecast all week had been a little bit dire, with strong SW winds being forecast and the possibility of rain as well.

The day started at 3am for me with a hour drive to the HQ, the morning was nice and clear, though even on the drive up to Ugley, I could see the tops of the trees being blown around quite a lot, it certainly wasn't the worst weather, but it certainly wasn't that nice. Still it was the same for all.

With the bike all loaded up with bottles and Torq gels, I did a quick check of things and made my way to the start. The first part was all tailwind and it meant a fast trip to the far turn when I got there at an average of 29mph, I knew the return leg was going to a bit of a tough slog. I upped the power into the wind, but still the average speed just continued to drop. I got to the near turn with the average at 27mph, so a good 2mph difference, it certainly wasn't pointing to a quick day. With the next tailwind leg, I tried to moderate the effort as I knew the average speed would increase, and I wanted to save a bit for the last 29 miles into the wind.

Looking good on a tailwind section
Photo Courtesy of Davy Jones

As the speed increased it never increased enough to match the first part, so it meant that the last 29 miles was going to be a bit hit and miss effort wise. I started off good, and was keeping the power high, though starting to suffer some saddle discomfort now meant more time out of the saddle, and with a headwind this just had a big impact on the average speed. I enjoyed getting cheered on by the TT legend that is Andy Wilkinson, and it did help keep me motivated to push on. After about 85 miles though it all seemed to go to pot, my legs just started really hurting pushing out the required power and as the miles clicked by it was just harder and harder to sustain the required effort.

The last 13 miles was back on the single carriageway roads and with it being mainly uphill, and with a cross headwind, it was just the wrong time to really start suffering. I plugged on as hard as I could but with the low power time was just ebbing away far too quickly. I crossed the line in 3:46:51 and tried to enjoy the 5 mile ride back to the HQ.

Nearing the finish and still trying to be as aero as possible
Picture Courtesy of Danny Watkins

On seeing the times others had done, I wasn't too far back, but when my team mate told me I was 2 mins up on him with the 29 miles to go, and I finished nearly 3 mins slower than him, it was quite a bit of a shock, losing 5 mins in 29 miles is never a nice feeling.  A classy ride by Joel Wainman for the win, and an equally great ride by Steve Irwin for 2nd place just 17 secs behind Joel. Adam Topham also suffered with inadequate fuelling, and faded really badly as well, we finished just 5 secs apart, not a good day for either of us.

Obviously when  you have a real bad day it can lead to a lot of soul searching as to what went wrong, and how to avoid it in the future. I must say I have a great coach, and with a real good conversation on the phone, I think we pinpointed what went wrong, and came up with a plan to try and ensure it doesn't happen again, it would be really good to nail a 100 properly.

I guess the next attempt I get is at the National 100 on the 14th July, lets hope I can nail this one properly. I will write a blog shortly about this.

1st - Joel Wainman 3:44:01
2nd - Steve Irwin 3:44:18
3rd - Adam Topham 3:46:46

Icknield RC 100 Mile TT

The first of the real long TT's. I always think 100 mile TT's are the hardest of all, they are shorter than a 12 hour admittedly, but they are done at an effort that is not that far below a 50 mile TT. This means a high tempo effort for a prolonged duration. I would normally try for around 85-90% of FTP and for a duration of around 220 mins this takes a real toll on the body, as well as the mind.

The Icknield RC event was no different, with it being ran up and down the A1 as per the Norlond Combine 50 I knew the course pretty well, apart from a 14 mile finishing circuit off the A1, 100's generally mean a very early start time, and even with being at the back end of the field, it was still a 3:30am alarm call for a 6:20am start. Driving to the HQ at least gave me the time for the body to fully awake, and en route I did notice there appeared to be very little wind, though as forecasted the wind picked up as the morning went along.

Normally in a 100, I would take some energy drink and 3 gels, basically one every 25 miles, this year with the help of Torq Fitness and their nutrition guides, and nutrition products I thought I would try and fuel just a little bit better this meant eating and drinking a little bit more in the event. I loaded up the bike with Torq gels and Torq energy drink (I do these with no helpers, so try and carry as much as possible), and set off for the start. My aim was to have a gel every 30 mins, as well as topping up with energy drink as I felt the need, I also had water on the bike to wash the gels down with, it was a tad heavy ;-)

The first part was pretty wind free still, and the pace was good and the effort sustainable, legs felt a little heavy at first I will admit, but they eased as I got into the swing of things. It wasn't long before I started catching riders, I did wonder if I was going just a tad too hard, but the power figures looked OK, so just pushed on. With the chilly air and me starting to sweat already my visor started misting up after only 7-8 miles, there was no way I could put up with that for the rest of the race. I tried to wipe it a little, but that made the visor come away from the helmet and it came to rest somewhere on the A1 - D'oh. No the best start to the day, losing a £30 visor, one thing it did do though was bring a nice cool breeze into my face which felt pretty good, though with no glasses my eyes did sting by the end of the race.

The first 25 mile came and went in around the time I had targetted, 54:30, so I was pleased everything seemed to be going OK, and with the slow 2nd turn out of the way I was hoping to be able to pick the pace up a little. I did manage this, but as the wind got increasingly stronger, the speed seem to stablise or even dip on the northbound leg with the NNW wind. It did mean a nicer and faster southbound leg however. I completed the first 50 miles in 1:50:07 so still on for a good time, as long as I could keep the effort going. The fuelling was going well, I must admit helped by the lovely flavour of the Raspberry Ripple gel Torq do, it is by far the best tasting gel I have ever used, and I have used a fair amount of different ones. I always struggle to swallow gels when racing, so to have a truely great tasting one makes it so much easier to swallow.

Suffering etched on my face
Picture Courtesy of Davey Jones

I needed a quick roadside stop for new bottles at around the 55 mile mark, and then pushed on feeling pretty good into the wind, I got to the northern turn and thought as the last 20 miles were going to be into the wind, and then onto a lumpier finishing circuit, I would try and save some energy on the last southbound leg. It is also a help as after 60 odd hard miles the fatigue is starting to creep in, and although still on target, the riders up ahead seemed to being caught alot slower than normal. On turning the southern turn for the last time, and with 20 miles to go, the wind just really hit hard. Obviously even with taking a bit of recovery, the fatigue had really crept in, and I found it a struggle to up the effort again. I slowly got back into things and the average speed seemed fairly stable. This was going to be a really tough finish, but aren't they all ;-).

Picture Courtesy of Davey Jones

Once onto the finishing circuit and with a cross wind now, the speed was still there, but with a drag for a few miles it just seemed really slow, I was hoping the back part of the circuit would be fast, unfortunately it wasn't that fast and it had a nasty little hill coming out of Great Barford, nothing steep or long, but with 95 miles in the legs at race effort it did hurt. Not long after this I hit a big pothole, and the crack it made had me worried that the tub was punctured, but after a few hundred yards it still seemed fine. The same can't be said for my Garmin, obviously it was a hard hit, as this was ejected from my bike. I did think about turning around and going back to get it, but with only 5 miles to go and being told it was very close between Lee Tunnicliffe and myself I had no choice but to carry on. I went to look for it later and found it eventually, pretty much squashed :-( , this was getting to be a very expensive race.

Climbing the hill out of Great Barford
Picture Courtesy of Davey Jones

The last 5 miles were going to have to be done very old school, with no knowledge of the time, speed, power etc, it was just a case of pushing on the pedals as hard as I could. After what seemed like an eternity I was nearing the finish, which was just over the brow of a hill, or was it a mountian LOL.

I managed to beat my PB for 100 miles with a 3:40:53 and to win the event from Lee Tunnicliffe by a scant 52 secs. A fantastic time for the BBAR, and a very good banker so very happy with that. Without the data from my Garmin I can't really say how bad the last 20 miles were, but with fairly even 50 mile splits it probably wasn't as bad as I thought, but I can certainly improve on the performance.

Another trip up to the A1 again this weekend with the Finsbury Park CC 50, just hope the legs have recovered enough from the 100 to set a faster 50 time, then again looking at the forecast the wind is not likely to be very helpful, though at least it might be a bit warmer than last time.

1st Steve Berry (Team Swift) 3:40:53
2nd Lee Tunnicliffe (High Wycombe CC) 3:41:45
3rd Gary Dighton (Poole Wheelers) 3:42:13