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