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
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