TT Series Round 8 - Finally There

Last weekend saw the final round of the CTT TT Series, with 5 wins out of 6 events so far, this should have been a bit of a fun event, but with this event being double points, the whole series could still be lost if the worst was to happen. Before I go on however I want to have a quick mention of a really fun event I did the weekend before.

I haven't raced in Kent much this year, and when one of the local girls, Sally Smith, said she was looking for a veteran to do a GP de Gents 2 up, I said I would be glad to ride it with her. The event was the West Kent RC 25 mile, and although Sally was suppose to lead me around (as I was the older of us two), we had decided that as we were very unlikely to get anywhere near the win, I would tow Sally around. I think Sally enjoyed her early morning workout as she did really well holding on for what was her fastest ever time around a 25 mile course, and that was including previous TTT's. For me it was a real fun race with no stresses or worries about what I needed to do. I think in all honesty it is what I really needed as the season has been quite stressful in various ways, might have to include a few more "fun" events next year.

Sally and I

Picture Courtesy of Dave Hayward

 

 

Back to the TT Series, after what felt like a stressful 2 weeks waiting for the startsheet to appear, downside of this event was no internet entry, so not knowing if your entry arrived was a worry when the event was so important. Some of the stresses went when I got the startsheet, but I still needed to make sure I finished the event with a decent placing, things on the bike and tyres etc were checked and double checked. I would also be ably assisted in this event by Heather and Killian who were parked up halfway around the course with spare wheels in case I got a puncture, I even had spare wheels at the HQ (which we passed) just to be really safe.

The course was almost 2 laps of a 10 mile circuit near Corby, a very nice circuit with a few lumps thrown in, and some really nice rolling roads. There were a few villages to go through as well which due to the parked cars, meant fully alert. The course record was held by Richard Prebble with a 41:30, and as well as aiming to do well, I wanted to try and break the course record.

The start is straight up a hill, and although not long, it is steep enough to get the old legs stinging if you go too hard, which is quite easy just after the start LOL. Once at the top it was now a great downhill and onto the rolling roads, speed was good here with a nice tailwind, and soon I was passing Heather and Killian in Medbourne. I was feeling good and just aimed to keep up the speed to make sure after the first lap I was in with a shout of the course record.

Out of Medbourne and on towards Ashley the roads were still rolling, but the drag up to Ashley seemed quite tough when at full racing effort. Through Ashley took a bit of care with parked cars and 90 degree bends, but once out of the village it was virtually straight on until you got back to Middleton where the finish was. This section was the toughest with a little bit of a headwind slowly robbing you off the average speed, as I went through the finish for the first time I saw the average was 27.6 mph, and now sensed that the record was beatable. Coming out of Cottingham you have to climb up past the start and up the hill again towards Bringhurst, it didn't seem so easy this time, and it felt like a very slow grind. Average speed had dropped below the 27.1 mph I needed, but at least with the slowest part of the course out of the way I could try and get it back up to where I needed it to be.

I passed Heather and Killian again, if I got a puncture now it was too late, and knowing that there were only a few miles left pushed on as hard as I could. Speed had risen, but still not enough to be comfortable, and with the drag up to Ashley seeming to be really slow the second time, the speed dropped again. Once through Ashley and with about 2 miles to go, I just pushed as hard as I could to try and get the speed up. In the distance I could see my 2 min man Geoff Platts, and knew I wouldn't catch him, but it was the time I was more interested in. Coming around the last bend I could see the finish about 1/2 mile away and I could see I was going to beat 41 mins, with a last full on effort I crossed the line in 40:45 to record the win, and set a new course record.

Winning the event also meant I won the CTT TT Series overall for Veterans on Actual Time, which was one of my big goals for the season, and won all 6 of the events I took part in. Geoff Platts managed to finish 2nd overall as well, we have had some good races between us all season.

It has been a really good series in my opinion, and we have raced on some really good and interesting circuits, certainly makes a change from racing up and down busy A roads, can't wait until 2014 when I suppose I will have to try and defend my title.

Also must say congratulations to Matt Bottrill (www.drag2zero.com) on winning the Senior Men, Rebbeca Slack (Look Mum No Hands) on winning the Senior Women and Womens Veteran on Actual, Colin Lynch (Macclesfield Wheelers) on winning the Disabilty, Alex Royle (Banjo Cycles R.S) on winning the Espoirs, Jake Coward (Rapha Condor) on winning the Juniors and John Woodburn (VC Meudon) winning the Veterans on Target Time.

I would have liked this to mark the end of my season, but I agreed to do the Redmon CC GP de Gents 2up with Rebecca Slack at the end of October, so it means a few more weeks of hard work before the season is properly over. Big thanks must go out to Torq Fitness, Tim Bayley from Fisher Outdoor and Keith Murray from Scott UK for all your help this year.

TT Series Round 7- Wet and Windy

Sunday morning saw me taking a nice early morning drive up to Harby near Lincoln for round 7 of the CTT TT Series. On the way up I could see it was windy, smoke coming out horizontal from chimneys is normally a good sign LOL, and unfortunately it was due to get windier as the day went on. On getting to the HQ it was still nice and dry, and the wind didn't seem too bad. The rain was forecasted to arrive late morning/early afternoon, I was just hoping that it would hold off until around 12, when hopefully I would be finished.

I got the bike all setup and went out for a warm up lap and a quick course recce, the rain started whilst I was out there, but it was just a drizzle so nothing too bad. It wasn't long after I got back that the heavens decided they wouldn't hold on until midday, looked like we were all due for a through soaking. As I sat in the HQ shivering (it just felt very cold for some reason) I wasn't looking forward to riding to the start, and as I had given up hope of doing a proper warm up, it would be this 3 mile ride that would have to do. I just hoped it would be enough racing against the likes of Julian Ramsbottom, then again I don't think many of us did much in the way of a warm up.

As my time got nearer the rain started easing off, and actually by the time I started it had actually stopped, though the wind had certainly picked up compared with the course recce. I might not get wet, but by heck I was going to be blown around a fair bit. Once started it was obvious the wind was stronger and in a slightly different direction, but it still meant the majority of the race was going to be into a headwind/cross headwind. Once up to speed the first section along the A57 was fairly good and the speed was pretty good considering the cross headwind. I did have a few moments with breaks in the hedges causing a bit of buffeting with the wind and gusts, so glad I choose the 50mm wheel rather than the deeper section.

The next section was 6 miles into a nice strong blustery headwind, this also coincided with the hillest part of the course, though to be fair it was virtually pan flat. I was feeling pretty good here and just tried to keep at a decent power and get aero as possible, whilst watching out for potholes etc. It was down this stretch that my visor started to mist up, now normally I would be OK with it, but with the roads being wet and not being 100% sure of where any potholes were it meant taking it off and trying to shove it down my skinsuit, not the easiest thing to do whilst trying to race and stay aero. Once it was removed and stashed away I got back to sorting the effort out, and it wasn't long before I saw the turning to finally get a tailwind to the finish.

Once I turned not having a headwind was nice, but it was still hard work keeping the power up for the final 4-5 miles, at least with it being fast it would be over quicker LOL. This road was probably the worst road however and it was vital to keep a look out for the rough areas and potholes, again not always easy with a wet road, just glad I had removed the visor. Even with the tailwind the effort was starting to tell, but with the speed over 30mph I knew the miles were passing fast. As I passed an old farm building I knew I only had a mile to go, so tried to lift the effort for that final few mins, and it wasn't long before I saw the finish, though with the straight roads it looked miles away. Eventually I passed the finish and recorded a 31:29, not as fast as I had hoped after the recce, but with the wind I suppose it wasn't too bad.

On checking the results I saw that I had managed to win with Julian coming in second 41 secs behind, with Geoff Platts in 3rd place another 54 secs behind. Still finding these shorter events hardwork, but pleased that power was good and I put in a real strong finish. Just one more TT Series event left at the end of the month which being a double pointer is essential to finish at least, but with 5 wins out of 6 events (I have only ridden 5 however) hopefully it will mean I end up as series winner for the veterans.

CTT Circuit Championship

This is the first time I had entered the CTT Circuit Championship, and to be honest I wasn’t really in the right peak of fitness for it, since the 12 Hour Championship I hadn’t ridden the bike much, and had spent a week hill walking in the Lake District. Like I say not really the best prep and as my coach said, probably the worst 3 weeks of training leading up to a race, at least I was rested I suppose. Still I really wanted to do it and see how I faired, the main hope was to win my Age Group, and just hopefully get near the top 10 if possible.

The champs were being held in Dorset in Bovington, a great excuse to bring Heather and Killian with me, as whilst I was racing they could visit the Tank Museum, I knew Killian would love that with his enjoyment of anything to do with the Army. With the HQ only being a short walk from the museum it was a perfect family day out.

On getting to Bovington, I just about had time to get a lap of the course in before the event started, the start was downhill followed by a undulating tailwind section down the A352, after a sharp left hand turn you had a nice headwind section up a long drag until you got to the next turn which was then mainly downhill past the start. In effect it was a 10 mile(ish) triangle, which we would be covering 3 times. It was pretty obvious it was the headwind drag where most time would be won and lost, and that was the place to make sure power was good and you stayed as aero as possible.

I started off at number 83 which was about midfield for the men, and I knew I would be coming across the seeded riders on my 2^nd and 3^rd lap, I just hoped that there wouldn’t be any drafting going on. I started off at a power I thought would be reasonable (well it would have been when at my peak LOL), but I soon felt that keeping it up for over an hour might prove a bit difficult. The 12 hour training and 3 weeks of not doing much training were making their mark now, it was going to be a real challenging hour that was for sure.

I felt good going up the drag the first time, power was good, even though it felt like hell, I just consoled myself with the fact that as soon as I got to the turn it would be downhill for a while. On getting to the last turn and picking up the speed, I came across the line to complete the 1^st lap quicker than I envisaged which was good, and I saw rider 105 just about to start. Now I know Andrew Meliak quite well being another Kent based rider, and I knew we were fairly close in terms of ability, I knew I had to keep the effort up to make sure he didn’t catch me. The 2^nd lap is where the effort was starting to make itself known, considering I am used to long distance TT’s this one was doing a good job of making me think it was a few miles too far.

Again up the headwind drag I kept the power up as much as possible and it was up here I took in a Raspberry Ripple Torq Gel, this perked me up a little and again on the downhill section I just tried to get as much recovery as possible for the last lap. On passing the startline to start my last lap I could see Matt Bottrill about to start, now I knew there was no way I would be able to hold him off, I just pushed as hard as I could to delay it as much as I could.

With the effort really hurting now, it wasn’t long before Matt came past, just before the sharp left before the drag. As Matt slowly pulled away up the drag I was doing all I could to hold a decent power for this last time up here. Power was starting to drop though as the fatigue and loss of fitness really started to bite. Matt was getting smaller and smaller in the distance, though I knew slowly but surely I was getting towards the end of the drag. On getting to the turn I got a few seconds rest in, and then for the last couple of miles I just went as hard as I could, whilst trying to recover a little on the bigger downhill parts. As I got nearer the finish I put in a real big burst and sped across the line to record a 1:07:22. It wasn’t as fast as I had hoped, after the first lap I thought a sub 1:05 might have been on the cards, but my lack of fitness and just the general fatigue meant power just wasn’t high enough on the day.

After watching Matt smash his way to a stunning 1:01:58 I went back to the HQ to find out surprisingly I had finished in the top 10, 7^th place overall, and I won my Age Group by nearly 2 mins from Andy Perkins. I was a bit shocked if I am honest, I was really feeling pretty rubbish, and my power was a bit shocking for a race that just took over an hour, but at least it shows me the bike and I are pretty aero in the main. Big congrats to Matt who won the CTT Circuit Championship from Michael Hutchinson by 50 secs, cracking rides from both of them to finish 3 mins in front of the 3^rd place Josh Teasdale.

At least this race sort of kickstarted me again after the break, and with 2 of the TT Series races left to ride, there is still plenty to do to make sure I do well in that series. In fact my next race is this weekend up in Lincoln for Round 7 of the TT Series, lets hope the good training I have got in since the circuit champs is put to good use. Heather and Killian enjoyed their afternoon at the Tank Museum, and Killian really enjoyed his ride in a tank, a great day out for all us.

RTTC National 12 Hour Championship

If someone had told me 5 years ago, that one day I would lose out on a National Championship by 0.5 miles, I would have laughed at them. This is exactly what happened last Sunday though when I was pipped by Nik Bowdler by a mere 0.5 miles after 12 hours of racing.

After losing out on a National medal in the National 100 by 15 secs, it would be easy to think someone has something against me LOL, but as with the National 100 I put in by far my best ever 12 hour performance, so even though you could try and work out where you could have made up that lost time, you have to accept that on the day someone else was able to pedal just that little bit faster. 2nd is no mean achievement though, and the aim was to get a medal so I must admit I am pretty chuffed with how the day went.

The day started with a nice cheery 3:15am alarm call, don't think my wife and little lad were quite as cheery though. After a short drive to the HQ I got everything sorted out, amazing amount of stuff you have available to eat and drink for a 12 hour. I was going to try and stick to just using Torq bars and gels, along with the energy drink this year. In the past I had had savoury food as well, but it probably isn't as good nutrition when racing hard.

I set off to my 06:25 start, whilst Heather and Killy made their way to where they were going to feed me first of all. Heather had been worried about getting to each circuit at the right time and did seem a bit worried about getting lost en route between them. I had left her with plenty of maps however, so I was confident she would be alright.

Having a laugh with the timekeepers prior to starting

And off we go for 12 Hours of fun

After a quick chat with the legend of TTing, Andy Wilkinson, I made my way to the starter. As I started I was actually looking forward to the next 12 hours, not sure why to be honest. I quickly got into my stride and the first 40 odd miles went by pretty quick, Heather did a sterling job at the first feed, and I settled down for the next 40 miles of dual carriageway. On getting near the far turn, I saw a sight I would hope I would never see whilst TT-ing, on the other carriageway I could see Police and an ambulance attending to what looked like a rider. I will be honest and say my heart sunk, and I went through a period of doubting why I was doing this. On the way back past the accident I saw the rider was being stabilised, and I could see he was alive, which was a little relief. I was still undecided of what to do, but my first thought was just to get back to Heather as quick as I could, and then make a decision of what to do.

Whilst riding back to Heather, I could see riders where still being directed to the next circuit, so on getting to Heather a quick bottle change and I made the decision to carry on. I will admit there was some feelings of guilt at doing this, but on the other hand, me quitting the race wouldn't have helped the rider.

Once on the next circuit I felt much more at home, but I was feeling the effort of getting off the dual carriageway quickly. I eased down a touch, but with the likes of Adam Topham, Mark Turnbull, and Nik Bowdler behind me I couldn't ease off too much. I passed the 100 mile mark in a pretty rapid time of 3:49, but I didn't really have any idea of those behind me, so I just settled into a strong effort which I thought I could sustain. Feed changes were going well, though on one change Heather tried to hand me some energy drink when I wanted water, still not a problem, I would get the water next time around. Unfortunately I was turned off before getting back to her, again not a problem, even though I was out of energy drink and water by this time, the next meeting point was only about 10 miles away.

This is where I had a bit of a bad patch, on getting to our arranged feeding point, there was no Heather. Heather had had to stop for food for Killian and to go to the toilet, and apparently missed me by about a minute. It was now about the hottest part of the day, and I was gasping for a drink, I was also having worrying thoughts about whether Heather had got lost en route. The lap was only 13 miles, but it felt like an age with me worrying about Heather and also struggling with lack of fluids. I seriously thought about packing if Heather wasn't there next time around, but when I got there a second time she was there already for me. As I was gasping for energy and fluids I stopped for the first time and took on water and energy drink and a welcome can of coke. I still felt pretty shoddy though, and again the next lap took on another can of coke. Eventually I started feeling better again and I was able to up the effort again and feel strong. You normally get a bad patch in a 12 hour, I just happen to have it when low on energy as well.

After these drama's every thing else went very well, feeds were going well, and I was able to maintain a decent pace, even into the wind, and I was feeling confident again. Onhe thing I did start noticing though was a very creaky bottom bracket, luckily it was coming and going, I am not sure I could have put up with over 4 hours of constant creaking LOL.

Once on the finishing circuit and knowing you haven't got long to do, well 3 hours doesn't seem that long when you have been riding for 9 hours, I started to think about getting the most out of myself. There were a few tough headwind sections, where even with a high tempo effort speeds were getting down to 18 mph, when you are trying to keep the average over 24.5mph that makes it even more mentally challenging. Legs were on the verge of cramping all the time now, but I still was averaging good power where I needed to, and relaxing a little when there was a tailwind. As I started what was to be my final circuit the speed dropped to 24.4 and as much as I tried I was unable to get it back to 24.5 by the finish. The final timekeeper for me was up a hill, so the last mile of so was a full on very painful effort to try and get the best mileage possible.

My Garmin showed just over 293 miles when I got the timekeeper with 12 hours and 3 mins, so I knew I have done between 292 and 293 miles, I just didn't have a clue what anyone else had done. On checking the result board at the HQ it was slightly gutting to see I had missed out by such a small margin, but it must be one of the closest 12 hour National Championships. It makes it easier to take when you realise the guy that beat you is a BBAR legend, and he had to work very hard to retain his title.

My thoughts go out to the rider injured during the race on Sunday, I hope he makes a full recovery and is back on his bike before long. Massive thanks to the RTTC and the ECCA members clubs that provided all the helpers on the event. It takes a massive amount of people to run these events and I myself am extremely grateful for all your hard work in getting these events to run as smooth as they do. Many thanks to all the shouts of encouragement from all the helpers from the other riders as well as the officials, this is what makes the 12 hour so special.

Roll on 2014, and let's hope to go one better next year ;).

1st Nik Bowdler 293.2 Miles
2nd Steve Berry 292.7 Miles
3rd Michael Broadwith 282.5 Miles

Winning Team - Hemel Hempstead

TT Series Round 5 (and new TT bike)

After what seemed an age of not racing, though in reality only a few weeks, lots of training seems to make you feel as though it has been ages since you last raced. I had actually raced the Wednesday before the TT series race, though that was just to get the legs used to the feeling of being hammered on a short duration TT again. It obviously worked as even with still tired legs and not being totally aero (forgot my TT helmet), I managed to set a course PB.

It was also the last race on my old reliable TT bike, I had got a new TT frame, but hadn't built it up, though it was built up and ready to go before the TT Series race. The new bike is a Scott Plasma 3 Premium, and it rides like a dream. I have never had a carbon bike before and I was surprised just how much of the road buzz seems to be eliminated. Hopefully this will be good news on the longer TT's where minimising any extra source of fatigue is helpful.

Pic of new TT Bike

 

After a couple of test rides on the new bike, it was up to Worcester for Round 5 of the TT Series, I knew the course pretty well, as it is the first part of the Beacon RCC Little Mountain TT course (the nicer part of the course as well). I did a ride around it on the new bike, and was really happy of how the bike handled on the fast twisting descents.

 

For some reason there was a few riders who were DNS, in fact the 2 seeded riders in front of me were both DNS, it meant that with 2 min intervals between the seeded riders, the next rider in front of me started 6 mins before me (no carrot to chase this time). The course starts uphill which is always slightly tricky, you are full of adrenaline and it is so easy to really overcook yourself, even though there is some downhill recovery, it still takes a bit of a balancing act to get up to speed as quick as possible, but without blowing the doors off completely.

 

Once over the worst of the hill, there was a chance for a quick breather, but even then I wanted to press on as best I could. Power delivery seemed pretty good, and in fact it just feels better on the new bike. With a bit of a tailwind it was fairly fast for the next few miles as the road gently undulated and the feeling on the bike was good. Eventually turning onto the A443 and the road back to Great Witley, I started to notice the wind just that little bit more, and although never really a full on headwind, it was just nagging enough to start sapping the speed. This was combined with the last 4-5 miles gradually heading uphill. With the tiredness starting to bite the last 2 miles felt like 20 miles if I am honest. I was doing similar power to the midweek 10, but doing it for almost twice the time, so not surprising it felt very challenging.

 

Finally seeing the finish marshals in the distance I just tried to empty the tank, a sub 37 min ride would have been nice but that time slipped past as the finish line never seemed to be getting closer. One final uphill effort and I crossed the line to record 37:13 for the 16.7 miles. Fairly happy with the power, and very happy with my effort, like I say after lots of endurance training these shorter harder efforts feel a little bit alien to me at the moment.

 

On getting back to the HQ I saw that I had won the Vets (On Actual Time) by nearly 2 minutes, 2nd place was shared between Geoff Platts and Rob Nicholls with a time of 39:09. That's 4 wins out of 4 for the series, and I just need one more good result to win the Vets Series.

 

Picture courtesy of Kimroy Photography

 

Here is a link to the CTT report of the event.

 

 

Next up is my real big target event of the season the RTTC National 12 Hour Championship on Sunday, I am hoping to go at least 1 place better than the National 100 and hopefully win a National medal of some colour. As always with a 12, it is a tough race where anything could happen, so hopefully I will have a trouble free race and set a good mileage. With good nutrition from Torq Fitness I should do better this year than previous years, build up has been really good, and hopefully with better fuelling I won't struggle towards the end as I have done previously.

RTTC National 100

Last weekend saw another long trip up to the Lake District, this time to take part in the RTTC National 100 mile TT Championship, which was being run on the A66 between Keswick and Workington.

After seeing the start sheet and finding out I was on paper the fastest rider, it did mean I felt under a little more pressure than normal. There is no way I would have expected to be the scratch rider in a national championship in a million years. Also after my little collapse in the ECCA 100 I was concerned that this might well happen again (100's can be difficult beasts when your pacing is off), so although I tried to keep my emotions in check, there was always going to be more stress this weekend.

After a nice relaxing day on the beach on Saturday, the weather was gorgeous and hot, Sunday morning dawned and I felt very good to be honest, far more relaxed than I thought I would be. The weather on Sunday was good, thankfully cooler temps were forecasted, and there was a little breeze to aid the cooling as well. For this event I had my willing helpers of my wife, Heather and my little lad Killian, don't think they enjoyed the early morning alarm call though.

At the HQ I got my numbers and prepared the bike and got all my bottles of Torq Energy ready, along with the copious amount of Torq Raspberry Ripple gels. I normally end up struggling to get gels and drink in, but with the raspberry ripple gels being so lovely, I hoped today wouldn't be a problem, I would need all the fluids and energy I could get, especially when the temps did start climbing.

As the clocks clicks down 08:20 arrives and then I am off, remembering the coaches words of keeping a lid on the effort, no matter how good I felt. I settled into a good pace and the first 25 miles went by without any issues and I still felt good. The gels were going down nicely and I was drinking fairly frequently, though probably still not enough. Heather and Killian were stationed near the HQ which was around the 40 mile mark and on the first bottle change everything went perfectly, new gels and more energy drink, and still feeling pretty good. I had noticed that the wind had seemed to have picked up since the first leg to Workington, not a lot but it seemed to make the mainly uphill leg to Workington that little bit harder. I got a shout as I neared the 50 mile mark that I was 30 secs down, I was sure to whom, but I just thought that I need to keep focused on the power and not try and go too hard to close any gaps, I needed to be sure that I didn't fall apart near the end.

After the top turn, the average speed was lower than I would have liked but it started to increase with the slight tailwind and mainly downhill leg back towards Keswick. I kept telling myself that once I had gone past Heather and Killian I would up the power for the last 24 miles or so, or at least until the 86 mile mark where the last turn was, and then hopefully use the tailwind/downhill part to get the average speed up as best I could.

After getting some more gels and energy drink (another perfect handover), I pressed on as hard as I could, I found it difficult to raise the power as much as I would have liked, legs were getting tired and I had a bit of saddle discomfort that was distracting me slightly, still I thought as long as I put out enough power the average wouldn't slip away much. I hadn't really taken any time checks against the other riders but I did noticed Mark Holton had seemingly put some time into John Tanner, so I assumed he was going well. I got to the last turn and my legs were pretty much gone by this point, but with only 14 miles to go and with it being mainly downhill I was able to get some rest on the downhill parts. My thinking was to try and save whatever I had left for the slightly more draggy bits.

The last 5-6 miles were quite painful and although pretty fast I just felt as though I was riding through treacle, and each time the speed dropped below 27 mph it just seemed a horrible effort to get it back over. Before long though the HQ appeared and I knew I was near the end, as the Garmin clicked over 100 miles though and with the finish not in sight, it was for what seemed an age (only 0.3 miles though) before I crossed the finish line. I had probably done my best ever paced 100, and I was quite happy with the time of 3:41:47. I had thought it would be around the 27mph mark, so to be so close to this was good.

After a somewhat sore pedal back to the HQ where I was greeted by a very jolly and excited 8 year old, I sorted myself out whilst Heather went to look at the times, she came back with some bad news, I had come 4th and missed 3rd by a mere 15 secs. I always knew things were going to be tight, and to be on the losing end could have been very disappointing, but I knew I had given it my best shot. I had ridden probably what was the best 100 I could have ridden but was beaten by faster riders.

Mark Holton did win the event with a great time of 3:37:28, from John Tanner 3:40:43 and then Keith Murray 3:41:32. Considering we were all within 20 secs at 50 miles, that was a great 2nd 50 by Mark, especially as it was his first completed 100. It just goes to show what a class rider he is. Big congratulations to Mark. For me I did win my age group so I had some consolation, but I am extremely proud of getting so close to a medal and finishing so close to both John and Keith (they are RAAM record holders after all).

For me next up is the Shaftesbury 50 this Saturday, just got to get recovered in time so that I can perform at my absolute best, as this is likely to be the key 50 for the BBAR. Then it is more training for the National 12 Hour in August.

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