Outlaw Half Relay

Today, I popped over to Holme PierrePont to take part in the Outlaw Half Triathlon that I completed last year. This year, with giving up the old swimming, I entered as part of a relay team, which would consist of my mate Bob on the swim, and my brother Dave on the run. I had the easy part of riding 56.7 miles and eating Jelly Babies !

This is how we got on, on a cold , wet, and windy day in Nottingham :

Swim 32.24 - Bob had completed Ironman Lanzarote just last Saturday, so this was a warm up for him in distance. from the first wave of the day, Bob cranked out a fast swim to put me on the bike well up the field.

Bike - 2.29.40 - Right, Jelly Baby munching time ! Already wet, there was nothing to do, but try and get around as quickly as possible. It started well, and I was quickly down in the bars taking places around the lake and moving my way up the field. Out onto the A52 and my average was above 24mph.

I knew the Northern loop would be quickest so decided to make hay whilst the sun didn't shine, battling hard against the elements, and making sure I didn't daydream or take my foot off the gas. I rode Oxton Bank very well and overtook a couple of relay teams in the process. Back through Southwell, and over the ripples to Lowdham Island. I think my average was 23.5 at this point, but I was soaked through and still cold !

The Southern Loop was harder, however, knowing I didn't have to run, coupled with tangling with a guy from TFN , kept me honest and as I passed through Car Colston, a lady was giving out positions - I was 11th, and the guy from TFN was 10th !!! I had never battled at the front of a race before, and was enjoying the feeling. I planned to take back that 10th place to put Dave in a good position and had managed it by the time we rolled back into HPP.

Run - 2.55.44 - we had set Dave a target of 3 hours and in his first Half Marathon he nailed it - I was made up for him and the team when we finished overall in a time of 6.00.39.

My performance today is going in the smile bank !!

TLI Brattleby Road Race

 TLI season has started again in Lincolnshire and the first of the races that I could make was the daunting Brattleby Road Race laid on by Velo Club Lincoln. It's a c.30 mile affair which takes in 9 climbs of Brattleby Hill - a 1km climb rising to 38m - a real leg tester !

I'd always avoided this one because of the climbing, but as I seemed to be a climbing a little better this year I decided to chuck it into the training mix. Six Wheelers lined up on the night and I chose Group 2 as my nest for the evening.

It was wet and a little windy, so pleased to get under way at just past 7, where I took ages to clip in but once I had, I managed to get on the back of the Group and sit there ready for the first assault of THAT hill !  Turn left, wind a bit and there it was, I just kept my position and to be honest it wasn't that bad - in fact, at the top, I hit the front to do some work. Down the hill, again, and low and behold I made it up a second time - easy innit ?

My formula then was to save energy at the bottom, work hard up the climb, and then sit in the group on the bottom leg - this seemed to work really well. At the top of the 5th climb, something annoyed me so I attacked and led the race for ooh 300 metres or so, but that just meant another attack came and I followed that one breaking my no work rule on the bottom - group 3 caught us up the 6th climb and that was it - I was shelled along with others and coasted around that last 3 laps !

4th Wheeler on the night - and I FINISHED BRATTLEBY ROAD RACE !! V.happy.

Bruce Kingsford TA National 50

Same routine as the Stockton 50 a couple of weeks ago - up very very early, but this time it was a 2.5 hour trip over to Shrewsbury to arrive at 7.15am and my first attempt at one of the TA's National Trophies. This would be a tough ask as there were two World Champions racing and you don't become a Champ without being extremely fast ! 

My plan for the day was simple - try and be the fastest non World Champion ! 

The course was a revised version of the D50/3 which is single carriage undulating track and was a dog leg, out and back, out and back again affair with roundabouts every 5 miles or so to break up the ride and give some legs to aim for.

I would have no idea how I was doing as well, as I'd forgotten to switch the Garmin unit onto the Trike so would be riding the 50 miles blind. With the weather predicting rain all the way through, it could have shaped up to be a bit of a damp squib, but a bento box full of Jelly Babies was the silver lining as lined up for a wet start at 8.26. 

Don't go off too fast, don't go off too fast - oh FFS - I got very giddy straight from the line and I suppose that's the problem with not knowing how fast you are going. I felt like it wasn't fast enough so kept pushing. We had been sent off three minutes apart, so I couldn't see anyone in front of me and that didn't help things. Managed to catch my three minute man before the second roundabout at 13 miles and the caught up with Pete a little bit after. On the return leg from the roundabout I could get a time stamp on the rest of the riders and knew already that the World Champs were far and away faster than anyone else. I was doing well and had built up some time advantage in the battle of the non-champs though!  My round-a-bouting was better, but still painful for the watching marshalls !! The effects of starting too fast were yet to kick in and I made consistent progress in the middle twenty miles or so. 

So round Prees roundabout for the last time and a trek down to Tern Hill roundabout at c 42 miles or so. There is a climb up to Tern Hill and that is where my legs decided that they'd had quite enough and left me ! Turn right (gingerly) and then the final seven miles or so into a head wind that had whipped up somewhat - It had turned into one of those rides that I agonisingly waited for the finish flag that never came ! 

2.18.10 over the eventual finish line and third fastest of the day behind the Champs. For a guess paced 50 I am over the moon with the time and have another 50 race miles in the legs ready for next Sundays Outlaw Half relay leg - game on ! 

LRRA 10 mile Champs - Skegness

What's not to like ?

It's a time trial by the Lincolnshire coast which meant the opportunity for an afternoon by the sea - but first came the real order of the day, which was to test myself finally against my peers and to see my commitment to the turbo since October had paid any dividend.

My personal best performance last year had been a 23.08 which I had laid down on the super fast V718 course at Hull, but I felt like that could be under threat today as I was still feeling good after Tuesdays 2-up effort with the club. I hadn't raced solo club time trials this year so didn't know where I would fit amongst the main protagonists - it was a case of suck it and see !

HQ was Gunby Hall which is about 10 miles outside Skeg. We arrived earlier than expected so decided to drive the course which I knew nothing about. I was happy that we took the time to do it though as I could see that it undulated up toward a roundabout, and then undulated downward to the finish which was at the bottom of a gift hill a la our very own Ingham course.

We parked up at the National Trust property, and I had the pleasure of warming up on the turbo whilst cows congregated to watch in the opposite field ! Still, it was a good 20 minute warm up and my legs felt better for it. then it was just a short trip up the finishing hill and then I was good to go.

I felt really good, and despite the 15mph Westerly wind, I was making good progress along the first stretch. Yes, there was an occasion where I was onlt doing 18mph up a slight rise, but there were also occasions where I comfortably holding above 25mph, I caught my minute man before the roundabout and had an average of c.23.6mph as I exited. Hard work done, it was time to make hay while the sun shined on the downward and back winded leg and I was soon in the 11 ring and pushing hard. First to the 25mph average, past another rider, and by the top of the finishing hill I was at 25.6mph. Down that beautiful parting gift from the course gods and hammering along at stupid miles an hour and past the finishing flag in a time of 22.32 - a new personal best by nearly 40 seconds and an average of 26.4 for the 9.92m course.

Stockton Wheelers 50

Club record chasing again this morning as I got up at stupid 'o' clock (4), left the house at stupid 'o' clock (5) , to land at Crathorne Village Hall at stupid 'o' clock (7),

My ride time was 8.08am, so I had plenty of time to prepare for the ride. The course for today would be the T502/2 which is basically an out and back dual carriageway, north-south-north, this undulations, but nothing too severe. I would need to average 22.9mph if I was to overhaul the club record of 2hrs and 11 minutes - I felt reasonably confident that today would be the day that it fell !

My plan was to work into the headwind and keep an average speed of 20.5mph at the turn, and then bring home the bacon using the backwind for the final 25 miles. Sounds easy doesn't it !!

From the off, it clearly wasn't happening as the headwind seemed stronger than the 8mph that had been forecast. The undulations were draggy, and it was hard graft for sure. I kept going as hard as I could always remembering that this was a fifty, and with a good 10 miles into the turn, had managed to bring the average speed to 20.7mph - ahead of schedule, so the record was on ! All I needed now was to play out part two with that backwind......

Yeah, that f'in happened didn't it lol !

It felt like a headwind, but was in fact back/side. Maybe the trike doesn't enjoy a bit of side, or maybe I just didn't have the legs at this stage of the season, whatever it was, 25mph was not on. I still worked hard but mixed in a bit of sitting up and giving in on occasion, but even this wasn't worth the four minutes I eventually missed out on the record by. I did a wrong turn just before the end as well which lost 20 seconds, but 2hrs 15 mins was all I was capable off on the day !

To put things in perspective, that was still 8 minutes quicker than I did my first LRRA 50 in (2013) and that was on two wheels. It was also as fast as the speed I held in my first 100 mile time trial as well so I'm now reasonably happy with the ride. Roll on June and an attempt on the fastest 50 course in the country.

Mike Dixie Memorial 10m Trike Event (V718)

Bank Holiday trike racing part 2.

After racing the 25 on Saturday, I had a bit of a light spin yesterday and was ready for the early trip up to the fabled V718 10m time trial course this morning. It was the first time that I was to take the Trike to a super fast course and hoped that conditions would be favourable for a quick time. It certainly was the best day weather wise over the Bank Holiday weekend !

There were some riders racing today that had also raced on Saturday, and some new faces that I hadn't seen at other events. The start was approx. 5 miles from the HQ so there wasn't much of the usual milling around going on - it was a case of getting pinned up and then out to the start as a warm up.

I was no.7 for the day which meant that I was off within a few minutes of reaching the start. The start is at the top of a ramp which leads straight down onto the A63 dual carriageway towards the Humber Bridge. It was an exciting feeling watching the speed hit 30+mph on the descent and I soon settled into tapping out a good even ride. The first leg to the turn was super quick and I was comfortably holding spped for the most part. In fact, my average was over 25 mph by the turn and I had half an eye on the club record at that stage given how well it was going.

I lost time at the turn though as I struggled with the right turns and then headed down the ramp into a bit of a headwind - bugger !

The return leg was a hard slog into mostly head or side head and I failed to maintain the good average seen in the first leg. My legs felt weary by the end, but I did improve over the last mile or so to record a time of 24.39 and second place on scratch in the event. I did win the Handicap prize on the day and a trophy. A nice end to an excellent weekends trike racing.

Lincoln Wheelers TA East Trike 25m TT

Proper Trike and Old Skool event this one, no occasional T on a start sheet, just Trikes of all ages, new and old, and the Old Skool event which see riders on pre 1980's machines.

My colours were firmly nailed to the trike mast as I entered the H R Morris trike (or Christine as she is also known) for this 25 mile event on the Sleaford C25/22 course. The event runs out of Silk Willoughby and is organised by Lincoln Wheelers and the Tticycle Association East. The course I knew quite well as I've now ridden parts of it quite a bit already this year, so I knew that it was single carriageway, out and back in parts, with decent SC surfaces, but parts to be wary of.

This was the first time that I had been given a 5 as a starting number, albeit there were only nine of us in the event, but still, in opens , that has never happened to me before. Not much of a warm up, as the start was quite close to the HQ, but to be honest, it's difficult to warm up on a Trike in any case, as it's not like you can grab a turbo and do it that way !

So, 2.05pm, the A15, and I'm off, going hard for a short while, and the settling into the bars, because I've remembered that this is 25 miles !!!  My position is aggressive ,and as such, I have to be mindful of pushing so hard and wrenching my back. I overtook no's 4 through to 2, and then had no.1 to chase down who was a clubmate going like an absolute train !

At 8 miles I finally caught sight of him and by 9 I had gone past. We were in a headwind section which I had calculated would finish at about 12.6 miles and had that spot on. It was no fun counting down the miles to the turn and of course being the first rider, I had no idea how I was doing in relation to anyone else and I was anxious to see where other racers were.

Finally though, turn, and relief ! Backwind for 8 miles. average speed was 20.5ish mph and I wanted to get that up by 1mph by the finish. I counted down the riders as they came to me, and as I passed all nine, had worked out that I was leading by over a minute. Knowing that was a good target for someone to chase down, I kept motoring as hard as I could to the last roundabout, and turned for home, into a last bit of headwind, but I didn't care at that point as the hard work had been done.

I finished, finally, with a time of 1.09.30 and the win by a few minutes. Two bottles of Old Speckled Hen and a Tricycle Association certificate was the prize haul of the day.

Like I said at the start - proper triking ! My education continues on Monday on the V718.