Another comp record and at last... a club trophy - a bling bling week then...

Newbury 15 - Trike - 35.51

Back on the old trike for team two's crack at the tricycle team 15 mile mens comp record. I had been part of team one on 5th July who set the record initially, however, this second attempt was organised as a back up event and included a rider who couldn't make the first date. 

The course was the H15/1 which meant a long drive down to Newbury for this event made worse by the piss poor weather on the day - it seemed to rain all the way down there and all the way back - the course was soaking but at least the rain stopped for a bit so we didn't start soaked too. A single carriage way course with two straight through roundabouts and two turn roundabouts it looked like a good trike track - the reality though was it wasn't that great and I nearly lost the trike in the first mile when I hit a manhole cover cum cambered pothole mess and nearly top sided. I had to be very careful and from that point I was. I cocked up the power meter calibration telling the head unit the trike had 100mm cranks so had to race on heart rate only. I huffed and puffed the whole way round and swear I was still feeling the previous weeks 50 shenanigans. I was amazed to finish with 35.51 which was only 12 seconds slower than the Breckland ride. The other two fellas did superb rides and as a unit of 3 our aggregate of 1.58.59 was good enough to take over two minutes off our previous time. 

Bourne Wheelers 50 - 1.58.09

Also the LRRA county championship as well and the fifth year I would be riding it. Last year I rode trike but this year I was back on two wheels. I'd be one of only four Wheelers entered on the day which meant that I'd be guaranteed 4th place and some good club competition points if I finished. The course I knew well, with riding lots of different parts of it over the years - I knew the climb to spittlegate would be tough with a headwind, and I knew the hardest part of the race would come later on when returning from Donington roundabout into the headwind as it is exposed badly and has a poor road surface in places.

It would be the first time that I'd start a local event with a zero on my back and I hoped to live up to the seeding going off at no.30. I started well enough and looked to hold the same sort of power figures that I'd averaged at the BDCA a couple of weeks back. I needed to average 267W or more and I tried to do that without getting to far ahead of myself like I had on the E2. With it being windy it was tough and also as the course is an honest Lincolnshire one, it is easier to maintain a good constant power. The climb to Spittlegate came and went, and what followed was a gloriously fast Spittlegate to Donington section with a backwind and a downhill profile.
Then the dreaded return ! It went on forever ! Grovel central - felt like my whole race was going down the pan ! I was truly ecstatic when I finally finished that section and headed back up the A15.

Job done with a new Lincolnshire best of 1.58.09 and that included at least four hold ups. Two club trophies as well, can't be all bad this time trialling lark !

The H15/1
Temp 61f
Wind 11mph SSE
NP n/a 
HR 173
Pos 14th

The C50/2
Temp 63f
Wind 15mph SW
NP 271W
HR 169
Pos 9th

Yo Adrian ! I DID IT !!!

A couple of events covered off this week as on Wednesday I rode the Interclub 10 event put on by Gainsborough Aegir, and then quite a big one - a 50m TT on Saturday over at Eteall on the A50/5 course :

Wednesday - 22.30
A single carriage way course, Knaith to Torksey, a tight almost dead turn and then a ride back past the start to the finish - an honest Lincolnshire course and the first time I'd ridden the GA10/2.  Nice evening and a light crosswind of 5mph greeted us at the HQ at Knaith Park. Decided to use the 404 on the front, and although there was lots of play in the Zipp disc, managed to eek one more race out of it before being sent in for repair.

Started well, kept the power nice and consistent and made the turn without falling off or colliding with any vehicles. Ramped up the power just a little and felt good on the return. Got to about 8.5 miles and ended up sat up in traffic as four cars struggled to get past one of those pesky Wheelers. I was there for the large part of a minute before strangely taking a strava KOM in the last mile. 22.30 but could have been so much better !

Saturday - 1.51.17
so the wind was back with a SW of 12mph to greet me at Etwall. I had loads of time and I was very relaxed I seem to remember, not stessed and took my time with everything. My garmin mount died during the warm up and was about to fall of, but I managed to find a kind soul with some gaffer tape and ta-dah ! I fixed it !
I was a minute starting behind Karen Ledger who I know of from VTTA North Mids and knew that if I could keep Karen in sight then I would have a good chance of a club record ride. I also knew that I would have to start more conservatively than I did on the E2 a month or so ago, so aimed to keep the watts down to about 260-270 until at least the top of the concrete mountain - which I managed to do, holding a good tempo for that first 21 miles or so - I could see Karen in the distance and had the comfort of knowing that the gap was still the minute we started with. That being said, I lost time by the top of the climb, and was probably another half a minute down.

Going down the mountain was just a case of switching into the 56x11 and pedalling as hard as I could until I turned right at Maccas roundabout for the dog leg SC section - deceptively flat and evil to boot - I'm looking forward to riding a 25 on this course where this section doesn't feature.

Once out of dog leg purgatory it was a case of giving what I could, and hoping that I wouldn't run out of gas. At the last roundabout I still had a little left and gave it full beans for the last mile or so - sweet relief when I saw the finish timekeeper and shouted 79 with the energy I had left.  1.51.17 and a new club record, finally, after so many near misses, I have one of the solo 2 wheeled ones. It was a brilliant day.

The GA10/2
Temp 64f
Wind 5mph WNW
NP 310W
HR 172
Pos 4th

The A50/5
Temp 72f
Wind 12mp SW
NP 268W
HR 173

and then Comp records ..... and getting them !!

Strange 'owd week this one.... following on from recently getting very close to the club vets 10 record on the mighty V, I have been further frustrated by events being cancelled for roadworks, accidents and the like. I've had a few weekends of just training and have been raring to go. I rode a club event on the 010/5 on a tuesday evening recently and managed a very good 22.14 on the night to win the event, so I knew that not racing was probably doing me some good ! The O10/5 course is one that I really wanted to do this year and it was a nice night and an honest course - 2017 bucket list tick I'd say !

Moving on to the CC Breckland 15 - it had previously occurred to me that there was not a comp record for this distance and especially a men's team record. I had secretly been putting together a band in an attempt to take the 30 record but with our A event cancelled, we were left with no alternative but to take stock and look at what else is available. The CC Breckland 15 was to be our first crack at the title, and a back up at the Newbury 15.

It was a lovely night, and there wasn't a great deal of wind around - and given my luck with conditions and cancellations this year I'll take the smooth thanks very much. I set the wattage target at c.290 and aimed to keep above that - thing is though I did muller the first couple of miles and really had to scale things back at mile 3 - it felt good, but the intelligent me knew I couldn't hold it. Giddiness over, I settled well into the event and apart from the road surface throwing up lots of potholes to dodge, I got to the turn in good order. Double roundabout without incident, it was the long winding road home, knowing I was going well. It does make a difference and the ride back was less of a battle knowing that. I worked hard to catch my two minuteman and did that just before finishing under a bridge ?? in 35.39 - a time I will be claiming a comp record for, even though it was beaten just three minutes later. Lincoln Wheelers have hopefully set a team comp record too - I smiled all the way back to Lincoln, pressure off for the season :)

On Saturday, I rode on the E2/25 course for the first time at the VTTA Champs and posted a time of 52.34 to equal the club record on a hot but windless day. I rode the first half far too quickly and paid for it on the return - still a PB none the less. A rider was knocked off just three minutes after me and the race was abandoned so a pretty hollow victory for me personally. The race is being re-scheduled.

The O10/5
Temp 57f
Wind 6mph ENE
NP 312W
HR 169
Pos 1/8

The B15/1
Temp 68f
Wind 7mph NE
NP 303W
HR 175
Pos 21/40

The E2/25
Temp 72f
Wind 5mph WNW
NP 286W
HR 178