July - a sweltering heatwave and I'm melting, I'm melting !!

Biggest thing that has happened this month, is that I've agreed to enter and train for Ironman Barcelona in October of next year. This means dusting off the old Triathlon, Duathlon and of course Ironman sections of this blog  ! 

I'll be testing still cos testers always be testin, however my coaching will stop at the end of March and then I'll be going solo - scary ! 

In other news, I did some testing throughout July, and this is how it turned out.. 

7th July - Lincoln Wheelers Charity 10 - 22.26
There is a reason why I have avoided our fastest 10 mile local course for the past three years and that is because I don't think I have ever gotten it just right and I was wayward on this event too. I really wanted a 21 minute time on a Lincolnshire course but it wasn't to be ! Started too strong even with trying to keep a lid on the power, but wilted badly on the return probably because of

the heat. A badly paced effort resulting in a disappointing course PB.

8th July - Nottingham Clarion 3up TTT 57.41 
This was fun. The day after the Charity 10 and I found my legs - I was in a Lincoln Wheelers team with me old mukkas Sean Hunt & Richard Sheldrake, and the three of us worked like a well oiled unit on a two lap single carriageway course. We benefited from a morning start, and from the off the pace was frantic with regular and constant switchovers - having beforehand worried about being strong enough for a three up, I held my own and was able to give it full beans. We won a tenner each as fastest old boys - nice mornings riding.

14th July - BDCA Trike Assc 50 - 2.06.11
This was an altered course to the usual 50 course and was a three lap affair. This nicely describes my outing for the day - I rode the first lap at race pace and in the heat and with my Garmin cutting out causing my strategy of tracing average power out of the window. By the end of the first lap my head had gone and I enjoyed a massive flounce by getting off and quitting. After a couple of minutes, I got back on and decided not to waste the miles and rode the last two laps at training pace. Overall, 2.06 was a course improvement, but again, far too hot for racing.

22nd July - Shaftesbury 50   1.51.14
Stayed over at Cherry Hinton in the pop up palace and had a decent nights sleep in preparation for the Shaftesbury 50 and a 7.27 start time on the E2. It was a warm morning but nothing like the afternoon temperatures that we've been seeing, so a nice change. Wind was low but unhelpful as a cross wind. As a result the course was a bit dead for the first half, only livening up for the second half. I paced power very well, negative splitting at c.270W/272W, giving an overall return of 271W. A time of 1.51.14 meant a three second personal best as well. 

28th July - VTTA National 25 - 1.03.19
Delayed an hour for traffic, no cancellation for the severe wind, and so , so many DNS's on the start sheet. I think we had gusts of between 41-45mph - the only concern was cross wind as I went across the A46, but I practiced a couple and as long as you paid attention it was fine.  My time was 1.03.19 and obviously much slower than my ride on the same course in April. I was horribly over geared on the tough headwind out section really gurning the trike up relatively shallow climbs and then the test of strength of Bingham Hill - how I got up that I don't know !!  I lost 5 watts at the turn from the freewheeling, and then on the way back I hit a PB on any machine averaging 31 mph and undergeared - I chased the power where I could but there were part that I'd spin out on. Winter project for the trike will be installing a double - a 60/46 would have been ideal today !  Overall, on such a crappy day, that was the best I could produce. 

Big June

June has been one massive month of time trialling, with comp record attempts, double headers, a trip to Lanza and a shot at European qualification...

2/6 - Tour Of Cambs Crono - 39.32
A crack at euro qualification for the UCI champs in Italy later in the year. I would need to finish in the top 25% of my age group to have a shout. It was a warm day and an excellent event to take part in. A warm up area and an arena start ramp for that professional feel. again, being so soon after the position change, I started well, but felt like I faded in the second half of the race, particularly struggling to get going again after some hard climbing. My time of 39.32 was about 45 seconds off qualification and a comfortable top half finish - a nice effort all things considered.

9/6 Lindsey Roads 10 - 22.14
A nice Lincolnshire TT on a course I hadn't had a go at before - the C10/4 in North Lincolnshire. It is single carriageway, quite flat, with some dual carriageway thrown in - who would have thought ?  It was a case a further progress as I started really strongly and was holding my target 320W all the way to the turn at 5.2m - I thought I was flying, but the shame of it was I couldn't quite manage the same tempo and effort on the way back as my clock ticked over 22 minutes having seen the power average out overall at 310W by the time I finished. That Lincolnshire 21 can't be far away and it feels like that is my new glass ceiling !

16/6 Mercia CC 30 - 1.10.10
This was effort number one in the trike comp record chasing team efforts.  Gaz was off no.1, Me no.2, and Ian no.3 as we aimed to beat 1.16 each and claim a new record. The course was an amended one because of roadworks on the A50 which made the course faster in my opinion. It was a decent day and I felt good especially as it was a day before my holiday to Lanza !  I knew I was in good form having ridden the club 10 on the Tuesday on the trike managing a powerful ride and a 25 minute time despite coming off the course !  So for this race, I had a strong start and really settled into a fast pace right from the off. I held good power and despite taking a wrong turn at the first turnaround looked to have a little lead over Ian even though I couldn't see him. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen Gaz at that point but as he'd gone wrong at the first roundabout !! I kept good composure and really dug in especially during the second half of the ride for a very pleasing 1.10.10 which took nearly four minutes off my old club record.

23/6 Sleaford Wheelers 15 - 37.02
A Lincolnshire course and a new competition record for the three of us. Despite Gary's braking system disintegrating, we still managed a cummulative effort which beat the record that Gary, Pete and myself set last year. The ride was quick on the way out to Donnington and then really hard back from the roundabout into a headwind and some draggy climbing - a nice ceiling breaker for the record chasing boys.

24/6 York BHPC Crit racing
... and now for something completely different  ! I went up to York for the british human powered club crit racing. I used the pink trike, and went in the slow race with the other comp record sharks.  My usual crit racing on show, I was a distant 6th in the end - great fun, but abslotely bonkers !

30/6 Yorkshire RC 50 -  2.00.47
A nice trike 50 in the heatwave to finish off a mad month of June ! Another record tilt this time at the 50 mile team record. We would all need to average 2.05 or less to do this and it was a big ask given how hot it was, and the unhelpful wind conditions which was a sidewind of around 10mph.  For my effort, I thought I could hold 290 ish watts, which slipped to 285 by halfway, then it was a real battle and very uncomfortable in the heat. Eventually having to settle for 267W ad a new club record of 2.00.47.  Happy with the ride, but disappointed not to go under two hours as I hoped.