Bruce Kingsford TA National 50

My third trip across to Astley nr. Shrewsbury for the TA's National 50 time trial. On offer was the chance to retain the Bruce Kingsford memorial trophy that I won last year with my time of 2 hours & 18 mins.

Competition was hot this year, with a good standard of entry with winners of previous TA events all lined up for the start. 15 riders in total and the weather gods smiled upon all of us with a light North Westerly wind of 9mph and a lovely early morning temperature of 15c - which was a good job as we were starting very early in the morning at 7am onward.

I was last man as defending winner and had the luxury of starting at 7.30. My garmin would display just three items : Power 10s, cadence and heart rate. I knew whick level of power to aim at, I wanted to avoid the inevitable slide into low cadence and I wanted to make sure I wasn't pushing my poor little heart so fast. In 2015 at my first BK - I fogot my garmin and started the event like a 10 which was a poor pacing strategy.

Also, br removing speed, it helps because I don't panic or chase, and finally no timer so that I don't get panicked by time splits. It was a case of just riding and riding to power.

Of course though, given all this science, I again started off far too fast and caught my two minute man within 10 minutes who himself is a fast man who has beaten me before.
I needed a word with myself, and managed it finally as I took on the first section from Ternhill roundabout up to Prees Island for the first time. On the way back, power dropped and cadence rose, so I knew it was super fast and very much wind assisted. On my closest rival , I guestimated that we were around level so all was good. The eventual winner of the event, however, seemed to be miles ahead and making it look so easy !

At about halfway, the course slows noticeably and it became harder and I genuinely thought I had bonked following the fast start. Round the bottom turn and all to do, the power rose again, especially on the return to Prees Island into that headwind, and I kept it steady just blindly trusting that power figure - I was having to work very hard though whereas it had seemed relatively easy earlier in the event.

Round the Island and this time I looked at the average speed - 23mph !!! WTF !! That was an immediate pick me up - I also got a time check over my rival and it looked like I was 45s ahead - decision made, I had 14 miles to go to the finish and I wasn't going to lose 2nd place, so head down and keep working. Those last 14 miles seemed to take fowever and the last three really were an eternity.  Finished empty with a club record 2.08.39 and two silver TA medals - a better weekend than I had imagined.

Pos. 2/15
Time 2.08.39
Temp 15c
Wind 9mph NW
HR 170
AP 265W
NP 265W

LRRA 10 Champs 2017

After last years effort on the trike it was time to have another stab at the county championship on two wheels. My last effort was in 2015 when I managed a very good for me 22.32. Today then, I had my eyes on the prize of going faster than that and placing well in the championship. A 21 would be nice and after last weekends trike offering I genuinely felt that it might be a possibility.

The HQ was at Gunby Hall which is a national trust property, and the course is coded the C10/9 - an honest out and back 10 course which benefits from a gift hill finish as the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.

Wind was quite light at 10 mph, and as a south westerly should have assisted out and then been a cross head on return - which didn't always happen but we'll come to that.

I was off at no.82 and I seemed to be warming up for an eternity before being ready to go. When I did though, my power was through the roof as I tackled the early unulations - today I had ave power, cadence and heart rate showing. I could see good power and decent cadence, my HR was climbing already into the 170's so yes, I think I started too hard.
Having made my bed, I attempted to lie in it as best I could and powered up to the first roundaboutin a PB 310W.  I had been held up by some traffic, and also didn't feel that I'd got that much of a push, it was easier in some sections and harder in others.

The return with my HR sitting already in the mid 170's was hard for sure - but I kept trying to keep the power above 300W and keep moving forward. The back 5.5 was the same as the first half - good in places, windy in others - I found the course a complete mish mash today !

That gift hill though, a welcome sight after 9 miles and I attacked it knowing that every second counts. About halfway down I could see flashing emergency vehicle lights and then I could see an ambulance and police car just before the finish - I slowed down and drifter thinking that the event had been abandoned only to be waved around the incident and onward to the finish.

A dulling end to a good solid ride. My 22.18 was more like 22.08, but I placed well, and on a better day that performance would have been good enough for that magical single carriageway 21.  Onward and upward - the Bruce Kingsford Trike 50 next weekend !

Course C10/9
Temp 14c
Wind - SW 10mph
NP 313W

City RC Hull 10 on the V and a new club record

The new trike arrived this week, complete with single drive, just 6 gears and a 55T Chainring. I have managed to get out and ride it a couple of times and I know that it is a quick barrow ! Adjustments are still being made though and I'm sure that I've not yet got the seat high enough.

All that being said, I did my V02 intervals on it outside on Thursday evening and they felt really good, so I headed to Hull with the notion that I could at least trouble the club 10 record by getting close to the 20.47 mark that I had failed to achieve on my last two trike visits (22.54 & 23.08 respectively).

My warm up had gone well and apart from having to dodge a quick shower by jumping in the back of the car - I had plenty of time to amble down to the start !

I was away by 3.57 and enjoyed a relatively busy dual carriageway as I made my way toward the turn. My garmin displayed three things - power 10s, cadence & heart rate and all three looked on track as I headed into what I thought should be a cross headwind but didn't seem to drag as it should.

The 55 tooth chainring was superb and the gearing was just right as a result, I had enough at the bottom and enough at the top. I hit the turn and made a concerted effort to work hard up the ramp and not dilly dally at the roundabouts - of course I had no average speed readout at this point but I was actually ahead of schedule at the turn.

As with most trips to the V, the back 5 is the fastest and I was nearly maxxing out with the cadence at some points. It felt fast, but I just kept working thinking I was there or thereabouts and every second counts. Having a power meter on a trike is very useful and I found myself working consistently to my target power whereas I would have been all over the place usually.

I finished strongly but daren't check the ride time until I was rolling into Newport. 22.05 - a new club record and VTTA NM age record - I'll take that !

NP 310W
HR 173
TEMP 16c
WIND SSW 11mph

A busy bank holiday of organising and racing...

I managed to cram quite a bit into this weekend, with organsing the TA East & Lincoln Wheelers Old Skool event on Saturday and having a bit of a back to back racing for the Sunday & Monday on the V718 both days which is my absolutest favourite course in the whole wide world....

Saturday - V728 - VTTA National 15 Champs
This one was held on an extended remix version of the V718 course which added c.2.5m both ways towards the Newport turn off. There was a howler of a wind blowing from the South Easterly direction at 20mph, and that made both the start and the proceeding 2.5miles to south CAve really tough. I could see my power and could hold it steady and I could also see my minute man, himself a decent rider, edging a little bit closer. In fact he was an excellent carrot and I managed to catch him before the turn, so I knew I had a decent pace going out.

Up and over the turn smoothly, I made sure to be careful as I made my way up the gears for the super quick backwind section. My only problem came as I span out and couldn't spin fast enough to take the power any higher. I was strong and kept moving as quickly as I could and attacked the Welton Drag as hard as I could.  All out, I went for the line and was pleased to be rewarded with a 33.34 in poor conditions - 35th on scatch on the day.

Sunday - V718 - Mike Dixie - Tandem Trike
The super fast tandem trike pairing of myself and 70 year old Pete Holland met up early at the HQ at Newport and set about modifying Pete's tandem so that we could have a comfortable ride and attempt to take the Lincoln Wheelers tandem trike record which stands at 23.45 and has done since 1996.

We don't train on it together, preferring to just race occasionally. On this occasion, we chose the may-day Mike Dixie event that we usually ride solo.

We started well and got a good understanding almost straight away, I'd push on and occasionally Pete would rest and free spin. It worked well and we made good progress against the still windy but better than yesterday 12mph wind. Overall, we needed to maintain an average of 25.35 miles per hour and it was looking good at the turn (bottom of at 23.8mph). the turn was very slow though and it was down to 23 on the way down, but I thought it was still doable.

Riding back was like treacle in parts and I could feel the pedalling get harder as Pete tired in the second half. We did give it our all though and really went to town in the last mile getting up to 38 miles per hour and eventually only missing the record by two seconds !! Grrr !

Ogmore Valley Wheelers 25m TT

My very first trip over to Wales - its a near seven hour round trip, so to make life easier I travelled down on Saturday and camped overnight at the Parc Cwm Darran near Bargoed in the pop up Palace!

Up nice and early and even had time to take in a nice walk before packing up and heading over to the HQ in Hirwaun. A nicely run event with everything laid out easily, there are a lot of organisers that could learn from these folks (me included !).

Plenty or warming up and out to the industrial estate for the start of the time trial. The course is the super fast R25/3H which features a gift hill between miles 2 &5, and is an out and back dual carriageway job.

Nicely warmed up I perfectly time rocking up for my 10.37 start and was soon hurtling away heading towards the A365 on the rolling single carriage first part - controlled things really well, keeping on top of my cadence and effort. The first half mile of dual carriageway is slightly uphill, but it was soon time to go over the top and down the mountain ! It went a bit wrong here, when my chain jumped and nestled itself between the 12 and the frame, which meant a pit stop to get off and free it off. Disappointing to say the least but I kept my cool and concentrated on my power target and a decent cadence.  I lost time and my section out to the turn was my slowest of the race in comparison to me peers. The turn at seven sisters is a grind up and over on a long looping slip road and a couple of roundabouts - care really has to be taken here as it is very easy to take the wrong slip. Back on the road back, it climbs slightly and although it would have been ace to have a backwind, it was nice enough to get a slight cross head only. My power kept jumping and I now know its my cadence zeroing out every now and again and I have to learn to manage that as I've been backing off without any need to.

By McDonalds roundabout I was still in good shape and enjoyed a strong last couple of miles to finish with a 55.30 on the day which was probably more of a mid 54 when the stop is accounted for.

Would dearly love to ride the course again this year - an overall positive experience !

Getting the pacing wrong...

Sleaford Wheelers Charity 10 

The plan was a simple one - go over to a course I know well. Implement the three C's ! (Composed, Controlled & Consistent), win an Easter Egg in the raffle - come home.

Sounds like a good plan then - so....who shall we send ? How about a numpty !!!

All of the above went a little bit out of the window and I don't really know why. My finishing time of 22:58 was a course PB for me by 59 seconds and I should be over the moon - from the outside looking in you would say that time was a very good result on a day that had 18mph crosswind on the course - but it hides the ugly truth - my power control today was piss poor !

I had enjoyed a decent warm up and was aware that although there was a strong crosswind, it was going to still be a resonably quick day. At that point I estimated that I would do well to achieve a 23 with a quick ride to the turn and then a slog on the return. Once I had started though, I was almost immediately aware that the outleg would not be as greasy fast as I had figured it would be - this probably made me panic a little bit and as such my power reading was through the roof, then... when I tried to bring it down, I must have eased off too much as it swung wildly either side of the 300W I was aiming for.

This meant that I got to the turn quickly, but I was too much in front of where I should have been and boy did it hurt on the return. In comparison to other riders around me in the results, I was up at the turn, but lost more on the return leg which was 10W down overall on my outleg.

The last two miles were painful, but I kept a lid on it and in a way happy that my time began with a 22. It is progression, but I came away thinking how much better it could have been.

It's a 25 next week, and a first trip to the R25/3H course in South Wales

Wind 18mph WNW
Temp 15c
NP 296W

A trio of sportives...

So following the middlemarkers I embarked on a period of more training and absolutely no racing for a few weeks. To keep things interesting, I entered a few sportives to pass the time as I found that I got on better with other riders on the road, the security of knowing where the heck I was going and most importantly, throwing in some good climbing.

26th March, Cheshire Cat - 62 miles

I headed over to Cheshire on a very nice Sunday to tackle the medium route 62 miler. In terms of climbing, it was not the most severe of tests, but it did throw in Mow Cop which is one of Britain's top 100 climbs and can only be described as a mile long climb with a wall of concrete at the end of it. Nice experience apart from hitting a pothole on a descent and totalling my phone which was sitting in nicely in my bento box up until that point. This was after I had managed to achieve a secret ambition of mine of making it up Mow Cop. Andy 1 Climbing 0

1st April - Tour Of Flanders Sportive - 87 miles

Staying over at the in laws, I was given licence to bob off for the day and tackle the famous cobbled climbs of the tour of flanders. Three very famous sections and plenty of tarmac and cobble climbs to tackle. Took the cyclo cross bike with the same set up as last years Roubaix adventure and did just fine. The weather threatened rain all day but thankfully stayed dry throughout. I had little problem with two of the climbs , making it up Oude Kwaremont & the Pateburg, however, the Koppenburg defeated me purely losing the front wheel on the steep section when forced to take a muddy line - otherwise I'd have sorted that one as well. One of the most pleasurable experiences on a bike I've ever had.

7th April - Tour Of The Wolds Sportive - 52 miles

Back in blighty, and another lovely day, and a trip out to the wolds which are local to me, to do a quick 52 miler at training pace. No pressure, just concentrated on keeping a level pace and let myself go on some of the climbs - nothing famous mind, just honest Lincolnshire hills. One of the first back and came 4th - it's not a race though, you just get a time, a category and a finishing position - yeah right !