2009 Time Trial Season

The spring brought a new road bike. 
Scott CR 1 with full Campagnolo Record and Fulcrum Racing 1 wheels. New price was �4000, but
it was on e-bay as a buy it now for �1600.

This year I have just been using my 24 mile a day commute for training except for 4 Saturdays with the cycling club run by our coach. It is the same every year; we have a group of 8 or so riders out on a flat 21 mile circuit of 8 laps of 3 laps. The Coach then goes through his routine of telling us not to ride at more than 18 mph for the first lap. He then tells us to work together by taking a turn at the front, then drop back and not lose anybody. Keep together, he says. He might as well talk to the trees! What will happen is that after the first corner, someone will shoot off at 23 mph to show how fit he is in January. He will then get told to slow down and will reluctantly do so.

After the first lap, it will be as though someone has sounded an air horn behind a racehorse. Everyone will tear off and when the corners come, they will shoot off and drop stragglers off the back of the bunch. The rest of the session mainly consists of single riders going round and round on their own. This is indeed what happened apart from one session out at Brantingham of 8 laps. It was a text book session with nobody getting dropped and everyone rotating from the front to the back in perfect rhythm. The next week it went back to normal and after 5 laps I rode up to my car, put the bike in and drove home. No point in hammering yourself this time of the year.

So all through the winter, in the wind and snow I used the commute to train. Although it is flat, there are a couple of railway flyovers on the way which I use to �attack� and then recover, 4 times a day 5-6 times a week. With watching my diet (apart from the 6 pints of beer a day) I have managed to get my weight down to 11 st 11 lbs (165 lbs), the lowest it has been since I was in my 20�s and I reach 51 this year. The first race is out on the Skidby course where my PB stands at 27:24 from the last race of the 08 season.

28 MAR 09 Skidby hilly circuit 10 miles

Well, what a shocker! Soon came back to earth with a bump by being passed by a rider who I was equal with last year and he spent most of the winter indoors on a turbo trainer. Had to ditch the Zipp 808 front wheel as it was blowing a gale and used a Fulcrum Racing 1 instead - even having a rear disc was dodgy. The start was horrible, apart from the high wind; it was hail stoning which hurts. Handling was very tricky due to the gusting wind at 40mph. On the final stretch, last year I was nailing it at 29 mph, but this year I could only manage 24 mph. The final time was 28m 55s; 1m 30s behind my personal best.

7 APR 09 Weedley 5 mile one way downhill.

 Weather conditions were perfect for this one way flat out race. Apart from being nearly dark by the time I got underway at 1921, being number 21. A few of the best riders chose to marshal instead of ride it themselves as they felt it was a little risky with the potential of cars coming out of junctions while you are flat out at 40mph. I wasn't going to pass it up though and soon was hitting 38 mph on the fastest part of the course. Into the final stretch and could hold it at 31 mph until fatigue pegged the speed back to 27 mph. Final time was 10m 25secs, 51 seconds behind the winner. Last year I was 54 seconds behind, so not a bad ride - 12th out of 21.

Little Weighton 21 APR 09

Last year I did this course in 33:57, but as the first hilly ten of the season showed, I am well over a minute slower than last year and finished this race in 35:31, so I have decided that winter commuting is not enough training, even at 24 miles a day. Basically, I am in a big fight to hold onto last year's 6th place as a new rider has appeared who is just a bit better on hilly courses than I am. This being the case, I have decided to ride a local steep climb 3 times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work. Whether it will work, I don't know, but then only difference in training for last year is the lack of hill work. Using a new bike GPS, the Garmin Edge 705, this tells me that the total climb of this 45 minute session is 900ft. So that is 2700 feet of climbing a week. It will be interesting so see if it recovers the times of last year.

Garmin Edge 705 - useful piece of kit.

Tuesday 5 MAY 09 � Etton 13.5 miles

This is getting worse. Last year on this course I posted a time of 35:17 when fit and even 36:49 with a bad back. This year it was an abysmal 38:07, although I was only 10 seconds behind the rider I am in competition with for 6th place, so there was a plus point there. The good news is that the extra hill training is going well and using a heart rate monitor I ride at my max rate of 172 bpm for 30 minutes or so three times a week. There are 4 months left to the last race, so plenty of time to pull it back. I think.

Little Weighton 10 MAY 09 12 miles (2 laps of 6 miles)

This is more like it. This ride is a repeat of one 4 weeks ago where I posted a very poor 35:31. Since that time I've been doing some intensive hill training to the tune of riding up a local killer climb 36 times in that 4 weeks; 3 times a week, 3 times a day.

The racing conditions just before the race were terrible; hailstones and running water on the circuit, but luckily during signing on the sun came out and it was possible to ride in shorts for the first time this season. Heading up the steep drag at 20 mph felt much better and I was able to get more power out of my legs and kept in the big ring all the way round which was a first. I was number 5 and soon passed the slower riders wearing 3, 2 and 1.

All in all a much better effort and the final time came back as 34:26, just more than a minute's improvement on 4 weeks ago, but still a fair bit slower than last year. Now it's a 3 week trip in the car to the Black Sea in Ukraine which last year gave me a bad back and I missed a few races.

Gilberdyke 8 miles 30 JUN 09

Well, arrived back from deepest Moldova in one piece without a bad back unlike last year. The trip was Regensburg - Budapest - Timişoara - Sibiu - Braşov - Chişinău - Iaşi - T�rgu Mureş - Debrecen - Poprad -Wrocław - Berlin - Wageningen and was a drive of 3000 miles. The bad news is that I have put on 7 lbs in weight in the 3 weeks I was on holiday and lost a lot of the fitness I had. With this in mind, I wasn't expecting to beat last year's 20m 09s tonight. The evening itself was hot and sunny with a very good turnout, got number 15 and warmed up the best I could on flat roads. 

It soon became evident that the excesses of the holiday had taken their toll, even with a stiff backwind on the first leg I could only churn out 27 mph and I needed to average 24 mph to get anywhere near a PB. Then the guy a minute behind came by and on the final leg, the guy who went on to bag a new course record who started 3 minutes back came past. I had the finish line showing as a little flag on the Garmin 705 GPS and watched the screen as it edged nearer, very slowly. Final time was 20m 34s, about right for the condition I was in. Lots of work to do before we ride the same event again on 11 August. If I can get fit again, I might just get 5th place overall come September

Tuesday 28 JUL 09 � Etton 13.5 miles.

After the worst performance of the season on this tough course of 13.5 miles where I managed a poor 38:07 in May, I hoped to see some improvement of sorts. Unfortunately, the evening was not conducive to fast times as it was cold, rainy and miserable. Plus the road was covered in cow and horse manure added to the usual grit. Got number 9 and soon felt that it was going to be a fairly tough evening due to the rain and tricky road surface. I am a fairly nervous rider on fast downhill sections as I have crashed in the past so lose a fair bit of time braking to a more comfortable speed.

That sort of thing costs you a fair bit of time on a wet course, but it�s better than crashing out of the race and getting injured, so on such evenings I just want to get around in one piece. Into the 3rd lap, bombed it to the line and later found out I�d come third from last, oddly behind somebody that I had overtaken on the course. Still, the time was a more respectable 36:41, an improvement of 1:26 on two months ago despite the weather, but well behind the personal best of 35:17 set last year. The next event will decide if I get 5th or 6th place in the over 40�s category come the end of the season in September.

4 AUG 09

Gilberdyke circuit 8 miles.

This ride is a handicapped event based on our times of 5 weeks ago where I posted a time of 20:34 after 3 weeks off the bike due to holidays. Since then I�ve trained hard to improve on that and maybe get under 20:00 for the first time, my personal best is 20:09 from last year. Only found out that the event had been brought forward a week via e-mail after arriving home from work at 5-00pm, so had to get ready in a hurry and drive the 12 miles west to the course.

  The poor summer continued and the evening was drizzly and windy and according to one rider, not an evening for a PB. Got number 13 and set off on the first side of the square where luckily I met no oncoming cars or farm traffic. Heading south into the strong wind I got pinned down to 22 mph, but this is where you have got to hurt yourself to gain time. Into the 3rd leg and the wind was from the right now and handling was tricky. Finally, got into the final leg with a backwind, but it seemed to have disappeared. Still, I managed to keep up a top speed of 26-27 mph and finally reached the timing car without mishap.

The time was 20:05, a personal best and what�s more due to the handicap, second place was obtained, so what started off as a very poor season has been rescued and all being well, 5th place is now a real possibility.

18 AUG 09
Spout Hill, Brantingham. 1 mile hill climb.

A very good turn out for this famous event, a hill climb up Spout Hill. With the new Scott CR1 stripped bare of everything not necessary and weighing 15 lbs, its compact chainset would come into its own here tonight. Got number 9 and arrived at the starting line where you have to put your back wheel resting against a stone chock to stop you rolling backwards.

After the countdown, I selected the small front ring and then got out of the saddle and sprinted off. All of the steep hill training had paid dividends and it felt easy dancing on the pedals with a heavy guy wearing number 8 in my sights. A third of the way up the hill, reality set in and I realised I'd gone out too fast, so sat down and selected the easiest gear I had and tried to rein in my breathing to get back on top of it.

Halfway up, I passed number 8 and shouted that there was not far to go now to him as it was his first event. Rounding the final bend I could see the timing car and so as I do in training, got out of the saddle and went through all of the gears in quick succession to the line and promptly flaked out on the grass for 3 minutes.

Last year the time was 4m 06s, but this year I'd done it in 3m 44s. That's 2 personal bests on the trot, so the training regime I have formulated is working and I've managed to turn around a very poor start in 4 months.  If I keep it up all winter then next season will be the best yet. 

5 SEP 09 Skidby hilly circuit 10 miles

  Well, the end of season arrived with a duplicate of the first ride which was held under clouds and hailstones where I clocked a dismal 28m 55s. After that, I have had two personal bests and wrapped up 5th place, which will probably be the best I�ll ever get as I reckon there will be much more competition next year and I won�t be as lucky with the handicapped races.

  With no change possible in the final points table it is always hard to motivate oneself to try hard, but I reckoned I might beat the best time of 27m 24s set two years ago.  Some very fast speeds were possible on the downhill sections of the course, but the first uphill lag was a grind and I had to go into the small front ring for a while; not a good sign.

  The final time was 27m 35s, not far off a personal best, but the big surprise was that a local champ in the 1970�s rode it a good two minutes faster, so if he enters next year and rides a full series, I might struggle to get 6th place. Next year though, training starts on 1 October 09 �after riding home from work, which doesn�t count as training as I found out in March.

Edit! - Training will not now start in October as I was hit by a car on 19 September and broke a collar bone, so that's 2 months off the bike at least, but luckily I didn't end up paralysed from the neck down like some poor sods do!

Final table. 

2010 - Back to time trialling after winter training. Not likely to get into the top 6 this year though!

Update: After a 3000 mile driving holiday in 10 countries lasting 3 weeks, I got ready for the next time trial after getting back home. The wife however came back in the car too late from a shopping trip for me to get there. Funnily enough, instead of being disappointed, it was like a weight off my shoulders not having to go out to a remote spot and hurt my body for 40 minutes.

This, coupled with the fact that due to work pressures meaning I can't get the training in and the thought of racing being like a cloud over my head, meant that I pulled out of the season's racing. Just so I wasn't tempted to start again, I put my TT bike up for sale. Incidentally, I got back exactly what I paid for it 3 years ago. Try doing that with most cars! Still riding around 5500 miles a year though, so it's not likely to make much of a difference, fitness wise.