It is with great pleasure that I welcome the return of the club Time trial season. The weather promised rain and winds but it cleared out and awarded us with a dry course and barely any wind to talk of in time for the first time trial of the yerar on the classic Llety Gwyn course. Over 40 signed on the line but I was half expecting a full field of 50. A lot of familiar faces were in attendance but a fair few were also notably missing, not to mention those carrying injuries from recent cycling exploits who turned up in casts or hobbling!
Often, the first test of the year is just an exploratory run to see where the form is at after Winter, but a lot of riders came into tonights TT with a good season of training under their belts, myself included. I thought I’d be early signing on after leaving work at 5:30 for the 2 minute drive to HQ, however traffic was very busy and I ended up with a race number of 36! This allowed a decent warmup and a few unknowns ahead of me to maybe chase down.
Off for a warmup and nature break first of all. I headed out to the Lovesgrove roundabout where Rob from work was marshalling and pulled up for a chat. We wat watched the first 15 riders come through and had a good catchup chat. Time was now ticking away and I decided to get back to the start line with a race-pace effort to awaken the legs and cardio system. I arrived with 4 minutes to go. Pretty good timing and I’d warmed up nicely. When the time came I took my position on the line and hada quick chat with Shelley who was time keeping, and Jeff who was marshalling and had crashed out at Shrewsbury as noted on my previous blog post. Jeff was holding out well and his son Steph was out on course doing his first ever TT (I think).
5,4,3,2,1, go! I started out fairly gently after reading up on TT pacing. I still felt fast but I kept my heart rate down until onto the flat where I begun to ramp up. Before I know it, the roundabout appears but I hit some traffic which causes me to slow slightly and get up on the hoods out of the aero tuck. Luckily the traffic cleared the roundabout and I continued on my way with clear roads. a quick downshift for the rise to Capel Bangor and I concentrated on high cadence instead of grinding it out and building lactic unnecessarily. It seemed to work as I felt fresh on reaching the top and was soon back up to speed and picked off my minute man. The Tynllidiart tun came up with no traffic and I was on the Cwm Rheidol road for the first time in ages. Nothing major to worry about. I’d heard reports of bad road surfaces but it seemd OK to me. I’d not put any extra air in the tyres incase things were a little sketchy out there and I think that helped maintain traction and comfort. Another rider appeared ahead and I was soon passed them. THe turn came up quickly and I took it gingerly as I’d hate to stuff it up on something as simple as turning around in the road. Back on the gas and back in the tuck ASAP. I’d been watching a few videos of Fabian Cancellara and I really felt as though I was emulating the piston-like leg movement and cadence. Last season I’d been peddling squares in comparison to this year. The winter spin classes and high cadence work had been working wonders.
Back up to the Tynllidiart and I was on the home stretch. This is a nice part of the course. Decent tarmac after 5 miles on back roads and a decent to build speed. As I was feeling strong, I clicked up about 3 cogs on the decent and tried to maintain the momentum until the roundabout. A minute after the decent and I was still at 24MPH at the roundabout. Now it’s really time to dig deep. I searched deep and found another level and another couple of MPH to really crank it up to the finish line. The last 5 minutes were above average speed and my heartrate was nearly red-lining. I never hit absolute max (193BPM) on a flat TT but I was holding at 187 for the final few minutes. This is about my max for the flat it seems. The Glanyrafon marked the final push marker and I went absolutely all-out until the line, favouring the aero position over an out of the saddle sprint. I crossed the line at 30MPH with a PB of 25:20, some 2 minutes and 7 seconds faster than my previous PB. I’d absolutely smashed it and I felt GREAT.
Looking at my computer data it looks like I could have gone a lot harder in the opening 10 minutes. I might give it a go next time but maybe it will detract from the power available to me in the finishing 10 minutes instead.