Severn RC 25 mile TT

Date - Sunday 26th February
Race Location - Farfeild
Start Time - 10:30am

Today is a special day, today marks the first race of my 2012 season and also the first race I will race under the name of Rapid Performance Coaching. The race that would have the honor of staking claim to these two personal feats is one which holds good memories for me in years gone by, the Severn RC 25m TT. In previous seasons i managed a 3rd and 2nd overall but those who know me may be surprised to learn that this race would also mark the end of a 2 year hiatus from Open Time Trials.

Time Trials were all i ever did in my first 2 "real" seasons and something which i had great success in during those early years. However, soon the thrill of road racing took over and gripped me in its excitement and tacaticalness. However, by coming from a TT background I developed a certain Road Racing style and even now, I still find that i am usually one of the strongest in small break away group, the success of which lie in a hard sustained effort to build and maintain a gap. I could ride at a high pace all day whilst my competitors gradually faded. Although I have lost a little TT ability having not ridden them for 2 years, a lot of my RR training is still focused around long intervals so I still have that concerntration and suffering ability.

 As with most British Time Trials, it was an early start and after loading up the car, walking and feeding the dog and downing some breakfast, I headed off on the 60 mile trip to the HQ. With a pretty brisk journey beind me I proceeded to sign on, grab my number and smile to myself after seeing Rapid Performance Coaching following my name on the start and results sheets!
I decided that I would jump back in the car and park further up the road in a lay by which was closer to the start and finish and also a lot quieter than warming up in the HQ car park. however, only after having performed the TT Ritual of making good use of the HQ Toilet, of which typically there was only one!!!

With my start time approaching I hooked the bike in the Turbo complete with my Powertap Wheel. I have a pretty regimental warm up routine which i use for any event which requires a fast start and I rely on my Powertap to make sure i am doing the warm properly and structured just how i like it. Back home when i was loading the car i remember it being quite chilly, but here, pedalling on the turbo in a lay by with the sun beaming down from a crystal clear sky, I was sweating something chronic.

Warm up done, I changed my wheels and my top, slipped on my new gloves and newly stickered helmet and headed up the road to the start. I arrived in perfect time and pulled up to the sound of the starter calling my number.

Generally i will always use a power meter when racing, not necessarily to pace my self but for the analysis afterwards. However, as i was using my carbon wheel and my Quarq was on my Road Bike, I had no PM for this race so instead i set my Garmin to show distance, speed and average speed. I knew from the previous years of racing this event that i was just under the hour, however the course has changed since then due to traffic lights which has made it slightly slower and a bit more technical.

After going through the infamous countdown which i haven't heard ring i my ears for 2 years, I was off and on my way. With a fast start i quickly got up to speed and settled in to my aerobars, a position i have only rode in a handful of times for the whole 2 year period. After a few mile on the main A road, the route swings left on to the smaller back roads which was where the more technical aspects of the course were. Swooping turns, short rises, roundabouts all made for speed reducing obstacles but I was feeling pretty good and maintaining good momentum through the corners. I decided to use a variable pacing strategy where by I pushed harder on the drags, climbs and headwind sections and then recovered somewhat on the downhills and corners. On reflexion i feel this was the best option and one which i knew would yield me the best time.

After completing the loop and being spat back out on to the main road, I would then have to complete the loop again before being spat out again, heading past the turning, staying on the main road and heading towards the main turning point. The whole race I had being battling my average speed and knew that if i was on course for a descent result I would have to crack the hour and maintain atleast 25mph on this slow, griding course. Hitting the roundabout a full speed, I slung shot myself back round and power out of the turn and in pursuit of the finish line which was 8 miles up the road. My average speed was showing 24.6mph so i knew i had some work to do. I began to wind it up, overtaking the 5th rider i had passed during my ride. Head down, shoulders in, knees scrapping the top tube, I made myself as small as possible to the ever present wind and slowly i watched my average speed creep up 0.1mph at a time.

With about 0.5 miles to go i switched to watching the clock which read 59.18. I knew it was going to be super close but soon the finish line board came in to view and with one last big lunge for the line i hit the lap button on my clock which stopped at 59.59. Now that what i call scrapping the barrel!!

I headed back to the car to cool down on my Turbo, down my rcovery drink and get changed. I got to the HQ to give my number and check my time; 59.51, that will do and one of only a handfull of times which was under the hours. My overall placing in the event was 11th, in comparison to the previous years where i finished 3rd and 2nd, this seems not so good. However, those other results came when the field was only 20 riders big and no well know names riding. Today the field was much bigger and welcomed some of the bigger names in British Time Trialling. Also, something that was quite pleasing was that The Chap who came 12th was the same rider who piped me in to 2nd spot back in 2009! So on reflection im pretty happy. The winner Rob Pears who monstered round the course in 54.04!!! Awesome ride. the 2nd pace time juped up to 57.06 and from him back to me the times were very close, to the point where if I had gone just a little faster I would have been mixing it up in the 5th-10 place positions.

Looking back at the race I feel that I rode well, paced it to perfection and couldent really have done any more. One thing that I can note is that I didnt feel as though I had access to my real top end turbo boost, something which is only really opended up after a few weeks of V02 max training and something which i have yet to start.

Next week will see me ride in the Banbury Star Hardriders TT. Again a 25 mile TT but this time local to my house and one which is famous for including the 25% monster which is Sunrising Hill. Should be fun.