Flight of the Phoenix – Course PB

On Saturday I’m racing a 2UP TT down at my local Cuckney course, the plan last night was to meet up with fellow Team Bottrill rider Simon Travell to get in some practice, sadly Simon couldn’t make it so I decided to race solo at the Sheffield Phoenix club 10 event on the same course. With conditions looking favourable I’d been confident of breaking my existing course PB of 22 minutes 25s so I’d spent some of my lunch break looking at what average speed that would equate to. I figured I’m aim high and look to break the 22 minute barrier, speed needed to do a 21:59 would be 27.29mph, so if I managed 27.3mph the job would be done.

Having grabbed a bite to eat at home and spent a bit of time with my family I headed down to Cuckney arriving about 30 minutes before the start, as I arrived I spotted Joel and Xavi from AMAC racing who’d had the same idea as Simon and myself and were going to get in some practice for Saturday. I purposely signed in after them as they’d go quicker than me and I didn’t want them passing me to disrupt my own goals for the evening. This meant I was actually number 13, it’s bad luck to be superstitious so I pinned my number the right way up, got my kit on and fired up my Garmin. First step as always is to calibrate my power meter, sadly it didn’t want to play ball, so I began my warm up without a power reading.

I rode a couple of miles up the road to get an idea of the conditions and to get my legs working. Whilst my legs were working ok, having stopped again it was clear my power meter wasn’t. No bother I thought, I know what average speed I need to do, I’ll just focus on that. Quite an alien concept as I’m used to looking at the power output when I race but I was actually looking forward to the enforced experiment. Warm up commenced, well, 10 minutes riding around and 5 minutes faffing I turned up at the start line ready to give it the beans.

Start

Skin suit zipped up, Garmin ready, 3,2,1 and off I went down the gift hill at the start, the plan here was to push and make use of the slightly bigger gearing I was now using (52/11 instead of 52/12) and so I did, I exceeded 40mph down the first mile, keeping as aero as I could to maximise the gains. Average speed was obviously way north of 27.3mph at this point, but as I settled in I felt really good, pushing on the inclines, keeping it going on the flat, taking a slightly bigger breath on the descents. I had it in my head to be around 28.5mph average at the turn and as I approached the hill at roughly 5 miles I was on track for this, I flicked the chain up the cassette 5 or 6 notches pushed up the hill and just as important continued to push over the hill as I approached the turn. With a car approaching from the right I timed my effort to allow me to carry the speed through the fiddly “turn”, the second part of the turn is even more fiddly and I was held up slightly, maybe 2 seconds, no more than that. It happens at Cuckney, you just have to accept it, I remained focused getting the bike back up to speed knowing I could take a quick breather as I went back down the hill to begin the run for home.

Push

The return leg was into a slight headwind and is generally slower anyway, I knew my 28.6mph to the turn would slowly creep down, I also didn’t know how many watts I’d put out, had I gone way too hard? No idea, we’d find out later I guess. The objective now was to keep that average speed to 27.3mph or higher and knowing this was now a realistic goal it really kept my head in check. At 7 miles I was averaging 28mph, at 8 miles that was down to 27.6mph, this was going to be close. My legs were naturally tiring but I knew if I could keep it above 27.3mph average with a mile to go I’d have enough in my legs to break 22 minutes, mainly because I knew that the slight downhill sections would help increase the average, add to the fact with a sub 22 on the menu I’d not be letting up.

Comparison to previous PB

Almost there

At 9.6 miles the average speed dropped briefly to 27.3mph, then back up to 27.4mph as I started emptying the tanks fully for those last 700 metres. Looking at the data for the last 0.4 miles I averaged 27.5mph, net result was an average of 27.4mph and a time of 21:58, job well and truly done. I had initially thought that improving my course PB by 26 seconds would be a tall order, but on the flip side I felt that time was in me.

The lack of a power meter was certainly no hindrance on a course I’m familiar with but it would have been nice to see what I put out, regardless of that, the feeling I got when I stopped  my Garmin and saw 21:56 was pretty fulfilling. And even though I knew the official time would be slightly slower, it wasn’t going to be 4 seconds so I had no doubt I’d gone under 22. 21:58 Happy days.

Results sheet

Season goal

At the start of the season I’d set a goal on this course of 21:30, I knew this was a stretch and with 28 seconds to find it’s still a stretch. The season so far has been a bit fragmented but with the training I’m getting from Dan through Matt Bottrill Performance Coaching I know I can find some more time. I don’t think it will be 28 seconds and there’s certainly no money in the pot for go faster bits, but with more than 2 months to go I think there could be another 10 seconds in me, so maybe even a 21:45 if I can nail things. I’ll just have to keep the training going and an eye on the weather and see what happens.

Next stop, Cuckney on Saturday for the 2up.

 

Double Desmond

After a disappointing club 10 a couple of weeks ago where I put out my worst ever power, having finally shaken off all the bugs and coughs I’ve managed to put together two solid weeks training and I’m feeling really good, it’s been sometime since I’ve felt this way. I don’t think it’s any coincidence this has come on the back of getting out on the road rather than being stuck in the turbo shed, long may this weather continue. As Dan said, perhaps on that race my legs hadn’t quite caught up with my head in how I was feeling, you can’t miss training and expect to perform.

This week though I have two races, at the weekend I’m back on the O10/3 in Ranby but last night it was the Matlock Cycling Club’s Grouse Open event just down the road from me in Rowsley. I’ve not done the exact course before but having ridden the roads many times (and a few times in the last couple of weeks) course knowledge was not a problem. As ever though things were not quite straight forward……….

The TT bike has been in the shop since Friday where I was looking to get some work done on the bars, I’d also put on a new cassette that decided it wanted to rattle and wobble about (this meant I also missed an Open race at Mapperley a week ago) so I asked the shop to look at that too. Long story short, the modifications I wanted on the bars weren’t possible and when I got the bike back home, despite the cassette now being firmly attached there is an annoying rattle which is making the drive train less than smooth. It’s a distraction you don’t need, there have been a few dark thoughts, mainly about chainsaws and bikes in dustbins, but I figured what the hell I’ll just race tonight so off I went.

Arriving at HQ there were quite few familiar faces, Paddy Gould, Alex Deck, Matt Ingram and it was also good to meet Eric Grill who I “knew” from the Time Trialling Forum. Conditions were pretty much perfect, warm and no wind, not sure about the air pressure but Matt Sinclair had commented on Twitter earlier this might stop his attempt on the course record of 20 minutes  43 seconds, that wasn’t something I need concern myself with though my time would be outside of that.

Having got kitted up I commenced my warm up, made all the more easier by the warm temperature and then at around 7:40pm I pulled up at the start line to get myself ready. Adam Kenway was just blasting off the line, he’d be pushing for the course record as well. After a brief chat with Matt Sinclair who was starting off a couple of minutes behind me it was the usual, 5,4,3,2,1 and off I went.

Bakewell Blast

I’d targeted a time of 22:15 which is a fraction under an average of 27mph, the plan was to get to the turn in Bakewell at an average of 26mph (first 5 miles is slower than the last) and then get home in 28mph and as I pushed hard on the pedals I was on track to achieve my first objective. Prior to the race I’d reduced the PSI in my tyres a little and this seemed to stop my eyes rattling in my head and help me concentrate a bit more and I felt quite strong as I came into Bakewell. My average speed had dropped to 25.9mph and as I came around the small roundabout that is the turn (excellently marshalled by Matlock’s army of helpers) the lights were on red with a couple of cars queuing but I took a chance on them changing, reduced my power and hoped I would be right, it probably cost me a few seconds but no harm done.

Overall Summary

Comparison to Paddy Gould

Home Run

Having been a little slower than anticipated to the turn I knew I had my work cut out to achieve an average speed of 27mph so it was a case of buckling down and doing what I could. Having got over the lumpy Haddon Hall section the road then descends back down to Rowsley, here I was hitting 30mph+ and my average speed began to grow 26.2, 26.4 and as I swung around past the Grouse & Claret pub I was at 27mph. Despite some very near misses with cramp in both calves my confidence grew and with 1.5 miles to go my legs felt they had enough in them to go full gas, I’d need to as the last 0.5 miles was into a slight incline that would mean I’d be really fighting to keep the speed averaging 27mph.

Holding my best aero position I afforded myself some brief glances at my Garmin, my 3s power constantly over 300W as I smashed myself to pieces in search of the finish line. About 300 metres before the line despite me averaging 310W for the last mile the average speed dropped down to 26.9mph and as I crossed the line my time flashed up as 22:19, 4 seconds over my target but a performance I was happy with. On reflection now I think I could have gone a little bit harder to the turn as clearly I had enough in the tank at the end but with my 22:19 rounded up to 22:22 by the time keeper that was good enough for 10^th place.

Matt Sinclair took the win in a blistering course record time of 20:18, Kenway in 2^nd 20:44 and Paddy Gould in 3^rd with a club record of 21:21. One of my other pre-race targets was to be within a minute of Paddy so that was all but achieved. Another was to get a power PB, I managed that by putting out 289W so all in all a satisfying night and a good confidence booster for Saturday.

Now all I need to do is rectify the mechanicals, nail this week’s training and I should be on for another good performance on Saturday.

 

Steaming up and down a DC

Having left early from work I arrived at race HQ earlier than planned, but after a 2 hour drive this did at least give me chance to stretch my legs a bit before my 7:15pm start on the infamous V718 course in South Cave Hull. I’ve lost count how many times I had checked the various weather sites this week but the consensus was that we would be in for a good night if the rain cleared. When the time came to get ready, thankfully the rain had stopped, it wasn’t so much the rain I was concerned with but the impact it might have on my visor, more on that later.

As usual there were plenty of Team Bottrill riders there and it was also good to meet Alex Taylor, finally putting a name to a face from the time trial forum. Having had a good weeks training on the bike my expectations began to grow, especially as my various illnesses seem to be finally relenting, so what was the aim? Simple, 19:59 which would equate to a 30mph average and the achievement of my seasons goal. After a brief (and wet) shakedown on the bike to make sure everything was working ok I began the 5 mile ride to the start, conditions felt good and whilst it was wet there wasn’t any spray coming from the traffic which was a huge relief.

As I got to the start (a bit too early) I felt quite nervous, I guess it’s a long way to come to have a bad ride, it’s also not nice not seeing my little boy, so the need to put in a good time to justify both of those was quite high. I’d scraped into this event courtesy of my 20:45 earlier in the season, my course PB was 21:01, I also did a 21:07 on Wiggins day, so I had a minute to find on this course, 46 seconds to find to achieve my 19:59.

The Start

As the starter released me I built up my speed gradually, conscious that big efforts had been causing problems but as I entered the dual carriageway (DC) I focused my efforts on hitting as close to 31mph as I could to the turn. It took a while for the Garmin to show 30mph+ average and I did actually feel quite slow in places, not sure whether this was poor concentration or the fact I’m currently lacking a few watts. But anyway, back to business, at around 4.5 miles the off ramp for the turn came into view, my plan here was to go hard to minimise the loss of speed, not sure if this extra push caused it but at this point my visor went from crystal clear to completely fogged, not good.

The Turn

Negotiating the turn needed a bit of care, a greasy surface and impaired vision not a great mix, but I scooted around the double roundabouts (brilliantly marshalled) and headed down the on ramp of the DC to begin my run for home. At this point my average speed was on track, 30.5mph, I’d have a slower average speed for the return leg, no doubt about that but it was a case of hanging on, a task sure to be made easier by the lack of a headwind (finally).

The biggest issue and it was a major issue was my visor, I could not see very well at all, I could make out where I was in relation to the lane, I would be able to see objects in front of me but it was really hard to spot the changes in terrain. So when the road went up, or down for that matter, I felt like I wasn’t going to be pushing hard enough, or having a brief (very, very brief) rest. However, knowing I was on for a good time and maybe that “19” there was no other thing to do but give it everything. I could feel myself lifting out of position slightly to see better and no doubt give my lungs room to breathe but where possible I just kept myself solid (new saddle working brilliant) and kept my power as high as possible.

The last bit

As I came to the last few miles, my focus was on the average speed indicator on my Garmin, 29.5mph it read, but I knew the last mile was going to be quicker than the previous two so I really did give it everything. At about 9.5 miles I twisted my head to the side in a desperate effort to clear my visor, the result of that sent me off course a bit and I hit a cat’s eye (the lights in the road not an actual cats eye) with an almighty wallop, at this point I remember looking at my front tyre and saying to myself “do not go down”, I said this because by now the average was creeping up, it was 29.6mph as I completely emptied myself to the line. As I hit stop “20:13” flashed up, not quite what I had hoped for but certainly a great result.

Back to HQ

As I made my way back to HQ, I had a real good feeling that my team mate Bill would have achieved his goal of doing a 19:59, with the conditions being as they were and him being very aerodynamic I was delighted when his time came up on the board, 19:59. I think I was more excited than we was, (Bill not really the excitable type) and I know the effort that’s been put in to achieve that time. I waited outside the HQ for him to roll back in, I may have clapped, but didn’t quite get to the hugging stage, he was naturally delighted (with the 19, and probably the lack of a hug) so a good night for both of us.

Bill vs Murph – How it unfolded

Quite a different pattern to our respective races, Bill forging ahead at 8 miles.

The times began to filter in and before long all the times were up on the board, as usual some great performances by my team mates and then scanning the board lots of “19” and five 18s were achieved, the conditions whilst not perfect were certainly favourable, I was glad that I’d managed to get my place on the start sheet, happy to get the PB and happy in the knowledge that I know I can do that 19. I was actually 15-20W down on what I can normally produce, so if I can up the power, demist the visor and get good conditions I think 19:45 might be possible, but I won’t get greedy, the 19:59 will do for now.

Up next

Next Open event will be the Mapperley Cycling Club 10 on the 28^th May, but if the weather is ok I’ll do a club 10 next week as well. Special thanks to my coach Dan Barnett for keeping me motivated and also a big thanks to Mike and all the helpers for putting on last nights event.

 

A25/11 – Navigational Success

On Saturday I raced on the fast A25/11 course at Etwall, the last time I raced there I took a wrong turn and had to classify myself as a DNF (Did not finish) so I had been looking forward to it when I first entered. In between that time I’ve been struggling a bit with colds, coughs and a stomach bug thrown in for good measure, so much so that a week prior to the race I contacted the organiser to say I wasn’t fit to race and to put me down as a DNS (did not start). But as last week progressed I did start to improve, admittedly the journey to work does (and still does) involve depositing large amount of luminous green phlegm onto the M1 but having had over a week off the bike, last week I managed to get in a few easier sessions so thought what the hell I’ll still race.

Unless you are an elite athlete who can somehow get lucky by finding that previous form then it’s pretty much impossible to rock up on the start line and put in a great performance if you’ve missed the amount of training I have whilst still not feeling 100%, for a 10 mile event you might be able to hang on and salvage something, for a 25 I knew it’d be a struggle. But with the weather looking good my plan was to do the race, complete the course and at the very least it would be a good hours training for one of my key target races coming up this week up in Hull. Naturally as I got kitted up my confidence began to grow, those missed sessions and my constant coughing weren’t going to stop me doing my best.

After enduring Chris Ledger’s concern about my skinny white legs again I went out on a bit of shakedown on the bike, this was my first time on the road with my new saddle, happy to report that all was well and I returned back to the car to chill out before commencing my warm up proper. In between this I’d gotten some more constructive feedback from Dan and Bill about potential watt savings I could make to my bike, so pretty soon the hacksaw will be coming out, thankfully for my bikes sake it won’t be in my hands.

My bike

Chris “Brown Legs” Ledger

As seems the norm, the car park was full of Team Bottrill riders, Dan, Elliot, Bill to name a few, we really do seem to be taking over this year and with 30 minutes to go I started my warm up pulling up to the start line with about 3 minutes to go. Before my warm up I’d quickly googled the average speed needed to do 25 miles in 54 minutes (my target for the day), 27.7mph it said so that would be what I was focusing my effort on, keeping that average speed north of 27.7mph.

My target for this course is 51:59, but I’m way off that at the moment, potentially it’s there if I can avoid illness for 3 months, the weather is kind and the hacksaw has worked but on Saturday my ambitions were quite rightly a bit lower.

Race

At 3:33pm off I went, swinging round to the left and up to speed quickly in search of a half decent time, well actually I was in search of the roundabout with Mcdonalds on it, or more commonly known as “the turn”, the turn signalling that you are now on the run for home. The course while undoubtedly quick is not easy IMO, there are many uphill (not steep) drags that require efforts above your average power and that was exactly what I didn’t need with my current lack of fitness, race pace I didn’t feel too bad, but anytime I had to push over that it was hard to recover, so much so that my average heart rate for the race was a lot higher than it would normally have been.

All pictures courtesy of Brian Hall

Me

Dan Barnett

Bill Seddon

Josh Williams

Neil Parkin  – great PB from him on the day

There are quite a few roundabouts on the course, at every one I seemed to be in the wrong place so I felt I was losing time, but no matter I just kept pushing on, until I approached the roundabout with Mcdonalds on it, a seemingly mythical place that I had never believed existed! What no-one had told me was that there was also a pedestrian crossing on it with traffic lights! Typically as I approached it was on red as a McDonalds worker made his way across the road, I came to a complete stop. It then went “green for go” as my little boy would say, so I encircled the roundabout to go back where I had come from, only problem, the same McDonalds worker now needed to cross the other side to get to work! So we were now on “Red for stop”, again I came to a halt. It was frustrating but I was kind of relieved that navigationally at least I was on track.

The average speed was hovering around 27mph so I really had to buckle down if I was to achieve today’s goal, I had it in my head that the return leg would be quicker so I was confident I could achieve my objective of breaking 54 minutes. Problem was my head was ok, my legs and lungs not so much, on the way back I was really struggling in some parts, but these were interspersed with sections of 30mph+ which kept my mind on the job. As the miles ticked down finally it was time for the last mile and all you can do is empty the tanks which I felt I did, as I crossed the line I hit stop, 54:30 flashed up, which was a bit annoying.

Something to consider in the future is that decimal places count! 27.78mph is required for 54:00, 27.51mph would be a 54:32, I probably should have aimed for 28mph, but to be honest I’m not sure it would have mattered, today was not going to be the day.

Official time was 54:31 which was actually a PB by 21 seconds, I’d also done a power PB by 3 watts but on a good day I’d expect a power PB of 15-20 watts. Normally a time PB would be satisfactory but my PB would have been fifty three fifty something if I’d not gone wrong last year on the J5/8 Stone Wheelers event, but officially it would now be a PB way off what I know I can do if fully fit. It’s hard to know how much time I lost at Mcdonalds, 20 seconds maybe so that’s some free time for the next outing on this course.

Back to HQ, just….

As I finished my race, it was time to return to HQ, I think it’s about 1.5 miles, those 1.5 miles were horrendous, my cough that had stopped for 54 minutes had now returned, this time it was determined to try and deposit my lungs on the pavement, but in amongst the wretching I found myself back at the car. I changed out my snot covered skin suit and went to hand my number in, I overhead Bill say he’d done a PB, 52 something or other, a superb effort from him and as I scanned down the leaderboard the rest of the Team had also put in some great performances too.

PB’s galore it seemed, whilst I had done a PB I wasn’t in celebratory mood, all I could think of was why hadn’t I bought any recovery food and drink with me! So off to the garage I went for a chocolate milkshake and a mars bar then made my way home in the glorious May sunshine with my mind firmly focused on Wednesday evening and the 10 miles of the V718 course in Hull.

To finish off though, happy to have completed the course, happy to have got a good hours training in, happy to have been able to ride the day after, just need to get healthy and back to my best form.

Next stop Hull…..

Even I don’t like these graphs

RTOTTSSSSSSSSTTTTOOTTOTTSSSSSSSTT

The “R” above was my last race which was on the 9^TH April, the “T” represents training, the “O” represents a day off, the “S” indicates sickness. To cut a long story short, since my last race things have been a complete nightmare. I seem to have either been battling illness, getting an illness or getting over an illness, working in an open plan office and having a 2 year old (who seems to have had a runny nose / cough for 3 months) is never going to help the situation but the last 6-7 weeks (and most of 2016) have been challenging to say the least.

In that time I’ve had to cancel 2 races and my training has been severely compromised. Whilst the graph of my CTL (Chronic Training Load, basically a measure of fitness) should have been showing a steady increase, what it actually shows is a downward trend. The yellow bit is where I was, the red bit is where I should be, as you can I’m way off that.

Now not everything is all about CTL, in between my times off the bike I’ve been encouraged with the power I’ve been putting out, particularly after I put my new saddle on a few weeks ago. That’s been one of the real positives, it looks like I have finally solved that conundrum……

My aim is to be between 6 & 7 hours per week, the back end of last year was pretty good, but 2016 has been pretty rubbish due to the amount of illness. At least the training I am doing is of high quality, that’s saved the day so far.

So while things have been a bit depressing, after blood tests revealed nothing going on to cause this never ending loop of bugs, coughs and colds I am now chomping at the bit to get going again. I think it’ll be a few days before it’s totally gone but this week I have done 2 short turbo sessions, one more to follow tonight which is making me think I can race on Saturday.

I’ll make the call probably as late as Saturday morning to see if I’m fit enough to tackle the super-fast A25/11 at Etwall but my focus is firmly on Wednesday 18^th May on the mighty V718 up in Hull. This was one of my main target races for the season, having achieved stage 1 by getting a place it’s slightly annoying that I’m not in the best shape to achieve stage 2 which is a sub 20 minute race, or in TT terms “to do a 19”.  Weather will play it’s part but with less than 7 days to go I feel I can get myself right for that. I may have to settle for a slightly slower time though.

My last race was at Etwall, you’ll recall I took a wrong turn so it would be nice to do it but having scraped into to the V718 with my PB of 20:45 on the O10/3 earlier in the season common sense seems to tell me to build towards that, we shall see. The urge to get the number on my back is really strong but coming back too early has done me no favours so hopefully it’ll be throwing it down Saturday morning which will make the decision easier.

My main aim from now is to get myself in shape, more fruit and veg needed! I’m lucky in that I don’t seem to lose much performance wise and I also don’t gain any weight so that’s a positive but on the flip side my progression has at the very best stalled, this means those riders I was competing against will now be ahead, I’m determined to close that gap.

I think once I’m fully fit I’m going to target some Open events but also do quite a few club events too. Racing, whilst not always great for training is something I really get a buzz from so I think Etwall, Matlock, Mapperley and Cuckney might see my skinny white legs quite a bit over the coming months, get your shades on.

Stock check and wrong turns

Before writing this post (oh sorry, the race report is further down, if you don’t want to die of boredom quite so early I’d skip to that), I did a bit of soul searching as I felt an honest assessment was needed. Over the last couple of months I’ve felt things have been a bit of struggle, illness has played it’s part but I’ve not felt as committed to the sport of time trialing as I feel I should be or need to be given the targets I have set myself.

On Saturday I took a wrong turn on a 25 mile TT meaning that I recorded a DNF “Did not finish”, even though it was my first time on the A25/11 this should not happen on a course primarily run on a dual carriageway, it’s not like negotiating a foreign country in the dark. You follow the signs or better still, have a clear idea of the important parts of the course and memorise them. This will not happen again. (It’s happened before…….)

Looking back I feel like I’ve spent October to February fighting things, whether that be the battle for time to train, illness, equipment envy or the fact every time I get on my TT bike it just doesn’t feel right. I’m pretty sure that without a coach I would have jacked it in but despite all the above I’ve hung in there and a few races into the season my performances have been solid enough for me to think that I need to stop making excuses, take stock and get myself organised. A coach can only do so much, they can’t turn the pedals for you.

So fresh week, fresh outlook on things, it’s time to get my shit together, so what am I going to do?

• Better organisation / Have a plan B
  • Things will always crop up, but being able to adapt an overcome is really important to stay motivated, be ready for training and to ensure I don’t miss a session
• Sort my nutrition out
  • Meals not too bad, hang on I said honest assessment….. My meals need to be much better
  • Cut down on the crap, just because those Crunchies are 4 for £1 does not mean I have to buy them
• Get more sleep
  • I feel like I’m fragile enough as it is, getting more sleep will help me recover better
• Complete every training session
  • No explanation required
• Switch on / Switch off
  • Get on the bike, train / race hard then lock the shed door and forget about it until I need to get on the bike again
• Race Days
  • Have everything (bike setup, bag packed, course memorised) done the night before, this will leave more time for real life and less juggling of priorities
  • Have strategy engraved on my brain

I think if I can listen to my own advice it’ll all come good.

Race Report – BDCA 25 mile TT 

On Saturday myself and 12 other Team Bottrill riders were competing on the super-fast A25/ 11 course near Etwall in Derbyshire. It’s a 25 mile course ran mostly on a dual carriageway (DC), the weather conditions had been improving all week so things looked good for a fast time.

Having arrived at HQ on time and got myself setup, I then endured the piss taking of messrs Seddon, Travell and Ledger about various things, (my white legs, the fact I was eating an energy bar, the cables on my bike, the positioning of my light, my saddle, the fact I was carrying a water bottle, the earths gravitational pull to name a few) I commenced my proper warm up. I don’t mind the piss taking, if I’m honest it’s a nice distraction, I take it as a compliment, my legs are really white though.

One thing I didn’t have to worry about was pinning my number to the skin suit, Mrs Supermurph had expertly sewn on some neat looking tabs, marginal gains right there.

I mentioned my warm up, not sure why but whatever I have planned goes completely to pot and with temperatures dropping I just made sure I tried to keep warm, had my final trip to the toilet and then got myself down to the start line with 3 minutes to spare. I’m now wondering if using a turbo trainer might be a better option, or at least an alternative if the start line is close to the HQ.

Go time

Sat on the start line, I felt OK, the weather was holding, the wind didn’t seem to be getting up so when the timer counted down off I went. As I rounded the corner to get up to speed it was clear that the weather might not hold, the clouds in the distance were very dark. Regardless of that I got into position and pedaled hard, the out leg was likely to be more difficult so the aim was to go hard to the turn, recover where possible, save a bit for later and then unleash hell. These things I was fine with.

The first roundabout section came at about 2 miles, it was a fiddly affair but well marshaled and I maintained good speed around it. Another roundabout at 7 miles, again signposted, around I went. My power looked on track, the course is not flat by any means there are some drags and even with a few roundabouts to negotiate monitoring average power seemed logical, so far so good. The wind wasn’t too much of  factor, mainly cross, so not helping, but not really hindering too much, my biggest issue at this point were the dark clouds, it was clear I was going to get wet.

Picture courtesy of Brian Hall, crystal clear image showing my white legs, cables in the wind, water bottle etc..

At about 8-9 miles, the first few spots of rain began hitting my visor, at 10 miles it was constant rain, the wind also picking up. By now I was experiencing issues with visibility, it was far from ideal and being a relative novice I’d only raced in the rain once and that was on a course I knew so wasn’t an issue, being on an unfamiliar DC it needed attention.

At 12 miles as I approached another roundabout, despite wiping my visor I was barely able to see much at all, but I figured with half the distance covered and despite there being no signs I thought this was the turn so I went around and then began the run for home………

Although not 100%, as soon as I started going the other way I had a feeling I had turned too early, but with the brain depleted of oxygen I figured I’d just keep going. By now it was raining hard and my visor issues had worsened considerably to the point I was going to stop. The feeling of wanting to stop grew and grew, by now I was sure I’d turned too early and I didn’t feel like risking my safety for a time that would probably not matter.

I’d knocked my effort back, my focus had gone and then at about 19 miles (confirmed on Strava Flyby) rider number 63 came past me. I was number 66 meaning he’d set off 3 minutes before me, he’d had me in sights for about 7 miles probably laughing, most likely knowing what I’d done. I was annoyed and pretty demoralised that once again my lack of preparation was going to cost me, but at least it’d soon be over. As I crossed the line I shouted out DNF to indicate to the time keeper not to record my time, the cold and discomfort then began to kick in.

Rider number 63 then said “did you turn too early”, can’t remember my exact response, but I’m sure the annoyance was etched on my face as we rode back to the car park. I changed quickly, nipped back to the HQ to confirm they had me as a DNF then drove off in a diva style huff. It took a few miles to actually warm back up but once I had I thought to myself that I need to start upping my game, hence the preamble at the start of this post. It wasn’t all bad news though, Team Bottrill scooping another team prize. Starting in May there are some club 25’s on this course, I’ll be first in line at sign on to try and put this cock up right.

Onwards!! (hopefully the right way).

 

Cold in Cuckney – Every Second Counts

After achieving a personal best 10 mile time last week, getting a new saddle (more on that later) on loan (thanks Russell Brown) and doing a couple of solid training sessions this week I was feeling confident about the upcoming 10 mile TT down at Cuckney. Course familiarity would surely play a part and give me (and a few of my team mates) an edge on those racing it for the first time. On Thursday night I spent time putting the new Adamo Prologue saddle on my bike and also making a few adjustments, adjustments that I’d hope would see it setup nicely for my Friday night training / pre race session.

Friday night, climbed aboard the bike, immediately sensed the saddle needed lowering a bit but on the plus side the saddle felt ok, nothing being squashed, no discomfort, signs were good. I’d relocated the turbo from outside to in and after 20 minutes I sweating profusely so did a couple of short efforts and then packed up ready for an early morning test prior to the race. This is far from ideal but it’s what I’m having to contend with in the search for comfort.

Race day morning

The conditions had changed quite a bit, it was now quite cold and the wind was getting up so not a day for fast times but having done my customary up, down, up, down of my own road to test the saddle I was happy with things, much happier than last week that’s for sure. At around 1pm I headed down to Cuckney to get ready for my 15:11 start time.

HQ arrival

My previous club Bolsover & District were putting on the event so quite a few familiar faces were at the HQ but having been given instruction to park at the finish line rather than the HQ I signed in, got my number and headed off down the road.

At the layby were some more familiar faces, notably Paddy Gould from Matlock CC and my team mate Bill Seddon. Paddy was off early, which was great for me because I knew I could gauge how things were going by what time he put in. After completing his race he’d done 22:37 from a similar power that he’d normally be looking to try and break that 21 minute barrier. So whilst he was a little baffled, what was clear was that it was a slow day out there.

Due to the cold I faffed around a bit at the start to try and keep warm but finally, having got kitted up I decided to begin my warm up. Being that it’s my local course I had no issues with timings and after a chat with another team mate Jeremy Stone, who’d also been left baffled by a slower time that he’d expected I decided the best way to get warmed up would be head back to the HQ then use the hill to the start to get the blood pumping. I was annoyed at myself for forgetting my tiger balm to warm my legs up, must add that to my pre race list.

Race time

I arrived at the start with a few minutes spare but whilst my mind was slowly getting in the zone, I was cold, so much so I kept my gloves on. With my ex-club mate Craig Devonshire on pushing off duties I readied myself for the blast down the hill, clicked start on the Garmin and then as the time keeper finished his countdown off I went. Before I go on, I’ll just say the marshaling job done on this course was superb, there are quite a few junctions, each one was manned by someone in fluro, it gave me great confidence as I passed each one.

Photo courtesy of Craig Zad 

Comparison to last week

So, back to the race. After the gift hill start I buckled down to battering myself to the turn which is about 5.5 miles from the start, with very cold temps (about 6-7 degrees) and a headwind approaching 12-15mph I found the going tough, much tougher than the warm temps of last week. I was trying to keep to my intended power and carrying out my strategy, things seemed to be going ok, power looked good and despite a bit of fidgeting the saddle felt fine.

Last week, it was more about being aware of the speed of the traffic passing you, this week as well as traffic it’s the surface that requires attention. Generally it’s very good, much better than Hatfield, but it does demand your attention. A few places on the way out I seemed to lose concentration, almost to the point of having to tell myself to focus, but this was more likely due to the nature of the course and the power going up and down rather than my own brain so I kept pushing on.

About 1.5 miles from the turn I passed Conor Mcguigan and then the next thing to focus on was the hill before the turn and then turn itself. As I climbed the hill I felt slow, I should have pushed harder at the bottom to carry some speed but I eventually reached the top (it’s only a 200 metres in length, it’s not exactly Ventoux) I was determined to nail the turn. I gave a quick glance back and then had to give an arm signal (costing time) to show I was going right. Moving to the outside I passed one exit and then kept to the inside of the next, slowing slightly as a car was actually coming before exiting the third part of the turn without being hindered. Course knowledge is vital on the turn, there were quite a few riders saying they lost time, well tough!

Home run

4.5 miles to go, conditions more favourable it’s time to really bang out every single watt you can muster in search of a good placing on that leader board. Miles 5.5 to 7.5 went by in a blur, indeed looking at Strava I was actually 9^th overall on a segment that had been created, 5^th on the day so clearly I’d got back up to speed quite quickly. That theme continued for the whole return leg, I was only 26s slower than the race winner, although this was probably due in part to not going hard enough on the way out.

The last couple of miles were pretty painful, although thankfully not saddle related. I was giving everything my legs had and as I reached about 9.5 miles I really went for it, cresting the final small incline and then accelerating toward the best site in Nottinghamshire, the finish line. As I crossed the line I hit the stop button, 22:25 flashed up (matching my existing course PB, set on a better day), so add on a couple seconds and I’d be looking at 22:27, first emotion was satisfied, second emotion get turned around and get a drink.

Having got changed and packed the bike away I got out the iphone so I could do some videoing. As Bill came back to the car he seemed pretty satisfied, having given him my time he said he’d done similar. Having got some footage of Simon and also of Dan we decided it was time to head back to the HQ.

With Dan one of the favourites and myself and Bill doing the times we had, the team prize would surely be ours. Sure enough as I entered the HQ, on the projector my time came up as 22:27, a few minutes later Bill’s came up, 22:26, git!!!! But moving on….. our names were well within the top 20 at this point, we’d gone pretty well.

Bill vs Murph

At the turn I was 2 seconds down, 4 seconds quicker at 8 miles, after 9.5 miles we were level, at the finish I was 1 second behind.

Results

Scanning the leader board every few seconds, our positions were holding, current leader was Simon Beldon from SSLL racing team, 20:56 was his time. Only question now, could Dan beat it? The next time I looked around Beldon was now in second, replaced by Dan with a 20:53!! Bosh! 1^st place for Dan, confirming we’d also (with Bill and me) got the team prize. A good day both individually and for the team.

Result Sheet (abbreviated, there were 110 riders in total).

No races for a few weeks, time to get back to the training, I wonder if that saddle needs adjusting….

RIP Paul Daniels (title seemed apt)

Flying Solo on the O10/3

First solo race of the year and a new course for me, the O10/3 near Ranby in Nottinghamshire. On the right day a fast course as it’s ran on the busy A1 dual carriageway so I was looking forward to seeing what I could do. But first let’s address the ongoing saddle saga…

Friday night, dashed home from work so I could do some testing, an hours testing later and with darkness approaching I gave up as still I was struggling to find a solid position. Saturday morning (race day) some more testing, saddled swapped, bars altered slightly but still no real step forward. I sat in the dining room of my house about 4 hours from my start time pondering what to do, should I race, maybe I’ll be ok once I get going?. If it was raining and cold I may have aborted but with the sun shining, the mercury rising and favourable wind conditions I decided to give it a crack.

HQ

Arriving at the HQ was like arriving at Team Bottrill Village, we had 9 riders signed on so it was great to see some familiar faces, a few of my previous club mates were doing most of the organising so again some more familiarity to settle any pre-race nerves. I really had no idea what would happen today, I had visions of actually sitting up on the bike after 2 miles, demoralised I couldn’t pedal the damn thing but with a 6 mile ride to the start line I guess that’d give me chance to at least try and get in position. I gave myself plenty of time and arrived at the start, in front of me was another TB rider Elliot Maynard, we both offered each other encouragement and then away he went.

On time keeping duties was Malc Smith which made it feel less like an Open event and more of a club type affair, this kept me relaxed and focused on the job in hand, that job would now involve subjecting myself to around 21 minutes of torture on the A1.

Go time

With the time at 14:56, away I went and started the uphill drag to enter the A1, at this point I was out of the saddle so everything felt great, what would happen when I sat down? Thankfully when I did get “in position” the power seemed to be transmitting through the bike and onto the tarmac, I felt like I was sitting side saddle (and thinking a basket might be nice) but still, the speed and power looked good so I settled in. Racing on dual carriageways (DC) can be a bit daunting, you’ve got traffic coming past at twice the speed (and more) than you’re pedaling at, but on the plus side there are no T junctions so no danger of someone pulling out on you.

With a slight tailwind out I was determined to execute the coach’s strategy and put in a good performance, a few miles in and all was well, by luck I was in a sustainable (if a little odd feeling) position and I kept the power within the target range as I pushed onto the turn. My legs felt really good, whenever I asked them to do something they responded, I feared I might pay later but what the hell, doing 30, 32 or 38mph on a DC is pretty exciting so I pushed on. With Elliot (currently faster than me) in front it’d be unlikely that I’d see anyone to chase down, for me this is not a bad thing, it allowed me to focus on my own race.

As I approached the slip road at the turn I spotted a couple of marshals up ahead who directed me safely and quickly around the junction as I headed over the A1 to go back from where I’d came. I got out the saddle to pick the speed back up, at this point I thought “shit, what if I can’t get back in position?”. Again, luckily I was back in position and pressed on for the return leg. The return leg was slightly shorter, about 4.5 miles, it’d be slower too with a slight headwind to deal with but having reached the turn in 10 minutes 33s (averaging 30.4mph) I knew I’d paced it to pretty much perfection, all I needed to do now was keep it above 28.5mph average and I’d achieve my goal of breaking 21 minutes.

Home

As the miles ticked by my average speed slowly started to drop (I expected this) so it was all about keeping my head, keeping those pedals turning and really focusing on my position. As you begin to tire the natural reaction is to start lifting your head up to get more oxygen in but that puts you more in the wind and slows you down so it’s really key to hold that position even when you feel you can’t. With 2 miles to go I was still feeling good, confident that I’d have enough in my legs to not come to a standstill on the tough last mile.

After a close pass from a lorry that unnerved me slightly I just really kept myself low and pushed with everything I had. It’s in these last 2 miles that things seem to go very slowly. A look down at the Garmin, on track time wise (calculated from average speed), it showed 1 mile to go. Not sure if it’s just me but I try to mentally vision how far that is based on other roads I travel on, those 0.1 miles ticked down very slowly before it showed 9.7 and 0.3 to go.

For some stupid reason I thought about Monsal Hill Climb, that’s 0.3 miles long, albeit at a 13% average gradient, why could I not think of a nice flat, smooth piece of tarmac, with the sun shining. Well, no matter it seemed to work, in fact there may have been more in the tank as I pushed 10% more power in the last 0.3 miles than I’d done as an average overall, maybe I’ll hit the go button at 9.5 miles next time.

As I crossed the line I hit the stop button, my average speed told me I’d done ok but the time that flashed up was 20:43, I’d done it, I’d beat my previous PB of 21:01 set on the faster V718 course in Hull, I figured it’d be more like 20:45 (due to the lag of the garmin when setting off) and sure enough as I came back to the HQ the time was confirmed as 20:45. Happy with that, especially for race 1.

Team

Pleased with my own performance I then started scanning the time sheet for other riders, I’d had 3 goals for the day, sub 21 time, top 20 finish and to beat 3 of my rivals, all achieved so a really good day for me but not just that it’d been a great result for Team Bottrill. We’d actually taken the top 3 spots, Aaron Ward winning in 19:38, Elliot in 2^nd with 19:59 and Dan Barnett (my coach) in 3^rd with 20:05 and we had all 9 riders in the top 20, I was placed 12^th overall.

Top is Aaron, bottom left Elliot, bottom right Dan.

 

As we replenished our energy supplies on cake it was great to chat with so many TB riders, many of whom are from different districts so that won’t always happen but needless to say there’s a great camaraderie within the team, all pleased for each other, all pulling together to help us all go faster.

More Bottrill riders, Bill Seddon (L), Andy Cutts (R).

A special thank you to all the organisers, time keepers and everyone at the HQ and also to Brian Hall for taking some superb pictures. Next week, it’s the O10/5 course at Cuckney, this promises to be a great event with a full field of 120 riders expected, a slower single carriageway course but one I’m very familiar with, I’ll be targeting a course PB and getting as high up the leader board as possible.

 

Thanks for reading

Season Opener – Pain and Gain

Finally after 5 months of training mainly in a freezing cold damp outhouse the race season arrived. Due to work I’d sadly missed the team launch but was keen to get cracking.

As with last year it was the 2UP 25 mile event put on by Sheff Rec at Hatfield Woodhouse (or Hatfield Roubaix as it’s now being called due to the terrible surface) where I’d be opening my 2016 account. Now racing for Team Bottrill I teamed up with a fellow team member Andy Cutts as it seemed we were quite well matched in terms of times produced last season. Having never met Andy, we’d managed a few conversations on facebook where I basically rambled on about rubbish trying to empty my usual over analytical mind about race tactics, to cut a long story short we appeared to be on the right page so all looked good. However………..

I’ll be honest and say I was very apprehensive about this race, last year I’d been fighting anxiety, this year (and the back end of last year) I’ve been fighting comfort issues with my saddle. Despite the bike fit I had, the issue, if anything has gotten worse and at times I’ve honestly wondered how the hell I’m going to race this year.

I’m of the firm belief that without the coaching from Dan (and the constant bothering of my team mates Travell and Seddon) I would have been in terrible shape as the season approached because quite frankly the stresses of trying to get comfy on the bike have taken their toll. Despite battling comfort issues and my training being compromised, it’s not been derailed, sure my CTL should probably be about 10 points higher but physically I’m in decent shape. But back to the saddle, essentially I had no idea how I would handle things in the race, I’d done a bit of testing on my road and one session along the A6 in Derbyshire, but it’s not the same as being on the rivet on race day so apprehension was the emotion of the day.

Arrival at HQ

It was very cold and typically windy as I arrived at the HQ, Andy and I bumped into each other and after a brief chat arranged a few things, including deciding to warm up together. Once kitted up we ran into Dan and Billy and then later Simon and Bill who made up the 3^rd Team Bottrill team on the day. Skin suit on, embrocation applied, Roubaix warmup top to keep warm and then finally the TT lid on it was time to begin the warm up. It felt good to be in the Team Bottrill kit. Both Andy and I had warm up instructions but if we are both honest they kind of went out the window as we basically just rode around the loop of the HQ to keep warm and practice some changeovers. (sorry coaches).

Race Time

With about 8 minutes to go Andy had a slight mechanical which required a trip back to the HQ, getting to the start on time would now be tight but these things happen, this first race is actually ideal for ironing these gremlins out. The effort to come was more important. Sure enough despite a mad rush to the start we were late, only about 45s but still late. Luckily with it being a 2up and people starting at 2 minute intervals we were slotted in and off we went, albeit 90s late. (I think both of us hoped we might get off with the penalty).

With the countdown completed we shot off up the hill, negotiated the roundabout (RAB) and buckled down to business. I knew instantly this was going to be tough as I was already fidgeting around on my saddle desperately searching for something resembling comfort, but letting my team mate down was not an option so we pushed on.

With the late arrival I’d used the wrong Garmin display screen but eventually found one that would be of use and continued on our way to the next RAB. Having never ridden together before our changes were pretty damn good, we communicated well, neither of were concerned with willy waving and surging through, we just concentrated on making them smooth. The surface wasn’t great as we bumped and bobbled along but as we reached the turn (a turn I got lost at last year) we had covered the first 6.6 miles in 14:48 averaging 27mph.

We’d targeted a time of around 58 minutes, in warmer and more favourable conditions I’m sure we’d be looking at nearer 55 but today a 58 would be acceptable. With the turn negotiated we soon got back into position and made our way back from where we’d came. On the way back we passed a couple of riders so were obviously going ok, we also spotted a couple in a layby who’d clearly had an incident of some kind. Some sections of road are pretty horrendous, my eyes felt like they were jangling in my head, throw in a headwind and it really tests your metal.

As we proceeded Andy shouted up that the wind would be slightly better in this section, this gave me a lift and allowed me to momentarily forget the pain coming from my groin, my saddle was clearly trying to kill me. As we flew past the start area I heard some words of encouragement from a rider getting ready to begin their own race, I’m pretty sure it was my coach Dan, no time to wave, we just kept the wheels turning. We’d made the return trip of 6.5 miles in a slower time of 16:13, averaging 24.4mph. So now we were 13 miles down, 12 to go, 10 of those on the more familiar 10 mile course.

We’d get a tailwind to the final RAB, a small consolation for the bad surface, but that obviously meant a headwind for the 5 mile run for home. But forget the run for home, I’ve got more fidgeting to do before that. Fidgeting on the bike kills your power which kills the speed, I’ve no idea how many turns on the front I did but even if I lost 0.5 seconds with every other fidget they add up. We both knew where the really bad surface was so ended up pretty much in the middle of the road at one point but time wise I felt we were still on track.

I think it’s fair to say Andy got the better of the deal, he got more shelter behind me than I did him but power wise I was managing things so still all good as we made the final turn. We did the outward 5 miles in 10:31, averaging just over 29mph, looking at my power it was a little down on the earlier splits but I do think I was holding fractionally back for the head wind to come.

Turn and Burn

Roundabout negotiated, now the run for home, 5 miles, bumpy surface, headwind, the joys of the UK time trial scene eh. By now the pain in my groin had turned to agony but the pain in my legs as we gave it everything masked this a little so I was able to keep things going. With about 3 miles to go I was tiring, the cold and mild flu I’d still not fully recovered from had robbed me of some endurance but we continued pushing. I think Andy probably had more in the tank towards the end but we kept the turns coming, albeit a bit quicker now but nice and slick as we surged toward the line. Last 5 miles done in 13:30, or about 22mph, even with a headwind that’s slower than both of us would have expected.

I knew once I crossed the line things were going to get worse, that’s a bizarre thing to say when you stop but the saddle had broken me, the agony level had increased to the point I could not even sit on the saddle, but after collecting kit I got back to the car and climbed off the bike. I could barely stand, the impact of the poor comfort had affected my whole leg, nothing appeared to be working as I literally collapsed into the car. Getting my overshoes off was horrendous, getting my kit off even worse, walking, another step up from that.

Results

As I limped into the HQ Chris Ledger (a fellow racer) asked what was up, (the grimace on my face giving the game away), he took me to one side, well into another room actually and before I knew it he had me planking and offering advice. I’ll try and heed some of that, thanks Chris I really appreciated your time.

We’d done a long 57, 57:57 but with a likely penalty to come, getting in the top 10 would be very unlikely. There was some confusion as we saw a time of over one hour but by now all I wanted to do was get home, I honestly didn’t know how I was going to drive at this point the pain was that bad.

Before I left we’d spotted Dan and Billy, sadly they’d had a double puncture and had to walk about 3 miles back to the HQ in cycling shoes (wrecking them in the process), in the freezing cold, that must have been horrendous but not quite as horrendous as what happened to Bill. As I was exiting the car park, I saw Bill, he was a bit banged up with cuts to his hand, he’d actually crashed. Skin suit ruined, a few bits of his bike broken and some lost skin but thankfully no more than that, he was actually back out training the next day.

Utilising the cruise control I made my way home, the saddle glaring at me in the rear view mirror, I’m sure I heard it laughing. In terms of the result we were 18^{th (out of 63)}, we’d have been 11^th, only a few seconds off the top 10 without the penalty, that looks good for the season ahead, well once I’ve sorted my saddle, Andy’s sorted his bike, Bills got a new skin suit, Dan’s got some new shoes and Billys fixed his puncture, Simon I think was OK!

Next race, Saturday the 12^th March on the O10/3 near Ranby, fast course, 9 Team Bottrill riders on the start sheet. It’s time to #smashitup again.

Getting ready to #smashitup

New year, new team.

Having raced under the Bolsover and District Cycling Club (B&DCC) banner in 2015 , for 2016 I’ll be part of the newly formed “Team Bottrill”.

This is an exciting opportunity and along with my existing team mates Simon Travell and Bill Seddon I’m really looking forward to being part of this project from the outset. The team consists of a number of elite riders including Matt Bottrill, Dan Barnett (my coach), Josh Williams and then the opportunity was extended for others to join who were coached under the Matt Bottrill Performance Coaching  umbrella, all in that’s about 50 or so riders.

Matt Bottrill

Dan Barnett

It’s an amazing opportunity to learn from some of the best TT talent in the country and to progress within the sport of time trialling. I feel really motivated for the forthcoming season, despite my turbo being in a cold and damp outhouse I’m doing my best to nail the sessions that Dan is giving me and looking forward to putting in some great performances. Indeed this is one of the great things about having a coach, fear of letting Dan down drives me on that bit extra! The clock is really ticking now, the opening event, the Sheff Rec 2up is only six weeks away.

It’s not all been good news though, over the last few months I’ve been at real odds with my TT bike, for some reason my undercarriage has taken a distinct dislike to my current saddle, to the point I couldn’t actually get in position on the bike, not good. Having finally decided that I couldn’t risk compromising my training further I booked in for a bike fit with Ada Timmis at www.cadencesport.co.uk  to get myself sorted.

With a few tweaks here and a few tweaks there and then a new Adamo saddle I’m now good to go (I hope). I’d highly recommend Ada, as an ex pro rider who’s ridden the Tour de France he certainly knows his stuff. Although I’m happy to be back on the bike properly (albeit the turbo trainer, still no TT road work since the end of last season), it was annoying to blow my war chest that was earmarked for go faster bits. So for 2016 I’ll still be racing without a disc and those PDQ bars I wanted, damn.

Although no carbon fibre will be arriving….., the new kit is looking great, based around the Giant Alpecin team ( Team Bottrill is supported by Giant so perhaps no coincidence ) I really like the design and can’t wait to get the skin suit on and start tearing up and down the tarmac in it.

I’m really looking to build upon my first season, training is going really well, power is going up, consistency is better than ever and touch wood no health issues to report, a huge improvement on this time last year. My only concern at this point is my lack of time outside on the TT bike, whilst I’ve clocked up the hours on the turbo I’ve only ridden it once outside since the season finished. I’m hoping the weather will start to perk up and I can get some time outside on it, if not, then the races in March will most likely be live testing of changes I’ve made to my position. No point worrying about it though.

Overall Goals

With the race calendar now released I’ve begun plotting out my races for the season, some of these will no doubt change but it’s good to have an idea, it also helps with family holiday planning. 2015 was predominately made of up 10 mile TTs, 2016 should see quite a few 25s in the diary.

Given that Etwall (25 miles) is a fast course and local to me, my intention is to get down to the South Pennine Road Club event regularly on a Tuesday night to race. A 25 mile TT still offers a good training load and will also keep me in the swing of racing. My goal time for 2016 for this course is going to be 51:59, a challenging target. Discounting the wrong turn I took, a long 53 / short 54 (not bad in only my second 25m TT) was what I achieved on a similar course in 2015 so that’s about 2 minutes to find or an extra 1mph in real terms.

For 10 miles, the target is 19:59, not sure any other course apart from the V718 will see me get this so it’s going to be about performance on the day combined with favourable conditions, something that in both my races there last year I didn’t benefit from.

Current PB, is 21:01, so just over a minute to find. That’s 1.5mph in speed terms, realistically if I had good conditions last season I think a 20:30 would have been a certainty, but the record books state 21:01, they don’t say “that would have been X if it wasn’t blowing a gale”. I have more performance based goals and course time targets, more on those to come later in the season.

Team Bottrill

Amongst the riders and coaches on Team Bottrill there’s unlikely to be much they don’t know about the sport of time trialling, an endless supply of resources that I can tap into and learn from. I’m sure the competition amongst team mates is also going to be good to watch too, I’m certainly motivated to represent Team Bottrill to the best of my ability in 2016. Unless I suffer an Incredible Hulk style science lab mishap (I don’t work in a lab), or some kind of performance enhancing spider bite then moving into that elite level of riders will not happen, but when I look at the results board I’m hoping I won’t have to scroll down too far in 2016.

You could say I’m now ready to #smashitup …………