In September last year, I managed to scrape an entry on the fastest 10 mile TT course in the country, the V718 in Hull. On the morning of the event, the weather was terrible and forecast to rain all day, I decided not to make the 5 hr round trip, gambling on them cancelling the event. I lost, it turned out to be a “float” day with Marcin Bialoblocki smashing the national record with a 16:35!!
With my PB of 21:29, I was in no mans land, being limited in the events on the V718 that I was likely to get an entry in, ie too slow for the regular events, and too fast for the slowest events, so when I saw this event, I thought I would have a good chance of an entry.
It just so happened that the event was being held while we were on holiday. So, following delicate negotiations with my wife, I entered the event. The event was limited to 90 riders, but had 215 entries, it closed on 21:41, so 90 riders within 41 seconds! This however, got me an entry. Lee Suthard holds the club record of 18:57 when he rode here a couple of years ago, Ii was never going to get near that, but certainly wanted at least 20:30, if not a long 19!
In preparation, I purchased a 56T chain ring as I was spinning out in some areas on the J5/8 recently, so didn’t want to leave anything to chance. It was a 2 hr drive each way from where we were staying on holiday in the Peak District, I requested an early start time so as not to get back too late. With the first off at 7:01, I actually got a start time of 7:02, so perfect time.
I arrived in plenty of time, 2 hrs before the start, this gave me time to have a bite to eat. Just for Carol, here is the negative, I packed the wrong skinsuit again! I had my race suit and not my skin suit, resulting in my number having to be pinned on and not neatly tucked in a pocket, not the end of the world I know but, marginal gains and all that
The weather was great, if not a little too warm at 20 plus degrees and SE wind, this gave a head wind out to the turn and the shorter leg. The start is just under 6 miles from the HQ, so I didn’t bother with a turbo, just spun the legs to the start.
I was soon off, the by-pass is very similar to the j5/8 without concrete mountain. As I approached what I thought was the slip road for the turn, I very nearly made a schoolboy error, I could see in the distance a hi-viz so thought it was a marshal, the road markers counted down 3.2,1 so I briefly entered the slip road only to look up and see that what I thought was a hi-viz Marshall actually turned out to be the number of my minute man and he had carried on up the by-pass, I quickly corrected myself by riding over the chevrons!!
I caught my minute man on the exit slip road to the turn, then up hill to the first of two roundabouts, over the by-pass, to the second roundabout, before coming back down the entry slip road and back on the by-pass. During this time, I lost about 0.6 mph off my average.
With no-one left to catch, I just had to keep focused on keeping my power on. With a couple of small rises, I entered the last mile, a lovely smooth bit of tarmac and I could see my average rise, I went past a lay-by thinking it was the finish, but instead a guy in hi-viz took my picture, which was very nice of him, but I would have preferred the finish, this came about half a mile later.
I finished with an amazing 19:36, (30.612 mph), just short of 2 mins off my previous PB and just 39 seconds off the club record, I think it was my highest average power outputever done for a 10 mile TT and 14 watts higher than my last club 10 where I got a course PB.
I finished 2nd overall, with Nick Latimer of Rutland Cyling Club wining with 19:25
Next up, 50 mile Club Champs on Saturday