First race of the season

As a way of getting me off the turbo and back into the real world I entered the Kingston Wheelers' Gil Jessop Sporting 14, a 14 mile (obviously) sporting time trial over two laps in Ripley. I find these sporting courses pretty tough; I have never ridden one that has made me think afterwards that I had really nailed it, usually because in the early season I have not laid a decent enough aerobic base during the winter. With my trainerroad sessions I have been hoping to remedy this and this was going to be my first test of this.

I decided on the argon with full deep section wheels as it was not a particularly steep course or climb. The roads were wet from a good soaking the night before but the morning was pretty dry. I just didn't feel on it on the first lap. My legs just felt heavy and The were well alight after just a few minutes' riding. Maybe a lack of a proper warm up or just not enough actual road riding on hills? Whatever it was, it was a rude introduction to the racing season, especially when my minute man caught me after only half a lap. The second lap was slightly better and I was really pushing hard over the last mile on the downhill section. A long 37, which on this course was decidedly average.

Over the next couple of days I started to feel more rough as a cold developed, which meant my week off for half term only saw me ride 3 times and feeling rough each time. The highlight was 40 miles out with Simon which included an ascent of Pebble Hill in Reigate, which left me absolutely in bits. I really hate that hill; I guess I should ride it a lot more.

I think I am now finally over my cold and I am going to attempt to get 3 really good weeks in before the next Sporting TT, focussing on sweetspot and threshold work. My other main focus is weight loss, with me currently at 73kgs I am a good 2kgs overweight and ideally, I should aim to get down below 70 kgs. I'm cutting out the rubbish, reducing my carbs, eating more fruit, drinking more water and upping my protein. Sounds simple, but I like a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar, so I think this is going to be tough.