For most of the week I was still feeling a bit run down but by Thursday I had started to perk up a bit, so Simon and I headed out for a few hours, spinning gently. Although our gentle spinning took us up Newlands, Whitedown and Pebblecombe hills. I dropped it down a notch, letting Simon take the KOM while I just winched myself up as steadily as possible. I got up early on Friday to do a Trainerroad VO2 max workout and I was glad to see my NP for the session was where I would expect it to be; another indicator that I had worked the bugs out of my system.
So this morning was the Portsmouth North End CC 25m TT, on the fast P881/25 course, basically batting up and down the A3 for two laps. I have had this event inked in my diary for a couple of months with this being my first proper hitout this season at a sub 1 hour 25m tt on a fast DC course. We had also got a team together with the intention of trying to beat the KPRC Men's 25m team record of 2:52:54, therefore three of us would need to average 57:xx to achieve this. Dale has been on top form all season, riding 55/56mins all season so it would be down to Simon, John and myself to back him up for the other two places. Simon went sub 60 two seasons ago and John was looking for a sub 60 too. I knew that without the illness I had suffered recently I should be in 58 minute shape, so it would be a close run thing, but I still felt that I could improve on my pb of 1:00:56 set two years ago.
My mantra for today was 'relax'. I have obviously been thinking about Frank a lot recently, and our many conversations and I remember discussing with him not that long ago, the phenomena of riders posting faster average speeds in say a 25tt when compared to a 10, or in a 50 when compared to a 25. Frank puts it down to being relaxed and not chasing the time, which I think was partly what went wrong for me at the last club 10, as well as being under the weather. I also got some final advice from John about this course which was to not lose too much time on the northbound section as this had some noticeable climbs, so his advice was to hit the hills a bit harder and recover over the top.
So, a decent warm up on the turbo and my legs felt pretty alight straightaway, I think I had the vagaries of the VO2 max session still in them, but as I headed north for the first time I settled into my cadence and was not afraid to back off if I started to stress a bit too much straightaway, but really aimed to keep my legs using the whole of the pedal rev. After the turn at 5 miles I started to hit some pretty good speeds as I dropped back down to the start area, catching a couple of riders en route, which is always nice. The bottom turn was a little confusing but well marshalled, but as soon as I hit the northbound carriageway my speed plummeted. The wind had picked up and I was fighting the front wheel, even bouncing over the rumble strips on one occasion. I stayed relaxed and tried not to fight it, tucking myself as low as possible, trying to make sure the tail of my helmet was down my back and not sticking up like a sail, not worrying about the drop in speed but just aiming to get to the final turn and the 20 mile mark where I could start to really empty the tank. I had a bit of luck here. One of the fast guys caught and passed me but I was able to use him to push me on, with him dangling out 50 metres in front while I tried to keep him there, which I just about did, although he was on his first lap while I was nearing the end. I had a final check of my garmin at 23 miles and it showed 52 minutes elapsed time, so 4 minute miles would get me home under the hour, but I knew I was obviusly going much faster than that so I really started to push on as hard as I could, using the downhills as best as possible and thinking that a 57;xx might be on; a result beyond my wildest dreams.
The chequered board came up and I stopped the Garmin on 56:48!! Blimey. A 4:08 minute pb. Not too shabby, even if I say so myself, and I didn't feel completely wiped at the end. Staying relaxed had paid massive, massive dividends (and the months of Trainerroad sessions on the turbo in the shed of course.) The double bonus was Dale, Simon and I beating the 28 year old club record by over a minute.
I am a very happy chappy. I think I might have turned myself into a time triallist at last.
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