When is a 25m tt not a 25m TT?

When it's 22.5 miles.

It was the Epsom Open 25 on the G25/54 course, two laps with a pretty testing climb over the first mile and a half of the lap. Only it wasn't. The organiser found out at 5am this morning that dozens of cones had been put out on the second half where a 'Tough Mudder' event was going to be taking place with all the ensuing traffic that would entail. The promoter changed the event to avoid this and it became three shortened laps and therefore three times up the hill. Bah. After the last couple of months I was not expecting much but it was my best ride in a long while. 53:18 for 22.5m equates to a 59:20 25mile TT and on such a lumpy course I'm pretty pleased with that, with me pretty much negative splitting over the course. So I have one more 25 next week and the Bec Hill climb for a bit of fun and then I'm planning to take a month off from anything structured before starting up again in November. I'm not sure what I'm going to change, if anything. I'll be sticking with Trainerroad over the winter but as I intend to focus primarily on 10 and 25 tts again, I am not sure whether to change plans. The guys at Trainerroad are uber-helpful so I might ping them an e-mail and see what they suggest.

I have been ticking over with a few short runs every week and I was back at Bushy for the Parkrun yesterday and recorded a 19:36. Usual scenario. Started too far back, worked my way through and felt comfortable and was blowing like a train over the last mile. 4th in my age group and 49th overall, so quite pleased. Might see if I can do a little speedwork and give sub 19 a go. Onwards.

End of the season

The last month has been a bit of a wash out but to be honest, that's been no bad thing. A couple of tts but my lack of training really showed. One thing I have learned this season is that my age is starting to show, mainly in the fact that a) if I stop consistent training I lose fitness very quickly and b) I need a lot more rest between hard sessions than I used to. Even when on the bike, a hard Trainerroad interval session leaves me barely able to turn the cranks the next day. It's not a major pronblem but it is a readjustment that I have to make. Two hard, back to back sessions are simply counter-productive for me now.

I have started running again, which has been great. I have actually been very good and reigned my ego in. I have two rules. No runs on consecutive days and all my runs are on grass. I have got up to four miles and I have done more laps of my local recreation ground than I care to count, but it's been a real toni and so far there has been no grumbling from my feet.  I also did a couple of parkruns at Bushy. Nothing spectcular but just used them as a harder run instead of the plodding around the rec.

So I have a couple of 25m tts left. It will be interesting to see if I can get under the hour. I think I will be there or thereabouts and I have tried to get some Trainerroad miles under my belt to claw some fitness back, but it's not a given. I'm just trying to grow my ftp a little ready to hit some big base miles at the start of November.

A steady decline

So I have been on a steady decline since June. July has seen me become unfocused and much more ad-hoc with my training and as a result my speed and power on the bike have taken a hit. The summer holidays are always a hard time for me to remain consistent. In theory, I should have ample spare time but actually the focus is on my family and therefore camping holidays, lazy days and wall to wall Olympics watching are the order of the day as regular routine goes out the window. Yes, early mornings are there but as I am a bit of a night owl,  a 5am alarm call becomes impossibly difficult. I have also far exceeded my expectations for this season over 10 and 25 miles which has dented my motivation somewhat.

But I have another go on the F11/10 in three weeks' time so while I completed a thoroughly dreadful ftp test last night which has seen a 10watt reduction, I've got a short space of time to get some focus back and see if I can better my 21:58. On top of that, I am flirting with purchasing a cyclocross bike and having a go at some cyclocross racing this winter for a few giggles and bants. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. They are probably right but at least I'll have a soft landing when falling off.

Dunstable RC Open 10

So last Saturday I was on the super fast F11/10 course down on the A41 near Aston Clinton. It's an hour's drive but it seemed worth it to have a go at getting under 22 minutes, which was my main goal. I was hoping that something nearer 21:40 could be doable with favourable conditions. The course is fast as it is basically two long flat sections of the A41 with a long downhill in the middle that you don't have to go back up, so a dream of a course. As expected though, the weather conditions were not too favourable. It was trying to rain as I pulled into the school car park and the air temperature was well down at about 15 degrees. Worse than that, the wind was steadily picking up and with it being a north-easterly it would provide a head/crosswind for most of the long leg between the two turns. Bah...

Anyway, I still felt pretty good so after a warm up on the turbo and finding the start I was feeling confident that I should pb. The start is on the slip road that joins the A41 and it is a nice fast downwards ramp and as I headed along to the first turn I was bumping along at around 29-30 mph with a tail wind. very cool! The first turn was quite complicated and relatively slow but very well marshalled to send me back up the dual carriageway and straight into the wind. So again, it was just a process of hunkering down but after a mile or so along here I could feel myself red lining. Even the downhill didn't offer much respite. I had bn told that I would probably end up spinning out here but I was still mashing the cranks pretty hard even here. The end turn was a lot simpler although I had to slow up for traffic and then it was the final sprint, if tou can call it that to the finish, another mile or so away.

I tend not to look at my Garmin too much but as I was within 20 metres of the chequered board I couldn't resist a peek and saw 21:54! I was desperate to get under 22 and I knew I had a few seconds in hand as I always start the Garmin as the timekeeper counts down the last 5 seconds. I just squeaked it with 21:58. Really pleased to get under 22 but was hoping for a bit more. The thing with tting is, there's always next time.

Resetting goals

Another 25 on the fast P885/25 course this morning and another pb, taking 59 seconds off last week's time to record 55:49. A massive gift hill right at the start and very little wind although it drizzled most of the morning.  Over half the field decided not to start as a result and I thought about it, but obviously I am pretty glad that I didn't bale. Being a faster course it generated a faster field. I was 31/57 starters. Normally a 55:xx time would see a rider in the top ten on a G course but I am used to being mid pack.

My main goal for the season was to go under the hour and I have done that, and more importantly I know that I can keep doing it. I never thought that I would ride a 55 but here I am doing so and it feels great, but I now have to start resetting some goals. Short term, I've got a couple of 50s coming up so barring disasters, a pb should be on the cards. In theory, a sub 2 hour might be possible but I am not sure that I have the endurance legs for that and the course I will be racing on is quite lumpy. Mid-term, I have a 12 hour again in August which will be just to get around and see if I can add a few more miles onto my distance from last year.  Other than that, I am a bit stumped and I need to take a few days to plan out some other events to target this season.

Portsmouth North End 25m TT

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.

A bad week

I was at work on Wednesday when I got a few urgent messages on my phone.  It transpired that Frank, our timekeeper and until recently, our secretary at Kingston Phoenix had been in an accident while cycling to meet some other members of the club that morning.  I won't go into specifics, but he is alive, which is a testament to his fitness and the many thousands of miles of cycling that has kept him fit and healthy all his life. He has been very seriously injured and it has shocked all of us who know him, as he has been a District timekeeper for many years and has many friends within the time trialling community. If you TT in the London South District, you know Frank. If Frank can have such an accident then anyone can, and after the recent other scares I and other friends have had, it has just reinforced the feelings of vulnerability I currently have. We have all been in shock since it happened and we can only hope and pray for Frank's recovery, which will be long.

On a much more mundane matter, my performance also took a big dip last week.  After my joint pbs over 10 miles in the previous weeks, I was looking forward to consolidating my training. I had been bulking out my trainerroad sessions with some longer commute rides home, usually about one hour.  What I didn't realise was that I was burning the candle at both ends and was over-training. The first indication was last Monday's threshold session, which I had done a few weeks before. I felt really uncomfortable and when I downloaded the session I was 10 watts down on the last time I had done it. I didn't really cotton-on at the time, but this was the first indication that I was not right. A few hours later I had a scratchy throat and raised temperature, my usual indicator that I am overreaching.

So Wednesday evening's tt came around and while I was not particularly in the mood for it, what with the news about Frank and the fact that it was miserably cold, I felt pretty strong, as I set out on the first leg. By the turn at Beare Green, I was still feeling ok, but not as strong as two week's before and as I headed for the finish it all started to unravel. The final hill at South Holmwood, which I had utterly nailed before now felt like the North face of the Eiger. There was no staying on the tt bars this time; instead I was sat up spinning furiously with burning quads. Dave, who I had beaten by 40 odd seconds before went past me and took and 15 out of me. My final time was 23:56. Last year that would have been grand but to be over a minute slower than my previous time, and almost two minutes slower than Dale, after being only 20 seconds behind him showed how far I had fallen.  I have taken the second half of the week off as I try to get back on track.

So, no more late nights, no more unnecessary commute rides, and rest. I'm still learning

PBing for fun

This week was a double header, with a Wednesday club 10 on the Holmwood course and then the SCCU 10 yesterday on the faster G10/57 course. Wednesday was almost cancelled with torrential rain earlier in the day, but my faith in the met office was restored as they predicted accurately that the rain would clear from about 3pm. What I didn't know, with my limited meteorological knowledge was that with a passing thunderstorm, high humidity and a damp road would provide almost perfect tt conditions. In fact as I sat in the car park at the start, the trees were not moving at all, with the wind dropping to nothing. So perfect conditions, feeling great. Time to go after my best 10 time of 23:41, set two years ago.

It was a rubbish 10 for me. We didn't have a pusher off, which is very unusual, and of course it took me a few seconds to get clipped in. I over-compensated and as I went up the first rise I was pushing far too hard. Two miles later a tractor pulled out in front of me on a downhill stretch just before the first roundabout and with other traffic around I had to slow up, which left me carrying a lot less speed up the next rise. It was all feeling like very hard work but I regrouped at the turn and tried to refocus as the A24 dropped back down to Beare Green. My quads were absolutely screaming and I was 'mashing' on the pedals far too hard. As I hit the last half mile I had two riders in front and I used thee guys as a target, catching one of them before the end. I felt I had completely blown it. Despite it just being a small club 10, I had gone for it too hard and I just didn't feel very fast. Bah.

So I waited for Frank, our timekeeper, to come back to the carpark to give us our times and I was thinking I might just have squeaked to a new pb. I had to blink and triple-check when I looked for my time. 22:47!!  54 seconds faster than my previous best and on a slower course. To say I was stunned was an understatement. As you can imagine, I was a happy chappy. I was beaten into second place by Dale who rode a 22:04, which was a great ride.

It was a couple of days of easy one hour rides on the way home from work before getting the tt bike out again for Saturday morning's SCCU 10; the same event and course where I set my pb in 2014. The weather was no where near as good with the temperature a very cool 9 degrees and a stiff northerly wind of about 10-15mph, so far from ideal. My plan here though was to just ride it better and engage more of my pedal stroke when compared to Wednesday's effort. I thought it might be possible to do a low 24 in these conditions.

it was a much better ride from me. I controlled my effort and paced it well and I was lucky, not having to slow down on any of the ten or so roundabouts that I had to negotiate. I have found this course pretty hard to ride in the past with a nasty climb right at the start but I felt really strong throughout. As I crossed the line and stopped to unclip my helmet and have my usual dry heave by the side of the road, I knew that it was my best ever 10. Not my fastest, but I felt that I could not have paced it any better. So I spun gently back to the HQ, got changed and had a look at the results board. Unbelievably, my time was exactly the same as Wednesday, 22:47!! The really pleasing thing from my point of view was that Dale beat me again, but he was slower and only 19 seconds ahead. I have never been that close to him before and I think it shows how well I paced it and how far my training has brought me. It is still very early in the season. One of my main goals for this season was to go sub 23. Well I have done that, and I believe that on the right course, on the right day, sub 22 is possible. Blimey. Maybe I am becoming a proper tester.

Driven to distraction

Last Sunday was the SCCU SPOCO 25m tt. Four laps on a lumpyish, bumpy and gravelly course, so not particularly fast. I think only one rider went under the hour, with Dale coming very close and getting second place. It was a small field that started but I came 12th, and helped KPRC to a second placed team prize. I won a bottle of wine.

I managed to have another consistent week, mainly on the turbo with a long ride yesterday around the hills. My ftp continues to gradually creep up and on Saturday I had a really good session of 4x10 minutes at ftp. I had ridden this same session just ten days before and I had another 5 watt increase, but this time I stayed aero for the whole session. In the last two weeks I have also started doing to odd session before work, getting up at 5:15am, doing my hour on the turbo, then getting ready. I am not really a morning person so doing a hard session that early in the morning seemed like a bad idea, but it has been manageable and means I am not doing these sessions so late at night. I am also doing these sessions in a fasted state which should help with fat burning, so the theory goes. I have switched to the Trainerroad Low Volume 40km TT plan, which only specifies 3 sessions per week. Basically, one VO2 max session, one sweetspot and one endurance session. The plan is to get these ones done then anything else on top is a bonus, like a longer commute ride home or a long weekend ride.

I think another week or so and I'll test my ftp again. I am gradually closing in on 250 watts and I should invest the same effort in dropping some kilograms but I am finding it hard to do. I seem to be resolutely stuck at 72kgs, but to be honest, this is just a hobby and I like eating, so I am not going to worry about it too much.

My main distraction at the moment is my inability to find the reason for a constant creaking on my Van Nic. New bottom bracket, tightened chainring bolts, checked pedals, sprocket and jockey wheels. It is driving me nuts. Sometimes it is there; sometimes not. I am starting to lose the will to live.

On the upside

Skinny ankles and hairless

Last week was the Phoenix Open 10 mile TT on the G42/10 course. It was blowing a hoolie as I cycled over with Simon and Dale and therefore I was not really expecting a lot. It even started to try to rain when I got to the HQ and signed on. I had also done something very drastic.For the first time ever, I shaved my legs! In the pursuit of marginal gains, I had decided to take the plunge. It is a lot harder than it looks by the way and I needed a few bits of very un-aero sticking plaster initially to stem the bleeding.

So, like I said, fairly rubbish conditions, very early in the season and  not really feeling the cycling love. But it's the same old thing. Stick on  number and it is game on. 25 minutes or so of very hard work and see what happens. The outleg was very tough. I had cooled down waiting for my start so the first hill out to Beare Green left my legs feeling completely fried, but gradually I got into it, just trying to hunker down and keep as aero as possible in the South Easterly cross/headwind. At the top turn I had recovered a bit and thought about really trying to use the tailwind a little and I could feel myself getting stronger as the ride progressed. The really good moment was the hill at 7.5 miles. For the last 5 years this has been my nemesis and I have always struggled here but this time I felt extremely strong going up, staying on the aerobars and in the big ring; something I don't always achieve. The last mile was a hoot and as I got to the curry house 600 metres from the finish I gave it everything. It felt good. And it was good. 23:56. A course pb in April and only 15 seconds off my pb on a slow day. Vindication for me for the work that I have done on the turbo over the winter. If I can keep the consistency going over the next three months and get onto a faster course or two, sub 23 should be a realistic target. I am very happy with that.

Cyclists are made of people too.

I think the thing I like most about cycling is, it makes me feel young; I actually feel like a thirteen year old boy, free to roam and let my front wheel point the way. Back in the day, when I had my first bmx I used to cycle with friends from my home in Kingston over to Teddington Lock where there was (and still is) an old bomb crater. I used to while away hours with my mates dropping into that hole, attempting to emulate Bob Haro, perfecting endos, tabletops and 180s. I was utterly rubbish, but I loved it. I moved onto my trusted Clements racer a short while later which I used to cycle the 5 miles to school from my house, down to Canbury Gardens, over Kingston Bridge and along to my school, again in Teddington. With the odd detour to friends' houses I was probably riding 60 odd miles per week without even realising it.

The fact was, even looking back through 30 years of rose tinted spectacles, it seemed a lot safer. I cannot recall ever feeling 'unsafe'. True, I did have to cycle home from that bomb hole one time when I went over the bars, my head bleeding profusely, which ended up with 8 stitches in Kingston A&E, but that was utterly self induced. Cycling felt safe. Now, despite me being much older and a much more experienced cyclist, I feel a great deal more unsafe. Maybe, it's partly me getting more cautious, more aware of the potential dangers, just, well, more scared. That probably has something to do with it, but it definitely is not the entire reason. I have had a bit of a revelation this week that there are people on our roads who genuinely don't care about whether I, or other vulnerable road users, get injured. Although it started well, it's been a bad week.

 A fellow member of my club was knocked off his bike. This is a rather bland statement, a bit like saying, 'Ooh, I've dented my bumper.' Unfortunately it was more than a dent. G was descending a hill in Bookham when a car turned across his path. Apparently he had time to register that it was a bit close. It was at that point that the second car who tried to sneak across with the first one ended up across his path, leaving G with absolutely nowhere to go, except off the bonnet and windscreen and then onto the road. Yes, he was 'knocked off his bike'. That bland statement again. Except it left him with concussion, three broken vertebra, a broken rib and a broken hand. Had it not been for a lady coming out of her house and making sure that he stayed still and didn't move, he may well have ended up paralysed.

A colleague at work was 'knocked off her bike' on the way to work on Thursday morning. Again, a car turned across her path, leaving her with nowhere to go. Thankfully, her injuries were relatively minor although she has had to take a few days off work to let the bruising go down. I saw a picture of her bike on Facebook and I have never seen anything quite like it; her aluminum framed Trek has taken the full impact head on. remarkably the head tube is intact but both the top tube and down tube are bent by about twenty degrees. It seems that the bike frame has absorbed enough of the impact and dissapated the force through its frame rather than through her body and bones.

last Monday I took a longer route home from work to spin out some tiredness in my legs. Sometimes, when you are on your bike, you can just feel when a car is going to past too close to you. Even though they are behind you and you can't see them, you can tell by the engine note, the movement of air almost a split second before, that you are being left with absolutely no room. I braced myself, closed my eyes, hunkered my head down and waited. I felt the wing mirror of the car disturb the fabric of my top and my bars gave a small lurch towards the kerb. It was close. Very, very close. There was absolutely no need for the driver to pass that close either. The other carriageway was completely clear and he could have given me two metres of space very comfortably. But do you know what REALLY wound me up about this one incident?  As I looked up, in this driver's rear window was a 'Caution: Children on Board' sticker. This person was happy to let every other road user know that his most precious of cargo might be contained within his very well built, tested to destruction, steel box (and why not, that's his prerogative) yet at the same time he was happy to risk my life; someone who happens to be a son, brother, husband, uncle and father. The irony of that moment left me shaking my head in utter disbelief. Maybe I need a sticker on my bum too? Unfortunately, I think this driver wouldn't take the same notice that he expects everyone else too.

 On Tuesday I left home for work as usual on the Van Nic. About twenty metres from my front door is a T junction and as I cycled past it, having right of way, a car approached the give way lines, wanting to turn right into my path. All they had to do was wait two seconds for me to pass, which i swhat they should have done anyway, being on a give way line, but because I am a cyclist, the driver decided (with plenty of time to think about it) that they would come out into my lane anyway in their desperation not to get held up. You know that move that some drivers do when they think they are giving you loads of space but actually they're not, as they swing into your lane? She missed me by inches. Had I not moved my bike right into the gutter she would have hit me. I am not a sweary, ranty type of person but it didn't stop me throwing my hands up in desperation and shouting. The irony of this one was that 100 metres later she was stuck in a queue of traffic while I sailed past in the only stretch of cycle lane on my whole commute. It was absolutely pathetic.

The next day, this time cycling home. Approximately 300 metres from my house just after I had exited a very busy roundabout and another junction where this time, a car wanted to turn left into my lane. This was very scary. A young driver in a blue saxo approached the give way lines at speed, so fast that he wasn't there and then literally out of nowhere, there he was. I caught him in my peripheral vision and I was quite convinced that he was not going to stop in time, as he was doing the classic thing of looking at the big empty space behind me but he hadn't registered that there was a cyclist right in front of him where he was about to put his car. All I can say is, thank f##k for good engineering and anti-lock brakes. He stopped in time; but only just. He sped around me and blasted off down the bit of dual carriageway that we were now on, me in a cycle lane and him undertaking another car. I am sure that he thought he is one of the world's greatest drivers. I thought he was a dick.

This is starting to sound like a self-righteous, 'us against them', 'cyclists against cars' type of rant. I don't want it to be, but as I read more and more cases about fatalities to cyclists and other road users and my ever-increasing experiences of near misses, it's difficult not to become more polarised in my position. I have always believed that I am a pretty good, considerate rider and road user and that I would always be able to pre-empt any situation where I might get hurt. I have also changed my riding style considerably over the last few months since I have been doing so much more turbo work. Now, commuting by bike is commuting; it's not training. I've dropped my speed and therefore my chances of an accident. That said, I still feel at the moment that it is not a case of 'if I have an accident' but 'when I have an accident' and that is just wrong.

I ride around 5000-6000 miles per year. I drive more than that and yes, as a driver I've made mistakes, but I would like to feel that I have never made a decision in my car where I deliberately put another road user's life in danger. At the moment, there is a small, but significant minority of drivers who don't care and who are going to really hurt or kill someone and it's happening too often.

 I read a great tweet a few weeks ago, written by a Dutch cyclist who was riding in London for the first time.

 'Don't drivers realise that cyclists are made of people too?'

Too few don't.

A short paddle

A one hour paddle with Jamie this morning, just to remind myself what it is like to paddle a kayak. Jamie was in his Tor while I stuck to a laance. All in all, it wasn't too bad, although quite slow, with quite a bit of flow on the Thames. We just did a lap of Desborough and then most of the way down to the portage at Walton. Jamie looked relaxed and lazily fast while I felt right and achy. I really must spend a bit of time looking after my back as it will help everything. The club have a new Marsport Epsilon, so after I put the laance away I had a sit in it. It's about the same wobble factor as Jamie's Tor but it was a bit too much for me at the moment. I think I might get back out in the club Hobby and work up to the Epsilon when the air temperature warms up, as I am bound to take a swim in it at some point. 

Anyway, a beautiful morning to be on the river. Back into the shed this evening to start the Trainerroad 40km TT speciality plan and my first 10m tt at the weekend.

Jamie in his Tor 

Thinking about trying the Epsilon. Deciding against it.

The chuckle brothers back on the river.

Missing in action

Firstly, apologies to anyone that's bothered, about changing the blog template again. I've been trying to do a bit of housekeeping on the blog so that I can archive posts into some sort of order using tags and that sot of stuff, and I just didn't like how it all looked; I still don't. But I'm going to have a tinker with it over the next few weeks and hopefully make it easier to read.

Yesterday was a bit of an anticlimax as I had arranged to meet Dale and cycle over to the start of the SCCU 25 tt at Broadbridge Heath on the A24. I have started countless time trials from there in the past 6 years or so and never missed the start of a race. Unfortunately, yesterday I did. The way time trials work, you cannot just slot into another position, well you can if there is another dns, but the clock effectively continues to run from your actual start time. So had I started 5 minutes later, then my time would include that extra 5 minutes. I had 2 upped with Dale all the way there and rather than warmed up, I was more 'worn out' by the time we got there. Dale made his start with 30 seconds to spare. I sat at the HQ and drank tea.

After Dale got back we 2 upped from Broadbridge Heath, with me dragging Dale home. He was pretty wiped out after his 25, posting a 58:xx in the process, so I used it as a chance to get some faster miles in the bank, while Dale freewheeled behind me. This is an unusual occurrence because Dale is an absolute machine. So while not racing, I got a solid 50 miles in which left me tired and achy for the rest of the day. Speaking of achy, my back is not what it used to be. Hopefully, Jamie and I are meeting up for our now annual post DW following paddle, My core was never in as good a condition as when I was paddling ( even though the rest of me was in bits) but maybe a gentle paddle now and again will help me get my core strength back a little.