Brief results from Austria

2nd in the time trial by 4.51 seconds. Close, but no cigarillo. Still, I was quite happy with my ride, which would have won the U35 category. 43km/h on a hilly, technical course with an average of 356 watts. Another 2 watts and I would have won :-) The winner was Roel van Schalen, an experienced Dutch racer who hasn't done the journo worlds before.

I surprised myself by backing up for third in the road race in a four man sprint, but I didn't really have the legs to win it.

More, anon.

Die letzte Prüfung

So ja, I am not quite being the Jan in the zeitfahren, but I am being enjoying it.

Keen-eyed readers will note that I am brushing up on my Cherman prior to going to Salzburg nächste woche für die journo weltmeistershaften. Luckily I'm staying with the Slovenians, at least one of whom is fluent in the local lingo. So my skills won't be required, which is a mercy. Don't ask me why the Austrians get to host two rounds of the journo worlds in succession, 'cos I don't know. Still, the Salzburg will much fun be making, ja.

Move over Mozart, I'm bringing my very own Rammstein collection. It's bloody triffic for getting psyched up for a race, training ride in the wet or even going to work.

Today, as intended, Robin and I did a round of the Rudy Project national TT series in Bruton. 29.75km, 420m of climbing/descending and very little in the way of flat road. The good thing was that there was almost zero wind and it was sunny. Sehr noice conditions.

I'd sussed out a schedule to average 40km/h, guesstimating what times I should reach the corners in based on our recce ride of two weeks ago. I figured that would be enough to finish between 5th and 10th and lo! I was right.

The first 2km was uphill at about 5%, which was a shock to the system to a few who hadn't ridden the course. Then it was a nice rolling downhill to the first left hander at 8km, then rolling uphill to the next left at 14.5km, then all uphill to 21km - including passing Stourhead House wot did for me in the Tour of Wessex - then all downhill on crappy roads to the finish.

It's a great honest course, but because it's not one of the standard distances (10, 25, 50, 100 miles), not many riders will do it. Everyone wants to get their PB down on the fastest piece of dual carriageway they can find. So there were only 46 starters, but we did have a few of the top riders in the national series including the very accomplished series leader Richard Prebble.

I wasn't going to go flat out, as I'm saving that for next week, but I did manage to stick to my schedule. I miscalculated the second section and ended up behind where I thought I should be, and became Disheartened. But when I did the recce, that bit was a huge tailwind so I should have taken that into account.

I'd caught my minute man after 10 minutes, but didn't end up getting my two minute man. Three and four minutes didn't start, but when I got to the second bit of the main climb I passed my five and seven minute men. The downhill was rather fun, as it's not technical so you can stay on the TT bars, even at 75km/h. The road surface wasn't that great, and I would hate to do it in the wet with all the cow manure everywhere.

Speaking of cows, I encountered one ambling up the road towards me with 400m to go, with a jeep in tow. I figured hitting half a ton of extremely rare beef at 56km/h (my speed) + 5km/h (cow speed) would probably put a dent in my TT frame so I scrubbed 10km/h off and rode through the gap between the cow and the side of the road. I don't think it cost either of us much time. And I almost caught my 24(!) minute man just before the finish.

I ended with 44'17, which was good enough for 5th overall again, 4th in the elite category. Richard Prebble took a bit off his course record and ended with 42'14, then Paul O'Mahoney with 43'14, Ian Dalton (44'03 and best vet) and Richard Simmonds (44'08). I was just out of the money but I got a pair of socks, which made the trip completely worth it.

Robin, alas, was the victim of a late Friday night chicken kebab. He'd been to the footy and eaten one of these things at 1am. He threw up four times during his ride and finished with 47'42, at least two minutes slower than he is capable of. You are taking your life into your hands if you eat a late night chicken kebab. The only way to stop its effects is to drink lots and lots of beer beforehand.

Next stop: Salzburg. Ja.

Splits

8.2km: 12'27 (gain 40m)
14.4km: 22'15 (gain another 30m, but hurt more for some reason)
20.8km: 33'20 (gain 140m, including saying hello to Stourhead House)
29.75km: 44'17 (lose 170m, but meet a cow)

Power: 320W (I am being thinking this is too low, but maybe I'm just weak)
Av hr: 178 (normal, but will go a bit harder next week)

Yeah, it's fast

I have possession of the Planet-X time trial machine, and what a bling piece of carbon kit it is. Carbon frame, forks, seatpost, cranks, wheels, bars, pedals and black chainrings to boot.

This is probably why they call it the Stealth Carbon Pro, pimp build.

Test 1: after a day of familiarising myself with it, I took it up to the Chippenham course on Wednesday and tested it over the usual 10 mile loop. End result: 23'17 - 3 seconds better than my quickest - and I was riding at 15 beats below my normal racing heart rate. Didn't even have the fast front wheel on, or any other aero kit.

Test 2: Robin and I drove all the bloody way to Welsh Wales, coffee capital of the world, to do an Open 10 between Resolven and Aberdulais. For those of you unfamiliar with Wales, these mighty metropoli are near Swansea. The course was a flattish (130m of climbing/descending) out and back along the A465. A good concrete dual carriageway with not too much traffic. The start was on an access road leading up to a roundabout, then you did a U-turn and hopped onto the A465 for 7.5km, before taking an exit, looping back over and heading back to the finish back the way you came.

We were doing this one because the race we wanted to do that was closer to home was full, and they hadn't got our entries in time. Hence the trek. There were around 60 starters with Robin going off as number 5 and me as 13.

It's the first time I've ever used a complete set of time trialling kit. Well almost, 'cos I didn't have a disk wheel :-) But I've now got a skinsuit, aero helmet and shoe covers so I'm nearly there with all the gear, and perhaps some idea.

We did a complete lap of the course as a warmup but we still both made a total mess of the first corner at the roundabout. I managed to eventually get round it by brute force. Then it was a matter of assuming the position and going hard. I haven't got the computer working yet but I was flicking between the 53x14, 13 and 12 (this bike also goes to 11) so I knew I was not hanging about. I worked out the splits later and confirmed this.

I caught my four minute boy on the way out, but didn't have much breath to yell encouragement at him. He was freewheeling a lot, but he finished OK. I took it easy over the overpass, grabbed a drink and prepared myself for the return leg, which had a bit of a headwind. There were a few energy sapping drags coming back and I got down to the 16 at one point, but others were suffering too. I caught my minute man, then my two minute man, then my three minute man, then my five minute man before the end.

Robin had done 21'55 which was pretty decent for a small guy on this sort of course. I ended up with 21'24, which I was very happy with. We retired to the HQ, had tea and cake and waited for the times to be written up. 20 riders in and we had the top two times, but then one guy split us with a 21'45. He had the most amazing bike, even more bling than mine. It was a fixed gear with the biggest front chainring I have ever seen and a small cog at the back, complete with 180mm cranks. Plus a trispoke on the front and a Zipp disk, all on a shiny TT frame. I can see why you'd ride a fixed on this course, but my knees went very weak at seeing the size of his gear.

As more times were posted, we began to slip down the pecking order. A Recycling.co.uk junior did 21'21, three seconds better than me. Then the winner and his time were posted: Ceri Pritchard in 20'32. Ouch - that's 47km/h. I was still in third with the chance of a huge 10 quid cash prize and Robin in fifth with the chance of...nothing. But we had to wait until all the times were in before getting too excited about potential petrol money.

Two more riders bettered our times: David Povall with 21'04 and Colin Parry with 21'19. So I ended fifth and Robin seventh. Not bad at all, we thought. Even though it was a fair way to go for a short race, it was a buzz to ride so much faster than you would on a road bike. And we had a good few hours to chat, which is always nice.

Splits

0.8km: 1'20 (after the horrible first roundabout)
7.8km: 9'58 (the bike goes alright in a straight line)
9.1km: 12'00 (over the overpass)
16.1km: 21'24 (a light headwind)

Next week, we're doing a round of the Rudy Project TT series down in Bruton on a tough 30km course. This should be fun but I'm glad we rode over it last week. 400m of climbing and definitely not a good course for a fixed, or even a disk. Looking at the start list, which has some good riders on it who are going for the overall series (250 quid for first place), I think somewhere between 5th and 10th is manageable with between 44 and 45 minutes. We did it in 51'00 last week, not going too hard, on our road bikes. Richard Prebble has the course record in 42'27, and he'll be there next Saturday.

Then it's the Journo World's in Salzburg! The TT course (23km) looks quite hilly too, so the Bruton TT will be a good test. The road circuit is rather flat, and I suspect it'll be hard for me to win again, even though I'm in an older age category. I think I have a good chance in the TT though.