Sunday, June 07, 2009

National 25: not there yet

Average. That's probably the best description of my ride in the national 25 today. Not great, not bad, in fact pretty much bang on form. But still slow.

I clocked 54'49 for 43rd on a windy day, but when you consider the winner's time was a scorching 48'23, it wasn't much to blog home about. I'm still lacking about 20W compared to peak fitness, which is annoying because I feel as though I've been getting there in the last few weeks. Obviously not yet.

But there were a positive things: it didn't actually rain while I was racing, which was a bloody miracle considering the dire forecast. It absolutely chucked it down not long after I finished, and I'm so glad I wasn't out there in it.

It was also good to race against the best riders in the country. They were pretty much all there, bar a few. And while I really would have liked a top 30, I realise that I need to be in really decent shape to get it. Maybe next year.

Hutch was amazing. He did the first half in 25'10. That's 48km/h average mostly into a stiff headwind! By contrast, my halfway split was 29'10. That means he was taking 20 seconds per mile out of me! At least it was only 10 sec/mile on the way back.

Put it this way, even in top form I would have been only a minute faster. Top 25, yes, but an enormous gulf behind Hutch. I'll have to live with that. I may tone down the beer drinking activities for a bit until I get fit.

A good experience nonetheless and Ben (54'37 - 37th), his dad and I had a fun weekend. Norfolk is flat.

BikeRadar Live last weekend was brilliant. A lot of work but it was so nice to see so many people (8500) come along and look like they were enjoying themselves. Bigger, better, more next year.

2 comments:

Andrea Ingram said...

Hutch Eh?

Is the ole fella still rding?

Jeff Jones said...

He sure is, and still kicking everyone's behinds. He assured me he's not having another go at the hour record though ;-)