And the last shall be first. I hope I've got that the right way around.
Season 2009 is done. And it ended on a positive note as I won round 8 of the Rudy Project series in Devizes. No mean feat, despite the small field (eight starters) in the seniors.
The course had to be shortened from two laps to one because of road works, so all categories ended up doing 30km. I was prepared to do the full distance but I wasn't toooo disappointed that we didn't in the end.
It was close - I clocked 41'24 to beat Duncan Urquhart by just 10 seconds, with Colin Robertson third at 24sec. As I said, there weren't many starters in the seniors but they were all good riders: Richard Prebble was fourth and series winner Dean Robson was fifth. As previously mentioned Mr Urquhart is going for Commonwealth Games selection in 2010 - a top three in this (the national TT series) counts towards that.
Luckily - or more likely because I've been doing some training - I had a good day, averaging the same power as I did for the British championships which was over a similar distance. Pacing could have been better but at least I made the most of it on the hills.
The event was promoted by West DC and Cycling Time Trials (the national body), and thanks to Andy Cook there was a large cohort of Chippenham Wheelers helping out. It's always good for the morale when your own club is involved and I have a pretty good win record with Chippenham promoted events.
The course started and finished in Devizes and did a loop through the Vale of Pewsey. It was up and down without any big hills and it featured the usual dead roads. We had a cold wind from the north that was behind us for about a kilometre at most, due to the way the circuit ran. It was only 12 degrees too - I was glad it was the last race.
I had a good chat to club legend Gary Woodward in the change rooms before the start. He held the club 10 record (20'03, no disc or tribars) for 25 years until Ben broke it (19'35) last year. He even made a shortlived comeback this year in the WTTA 100 but didn't get very far after snapping his stem on the start line! Hopefully he'll have better luck next year.
So to sum up this season: it's been better than last, despite a few setbacks. I've managed to improve my position so much that I've consistently been faster for less power. On the few occasions I got close to 2008 power levels it resulted in some very fast rides.
The important numbers
Opens/big races ridden: 27
1sts: 14 plus WTTA hardriders series win
2nds: 6
Less significant placings: 7
Jerseys: 2 (British champs + journo worlds)
Course records broken: 4
Club records broken: 3, but Ben took back the 25 record with a 49'19 on the Welsh course
Yearly km: 15,000 (heading for lowest ever annual total)
Rainy days: 153/297 (so far)
Crashes: 3
Nasty diseases: 2
Chocolate consumption: 20kg (at least)
Beer consumption: substantial, but not so much during the season
Weight: 73kg - 68.5kg
Height: 183cm and steady
I'm looking forward to this winter.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Waiting for TalkTalk
I'm living on TalkTalk time at the moment. So when they say 'go live', it means my broadband will be activated any time from the date they gave me (Oct 5) up until the heat death of the universe. Possibly after that if BT has anything to do with it.
Time passes.
I have now been told that October 5 actually means November 4 because there isn't enough equipment in the local exchange. That reminds me of the fish'n chip shop in Bradford on Avon that had closed due to 'lack of available staff'.
A racing update then. I made the mistake (well more because I had my arm twisted) of entering two races in one day. The Gloucester City hilly 25, part of the hardriders series, and the WC Walcot hillclimb in Bath.
One went well, one didn't. The proof is trivial and left to the reader.
More time passes, punctuated by a Madonna tribute on 4Music.
Solving for x, I won the Gloucester City 25 in 54'41, breaking the course record by a bit over a minute. Last year in rather appalling conditions I did 56'30, so that's an improvement.
But it was an odd race because I was thinking of the hillclimb in the afternoon. I got to the turnaround 2'10 quicker than last year, heart rate still quite low. Then switched off on the way home: 332W going out, 306W coming back. The outward leg is longer and mostly uphill so it worked out OK.
I got a lift back to Bristol with Robin, rode home, gulped down some recovery drink and headed off with Liz to Claverton for the hillclimb. It was a great event with lots of Walcot members and uni students cheering and I'm sort of glad I did it because I won some coffee (team prize with Rob Gough and Tom Marshall).
I only managed 8th, 35 seconds(!) behind Rob Gough who won it in 2'43. That's an immense difference over that short a distance (950m at 10%). My legs didn't feel that bad and it did hurt like a hillclimb should but I was just slow. Lesson learned.
Onto this latest weekend, it was the Chippenham double header. Hillclimb up Bowden hill on Saturday followed by the three up team time trial on Sunday.
The hillclimb was good: I clocked 5'00.5 (5sec quicker than last year) to win by 7 seconds. And it didn't hurt quite the same as last year in that I was only coughing in the evening, not for days afterwards.
The team time trial was on the U59 course near Devizes, different to last year but we reckon a safer course. I've done 53'52 on it solo on a perfect day last April. The only time I did it as part of a team was with Chris Tweedie and Robin in 2007, when we did 56'29 to finish second behind VC St Raphael (53'36). I figured this year Ben, Robin and I could do 52.something. Unfortunately Ben had barely ridden his bike for three weeks and Robin managed to get sick last week, so we weren't quite at full potential. Still, it's the same for everyone at this time of year.
The main challengers were VC St Raphael, who we beat for the first time ever last year. This year they had a composite team with Phill Sykes, Colin Parry and Simon Berogna. It meant that they weren't eligible for the club prize but of course we still wanted to win.
Alas, we came up 10 seconds short. We did manage 52'10 to VC's 52'00, not bad considering and more or less what I expected. Robin did what he could (stayed on, averaging 195bpm all the way round!), Ben was good, especially in the first half and I was stronger than I thought, but they did have to wait for me on the corners.
The conditions were terrible: rain and fairly windy, which made it impossible to sit on a wheel. Annoying, because the forecast was for dry weather and by the afternoon it was clear and sunny. One of the Chippenham teams crashed on the first s-bend and other teams had disasters too. Thankfully we didn't have anything like that.
Unfortunately our reserve rider Simon Snowden will be out of action for a while after crashing on Bowden hill on Saturday. He was on his way back down after watching the hillclimb and his foot came out of the pedal and he just lost it. Off to hospital. Not 100% sure but it looked like he'd broken his collarbone. Oh well Simon, at least it's the off season. Get better soon!
My last race is next week, thankfully. It's the final round of the Rudy Project series, a national version of the WTTA hardriders series. It's 38 miles on a course that uses bits of the U59 but in the opposite direction. Be nice to win it but it's more a case of who turns up (very few riders do the whole series). Duncan Urquhart, winner last weekend, is the man to beat. He's represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in the past and might have his eye on selection in 2010...
Time passes.
I have now been told that October 5 actually means November 4 because there isn't enough equipment in the local exchange. That reminds me of the fish'n chip shop in Bradford on Avon that had closed due to 'lack of available staff'.
A racing update then. I made the mistake (well more because I had my arm twisted) of entering two races in one day. The Gloucester City hilly 25, part of the hardriders series, and the WC Walcot hillclimb in Bath.
One went well, one didn't. The proof is trivial and left to the reader.
More time passes, punctuated by a Madonna tribute on 4Music.
Solving for x, I won the Gloucester City 25 in 54'41, breaking the course record by a bit over a minute. Last year in rather appalling conditions I did 56'30, so that's an improvement.
But it was an odd race because I was thinking of the hillclimb in the afternoon. I got to the turnaround 2'10 quicker than last year, heart rate still quite low. Then switched off on the way home: 332W going out, 306W coming back. The outward leg is longer and mostly uphill so it worked out OK.
I got a lift back to Bristol with Robin, rode home, gulped down some recovery drink and headed off with Liz to Claverton for the hillclimb. It was a great event with lots of Walcot members and uni students cheering and I'm sort of glad I did it because I won some coffee (team prize with Rob Gough and Tom Marshall).
I only managed 8th, 35 seconds(!) behind Rob Gough who won it in 2'43. That's an immense difference over that short a distance (950m at 10%). My legs didn't feel that bad and it did hurt like a hillclimb should but I was just slow. Lesson learned.
Onto this latest weekend, it was the Chippenham double header. Hillclimb up Bowden hill on Saturday followed by the three up team time trial on Sunday.
The hillclimb was good: I clocked 5'00.5 (5sec quicker than last year) to win by 7 seconds. And it didn't hurt quite the same as last year in that I was only coughing in the evening, not for days afterwards.
The team time trial was on the U59 course near Devizes, different to last year but we reckon a safer course. I've done 53'52 on it solo on a perfect day last April. The only time I did it as part of a team was with Chris Tweedie and Robin in 2007, when we did 56'29 to finish second behind VC St Raphael (53'36). I figured this year Ben, Robin and I could do 52.something. Unfortunately Ben had barely ridden his bike for three weeks and Robin managed to get sick last week, so we weren't quite at full potential. Still, it's the same for everyone at this time of year.
The main challengers were VC St Raphael, who we beat for the first time ever last year. This year they had a composite team with Phill Sykes, Colin Parry and Simon Berogna. It meant that they weren't eligible for the club prize but of course we still wanted to win.
Alas, we came up 10 seconds short. We did manage 52'10 to VC's 52'00, not bad considering and more or less what I expected. Robin did what he could (stayed on, averaging 195bpm all the way round!), Ben was good, especially in the first half and I was stronger than I thought, but they did have to wait for me on the corners.
The conditions were terrible: rain and fairly windy, which made it impossible to sit on a wheel. Annoying, because the forecast was for dry weather and by the afternoon it was clear and sunny. One of the Chippenham teams crashed on the first s-bend and other teams had disasters too. Thankfully we didn't have anything like that.
Unfortunately our reserve rider Simon Snowden will be out of action for a while after crashing on Bowden hill on Saturday. He was on his way back down after watching the hillclimb and his foot came out of the pedal and he just lost it. Off to hospital. Not 100% sure but it looked like he'd broken his collarbone. Oh well Simon, at least it's the off season. Get better soon!
My last race is next week, thankfully. It's the final round of the Rudy Project series, a national version of the WTTA hardriders series. It's 38 miles on a course that uses bits of the U59 but in the opposite direction. Be nice to win it but it's more a case of who turns up (very few riders do the whole series). Duncan Urquhart, winner last weekend, is the man to beat. He's represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in the past and might have his eye on selection in 2010...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
