18'09

I'm still in shock and awe at today's result: 18'09 to win the City RC Hull 10 on the legendary V718 course. Only two riders - Michael Hutchinson, who holds the comp record at 17'57 (set on this course) and Brad Wiggins (17'58) have gone faster over 10 miles in an open event in the UK. I believe Chris Boardman did a 17'54 in a club 10.

Second today was Julian Ramsbottom (18'47) then Matt Sinclair (same time) and Rob Pears (18'50). Drag2Zero's Derek Parkinson did a fine 19'09 for equal 7th, but our third man Mark Holton was a non starter after being struck down with the dreaded lurgy during the week. Bummer Mark - comp record will have to wait!

Hutch didn't show - and I bet he's wishing he did as it was a much faster day than the forecast suggested. To whit, two days ago it was snowing up there and it did not warm up that much today. When I rode it was 9 degrees with a light S-SW wind blowing (although it could have been NW), which felt like a tailwind out and headwind back. Add that to the Good Friday traffic and you have a quick day.

I didn't expect it to be that quick though. Last time I rode this course was in 2009 when I did 19'45 (and Hutch did 18'02). Since then, I've gotten a bit quicker, thanks in no small part to Simon Smart and Coach Ric. Today it was time for the reckoning.

I rode the reserve course (V714) to warm up and even that was fast despite me wearing winter kit. So I figured I'd give it a good crack once my number was called. It duly was and I sprinted off the line at South Cave like a man possessed. Within 30sec I was up to 36mph (58km/h in new money), dropped it back a couple of mph and just held it pretty much all the way to the turn.

Credit: Ian Chapman/www.printmyride.co.uk

I was keeping it comfortable as I figured I'd need more gas coming back but still...I exited the second roundabout at the turn with 4.6 miles done and 8'15 on the clock. Back up to 36mph to hit the dual carriageway and then, as always, it started to hurt. There are some looong drags on the way back that you absolutely have to keep the speed up on or you are screwed. I dropped to 31mph (50 clicks) on the first one, then down to 28.5mph (46 clicks) at the top of the second one.

3 miles to go and at this stage I was pretty sure an 18 was in the bag, which helped keep me focused. There was just one more 'hill' to do, the one past the start with 1 mile to go, and I buried myself to carry as much speed as possible over the top. I'd already caught my minute man and now I overtook my two minute man, who finished with a mid-20.

After the hill there's a great little descent - nearly 40mph (64km/h) down there, which was a nice lead into the last uphill drag to the finish. The 18 was starting to look like a good 18 but it wasn't until I crossed the line that I saw it: 18'09! That's just insane.

I rode back to the HQ then did another lap of the V714 to cool down and get some more miles in (now is not the time to be slacking in training) and then had a look at the times on the board. People agreed it was fast but no-one got near my time, and that's what made it doubly satisfying.

Next up: Sunday's Rudy Project, which is 20 miles and promises to be wet. Hutch is off 2min behind me. I hope I can hold him off but I'm a bit more confident now.

Kinetic One 10m TT: win!

A fast blog's a quick blog and a fast time is also a quick time. To whit, 20'21 for 10 miles (five and a half laps) of Castle Combe on Wednesday, to win the first Kinetic One TT of the season and add another to the growing number of teamdrag2zero race wins.

It's a smooth circuit but not that easy to ride flat out, as there are a few corners and chicanes as well as some leg sapping drags. However it was a lovely evening, not a lot of wind, a tad chilly by the time I started but I was more than happy with the fact that it was sunny.

I've been doing a fair whack of training recently and was under orders not to back off for this one, so I didn't. After pegging it from work, I warmed up on the circuit for several laps at a gentle 43km/h. Then it was time to get serious and race, and you can see what happened here - started at an OK 10 pace, set a new lap record on lap 2, then gradually blew to the point of being quite ragged on the last lap.

Funnily enough it was the same time as I did in July last year, when the conditions were slightly better and my legs certainly were. This bodes well and think I've got a sub-20 ride in me, but not until I'm a bit fresher.

Right, off to #paniceat some chocolate I've just #panicbought because the tanker drivers may or may not go on strike.

Rudy Project 1: From the ridiculous to the sublime

After the aborted and bitterly cold Chippenham hilly at the start of March, things completely changed for the first round of the Rudy Project series in Northamptonshire. Sunshine, a light nor easterly and no punctures! And a respectable third place, 40sec behind my Drag2zero teammate Matt Bottrill, who beat young gun Sam Harrison (100% ME - Alex Dowsett's old team) by 14sec.

The course isn't that far from Drag2zero HQ in Brackley. That meant we also had local boy Paul Welsby riding, which thanks to his 14th place in the vets gave us the team prize. If anyone needs a pair of Rudy Project sunnies, give me a yell...

19 miles, tricky distance when you're used to pacing for a 10 or a 25. The course was a rolling out and back jobbie on quiet roads near Litchborough. There wasn't a great deal of flat - unless you count the crests of the hills - which made it difficult to pace. You had to be able to vary your effort and match it to the gradient. Go too easy and you lose too much time on the hills, go too hard and you'll lose too much time everywhere else. It's about as far away from a dragstrip as you get.

I got up at silly o'clock ('cos we lost an hour) to drive out and pre-ride the course. I think it was worth it, although it was a mad rush afterwards to get kitted up in time for the start. Once I did, I felt fast and hoped that would translate into a decent ride.

The first part to the turn was 10.5 miles, tailwind but with more climbing than descent. I enjoyed it, thought I was going at about the right pace and managed to get to the turn in 21'55. By clocking a few people coming back I could see I was up on those who I thought would get close. But after 5 minutes of the return leg, I went off the boil a bit. Yes it was hurting but my mind started wandering. It's a race, it's meant to hurt!

That was compounded by a horse box turning in front of me with about 3 miles to go. It pulled away but I knew I'd catch it on the last descent, which I did and had to scrub off some speed. Frustrating but it's part of TTing on open roads, and there was no way I was going to pull any risky moves. Of course as soon as the road went up again, the horse box's superior horsepower made it pull away again, this time for good. I did my best to get up the 1 mile drag without losing any more time and finished off the race quite well.

I wasn't initially thrilled with my time of 40'52 as I figured closer to 40min would have been possible. But it turned out to be a decent ride, with Matt clocking 40'12 to win it and Sam Harrison pushing him close with his 40'26 - I'm sure we'll hear more of Mr Harrison in future.

All in all a very good day for the team, with Derek Parkinson winning the Border City Wheelers SPOCO to boot.

I'll try and get it together for the second Rudy in a few weeks, as it's of a similar distance. In the meantime, I'm doing the Kinetic One 10 at Castle Combe on Wednesday and the Good Friday 10 on the V718 on April 6. Both Derek and Mark Holton are riding that, so if it lives up to expectations we might be in with a shout of a team comp record.

Nailed

...Or A Series of Unfortunate Events Somewhere Near Chippenham

Sometimes, despite meticulous planning the night before, things don't quite go your way. When it comes to bikes, there's only so much you can do.

Today's Chippenham hilly was to be my first race outing of the season in the slinky new Drag2Zero kit. And so it was, until it was aborted due to a nail induced puncture before I'd even got to the recently renamed and higher statused (is that even a word?) Royal Wootton Bassett, approximately 22 minutes in. That previous sentence had far too much detail in it so I'm putting this one in as padding.

I continued for another 10 mins on the slowly deflating Planete X FMB (*sniff*) to the top of Callow Hill, where I spotted a marshal who directed me to her husband's car. I found it, got in with another rider who had packed due to the cold (and who generously gave me a lift home to Bath), and spent the next 10mins with the heater full on before I could even take my helmet off.

I know, let's start the race at 10 and run through until just after midday. I was off at 11:20

Did I mention it was cold? That was the real problem today. The weather has been insanely good of late, 10-15 degrees and pretty sunny. Why, on Saturday I was out in 3/4s and arm warmers, enjoying the first heating up of spring. Sunday was a different story. A cold rain blew in from the north west and dumped a lot of water on top of us for about 6 hours. By an annoying coincidence it overlapped with the Chippenham hilly. Even more annoying, when I got home to Bath it was sunny and warmish again. We are not amused.

Riding out to the start wasn't too bad as I was fully rugged up. The computer mount separating into two halves (I blame the A4) wasn't the ideal start so I ended up riding purely on feel. The dial on my shoe stopped working too, but the super snug Smart shoe covers held everything in place. They weren't as white by the end of the ride unfortunately.

I opted for no visor on my Uvex as it was still raining when I rode from the HQ to the start. That turned into a mixture of rain and snow when I got under way. I kept blowing on my hands (aero position be buggered) to make sure they kept warm enough to change gear and brake when needed. And despite the nasty weather I was quite enjoying it, averaging 45 clicks (28mph) out to the bottom of Lyneham bank. It was good to ride without seeing the computer, which I'd stuffed down the front of my skinsuit so I at least collected the data.

I kept it in the big ring on the climb as I really couldn't be arsed with the hassle of moving my left hand to the gear lever (did I mention it was cold?). Got to the top and the crosswind turned tail for a wee bit which allowed me to crank it up before the roundabout. 11.8km down and 16'56 on the clock. Annoyingly there were cars on roundabout (thanks Rob for the shout!) and I had to scrub 30km/h off my speed to wait for a clear run, but once I got going again I made some ground back.

It was warp speed all the way to Royal Wootton Bassett: it was still cross headwind but the shelter from the left and gradual descent helped. I finally saw some more riders ahead of me (I'd passed my minute man inside 3mins but there were two non starters before him). But just as I had them in sight, I felt the tyre go on the last descent before the climb over the railway bridge into RWB. I told myself it wasn't flat, it was just the wind and even if it was I'd damn well finish anyway.

I got to the left turn at RWB in 24'14 with 17.3km completed - nearly halfway, and 1'42 quicker than I'd managed to this point last year, although there was more headwind then. When I turned I realised that it was the tyre that was gone. And I began to lose heart. I passed my four minute man at this point and still seemed to be going quick enough to get to the finish. Right turn to Callow Hill (19.8km) in 27'36, headwind up the climb and that's when the tyre went very soft and I gave up. Annoyed and cold, I got to the top in 31'25 - still leading by around 20sec at this point - and stopped to ask the marshal if there was a car nearby. Luckily there was and I got in. See above for more on that.

That was more or less it. We went back to the HQ to see the damage - lots of riders DNFd, several with punctures, and many more didn't bother starting. All up there were 42 finishers with 2011 WTTA hardrider winner and very quick Bath CC rider Rob Pears the quickest of the lot in 56'14. An excellent ride in those conditions and he certainly was cold at the end. Rob Lyne and Paul Jones rounded out the top three with Peter Georgi the only other rider under the hour today. Brutal. Read Paul's excellent take on it in his blog.

On the positive side I did have a good ride up until I didn't. Power was looking like being 13W up on last year despite the rubbish weather. I'm just annoyed I couldn't finish it off! At least my new teammates Mark and Derek and Matt Bottrill had better days to collect a couple of wins for Drag2Zero over the weekend.

Next up for me will be the Rudy Project round 1 at the end of March before things get going a bit more in April.

February

Not the UK in February
© Jeff Jones

It had to happen. Winter has finally kicked in in the UK and it's been a rather chilly start to February. We didn't get three weeks of snow like we did last year but still it's been cold enough to force me indoors to ride most mornings. It goes without saying that our heating broke on one of the coldest days - the relay switch that opens the valve between the boiler and the radiator pipes died. It got sorted but I think heating and I obey some kind of mutual exclusion principle.

Back to training: I'd prefer to watch planks warp in the sun than ride rollers/turbo. There's not much sun so I've been dragging myself to work first thing and riding nowhere for an hour and a half. It beats not riding at all but you still have to disengage your brain in order to complete a session. And having no fan means it gets harder as you heat up, which doesn't take long! As I write this it is -4 outside our window and it was -9 at Lyneham (which is the approximate direction I would head) at 8am this morning. Sunny though, so it should be ok later... (it was, albeit a tad nippy)

Oz

Waverley cemetary, one of the highlights of the Oz trip
© Jeff Jones

Australia was triffic. Seeing the various bits of the family, catching up with a few friends and above all enjoying the light and the sun. The temperature hovered between 20 and 30 for the two and a half weeks that we were there - can't get much better than that. I did enough training but didn't go crazy, as I wanted to avoid getting sick when I returned.

The only downer was discovering a large crack in my Russian titanium 'summer bike'. It's a terminal one and the frame will need to be decommissioned. I've had it for 13 years, the first few of which were spent trying to find a titanium worker to move the dropouts so I could fit the back wheel in the frame. Partly my fault for specifying custom geometry and giving measurements, partly the factory's fault for not bothering to check. I suppose that's why it was cheap. Still, it rode really well and it's quite sad to see it go.

This one's terminal
© Jeff Jones

Champions Night

A week after we got back Liz and I headed up to Hinckley for the CTT Champions Night presentation and dinner. Graeme Obree and Eurosport commentator David Harmon were on hand to dole out the prizes and generally be entertaining (which they were - their one on one interview was good). And pretty much all of last year's champions turned up which made it quite an occasion. I was also interviewed by Cycling Weekly, which I guess should make it into print in the next few weeks.

I'm awarded the BBAR trophy by Graeme Obree and CTT president Sheila Hardy
© Liz Hufton

Champions, various
© Jeff Jones

Mike and Sheila Edwards avec moi in Hinckley at Champions Night
© Jeff Jones

The main thing though was being awarded the BBAR trophy. Wow, this is a real piece of time trialling history. The cup itself dates back to 1888 - it was formerly the Lincoln trophy - and was first used as the BBAR trophy in 1944 (the BBAR goes back to 1930). That was when they used to do the presentations in the Royal Albert Hall. Them were t'days. Now I realise why it's treated with a good deal of reverence by so many cyclists. A great night.

The BBAR trophy
© Jeff Jones

Chippenham dinner

A week later it was the club's turn for the presentation dinner type thing. Another great night, although it did involve drinking a lot of Fosters 'cos I think it was the only lager on tap. I don't make a habit of it, believe me. Strangely it didn't seem to do much harm to my ride the next day, which for some reason was my best ever long ride. I digress.

It's surprising how much of this stuff you can drink
© Jeff Jones

With the help of Liz, I brought the BBAR trophy to the club dinner and I'm glad I did. Nearly everyone there hadn't seen it up close as no-one in the club has ever won it. Again it was highlighted how special this cup is. As a result, and also for breaking the comp record and generally getting decent results while riding in Chippenham colours, I was honoured to be given life membership of the club (yes, they know I'm riding for Drag2Zero this year, but Chippenham will always be my club). There are not many of these given out - no more than a handful - so receiving it was pretty special.

More soon-ish.

I'm given life membership to Chippenham Wheelers. Honoured.
© Liz Hufton

Xmas update

Happy Christmas.

In other news, it's been a more normal winter than the last few years so no snowmageddon down south. Up north (that's south speak for anywhere north of Gloucestershire, including Gloucestershire) it snowed quite a lot and got cold.

Still, care has to be taken when it's slippy. I had a minor but annoying crash on the bike path recently when I touched the brakes to avoid someone coming the other way. It was dark and on a twisty section of the path and I didn't realise I was riding over wet leaves. Needless to say even thinking about your brakes in such a scenario is not a good idea. At least I was on the deck before I had a head on with the other guy. Soreness ensued.

I sustained another injury after the Xmas party when I managed to stub my little toe. Twice. In the space of about 10 minutes. Both times it hurt a lot and that's usually not a good sign when you've drunk enough alcohol to anaesthetise an elephant seal. Then again, said alcohol probably contributed to the lack of motor skills necessary to avoid door frames and bar bells. As always there's a positive side to it: it wasn't the toe that got infected a month ago.

Training is hard at this time of the year. If you ride outside, the endless dark means you don't get much in the way of feedback. You think you're going hard but you're not. Or vice versa. And you have a bad week and you think it's all over, but it's just part of the training cycle. Thank goodness for some sunshine (or at least light and warmer temps) the land of Oz soon.

What else have I been up to? Not much, besides testing power meters, which has been useful. The calibration tests are going to be interesting. I/we also bought a dehumidifier which so far has been a bloody good purchase 'cos Liz hates the damp. Carrying it back from Argos wasn't such a smart idea.

I had some thoughts about economics but they can wait as they won't help matters. Easy to boil it down to "there are better gods to worship than Mammon". In even more other news, it's been a bad year for lunatic dictators, the latest being Kim Jong "I told you I was Il" (thanks to a George Takei fan for that one).

Finally, we still have a more direct route than we'd like into the bathroom downstairs. Call it a hole if you will. That flat has not been occupied for a couple of months for some reason. But I'd hazard a guess that any prospective tenants might be put off by the pile of rubble in the bathroom, aka the remnants of the ceiling. Still we've got a dehumidifier now so leaky pipes will be a thing of the past.

Et al

Like the economy (moron that later) this blog is gone downhill in the last few years. I'm aware I've made that observation before so it's probably just me that's gone downhill. I recommend some of the 2007 entries if you can be bothered clicking that far back. And if you go right back to 2004, you can actually see the big bang.

Scenery

I have done little cycling in the last week but lots and lots of walking with L down in the lovely Exmoor, home of fierce beasts such as ponies. Amazingly it didn't rain much, except on the day that we decided to do an 18 mile trek from Porlock to Culbone church (tiny and about 900 years old) to Malmesmead (Lorna Doone country, even though I thought she was American) to Lynmouth via Watersmeet, a very enjoyable riverside walk despite the damp. One of these days I'll buy another camera to show how beautiful everything is.

We also went to Clovelly, not the one in Sydney, the other one. It's a privately owned village built on the edge of the sea which used to be more of a fishing town. It looks amazing. Its main claim to fame is a long and very steep cobbled street that runs down the centre. And Charles Kingsley, donkeys and sleds that are used to transport stuff like stale bread and genuine west country tinned crab for ridiculously priced sandwiches. The main thing that was lacking was ice cream, despite various hints and promises. The closest we came was an ice cream stall with no-one manning it. October is not really the time of year but it was disappointing nonetheless.

On the flip side, the walk we did on the last day from Porlock to Hawkcombe Head and a bit further was more than pleasant. Firstly the clear blue skies, secondly the ancient green of the moss covered oaks in the valley as we wended (wound?) our way up, and thirdly the mutton pie and mash at the Culbone Inn at the top. They do really really good food. It's a bugger to get up there on your bike though, either from Porlock or Lynmouth, although it can be done.

Speaking of food, Liz created a floating island pudding for me, which she promised me two years ago if I ever won the BBAR or the Rudy Project series. Incentive or what?!? It's poached meringues with custard and caramel, all made from first principles. Very sweet and very yum. If she can ever get uninjured again and do another Ironman I will reciprocate. Unfortunately that doesn't look likely any time soon.

Literature

After reading The Rider by Tim Krabbé, the best book ever written about a bicycle race, I figured he could write so I bought The Vanishing on a whim for £7. This has been made into a couple of feature films so it must have something going for it. And while it's not a bad read, it's a little brief at 115 pages in biggish type (I read it in an afternoon), so I guess more of a long short story than a full length novel. I'd liked to have gotten to know the characters a bit better, like in The Rider, but there wasn't enough time. That meant their actions lacked a bit of justification. Also the mystery of what happened was obvious very early on. I know the book was more about exploring the obsession of the main characters but I reckon Krabbé missed a trick by not fleshing it out a bit.

I'm most of the way through the Stephen Fry Chronicles, written by the man himself. Interesting, especially as you get into it. His style (tres verbose) means it's not easy reading at first but you get used to it. And what's written is engaging, revealing and not pompous. He charts his progress from naughty boyhood through to becoming a comic actor/presenter/modern day Oscar Wilde/living treasure. There's a fair bit of self loathing in there, which because of the language doesn't hit as hard as it should, but it's certainly meant to. That's contrasted and no doubt increased by his desire to be loved by everyone and not to be hated. Fame and a thin skin don't sit well together. There's plenty of other good stuff in the book as well.

Stupid economy

So the world is in debt up to its eyeballs with the exception of China and possibly a few other lesser countries. I know the debt/credit thing is meant to be a zero sum game but to me it doesn't add up and it seems the whole thing is like trying to pull yourself up in a bucket.

That means I have very little idea of what's going on. That doesn't disqualify me from having opinions on the matter, they're just not very informed ones:

1) I blame the banks and the various governments for not keeping the banks in line. Greed will out if we let it.

2) Things have to be allowed to fail (which is hard) or the problem gets worse. You can't pull yourself out of debt by creating more. Read this Spiegel interview with Slovakia's Richard Sulik about how this works and to how save the Euro, if that matters. He speaks too much sense to be a politician.

3) How financial markets behave is grossly overrated as a "problem". Who cares? Just make stuff people want to buy and don't get too far ahead of yourself with futures and derivatives and all that crapola. See point 1)

4) I still don't see how cutting government spending (ie jobs) helps an economy to grow. If people are out of work, they don't have any money to spend on the frivolities that make up modern consumerism. And expecting the private sector to take up the slack, as is the case in the UK, means that even more frivolous ways of spending money have to be created.

5) Printing money aka quantitative easing is not a solution. Just ask Zimbabwe. The UK inflation rate has jumped since the gummit did this while the economy has remained flat. Maybe that's a good thing, I dunno.

6) In the meantime the energy companies are making obscene profits while thousands of people are predicted to freeze to death this winter 'cos they can't afford their fuel bills. I think I'll start my own energy company and sell hot air to the masses. A verbal version of this blog would suffice. I will charge 12 Reichsbank marks per utterance.

Other news

My little toe has turned more or less gangrenous after I got a bit medieval on it. I've had this corn/wart on it for years and finally decided to attack it with acid and vigorous pumicing. Viola, I now have an infection as well. The doc gave me a week's worth of antibiotics and instructed me not to use the hacksaw. I will heed her wishes. For now.

The bathroom ceiling below us caved in as a result of a couple of leaky pipes en route to our bath, which seemed to give way at roughly the same time. The problem has now been rectified, save for the massive hole in the ceiling below. Even when it does get patched, I'll think twice before having a bath. There could be some unfortunate consequences. Ditto in not having one, but better the devil you know eh?

BBAR!

The 2011 British Best All-Rounder aka the BBAR is now over including the shouting (I hope). And yep, I kept my position in the top slot, finishing with an average of 28.02mph. Second was Julian Jenkinson with 27.78, then Derek Parkinson (27.72), Andy Bason (27.71 - so close to third), Nik Bowdler (27.49) and Scott Povey (27.21). Not much in it!

This is the best thing I've won in cycling - and that includes five journo world titles. In fact one of the reasons I didn't go to Italy to defend that jersey was because I was fully focused on the BBAR. Focus can get you a long way in life.

The BBAR with its 80+ year history is almost anachronistic in modern day sport. How can it be 'all round' when the shortest distance is 50 miles? That's one of the criticisms levelled at it. But if the BBAR was widened to include 10 and 25 miles, you'd still find the same guys at the top. It's just a matter of what you focus on during the season.

Another criticism is that you can get lucky with the conditions and doing a fast ride while others miss out. This certainly happened this year: Andy Bason missed the BDCA 50 and opted not to ride the BDCA 100 or the Breckland 12, all of which were fast. But I missed the national 100 (which was fast and I wanted to do), the EDCA 100 (quick), the Shaftesbury 50 (where Jenkinson did his best 50) and the Yorkshire 50 (where Bason did his best 50). In fact the only time I met Bason in a BBAR event was the national 50, where I beat him by 22sec.

When you look at the overall results, some luck does come into it for sure, as well as some planning. And the fact that it was so close this year shows that it's remarkably resilient to conditions and course variation.

It has a huge amount of respect among time triallists. That's been clear at every event I've been to since I did my 50 and 12hr. I can see why. Apart from its history, its distances are pretty formidable. Mine this year totalled over 455 miles/732km in just three events. All alone against the clock.

Also despite the challenge it remains almost purely an amateur competition. Most pros don't do TTs longer than an hour as their focus is on road racing. If they did the BBAR, well it'd be scary. But that's not what they're paid to do.

The other thing I managed to do this year was finish 2nd in the Rudy Project national TT series again. My points total was 294 out of a possible 300, 5 more than last year but not enough to threaten Matt Bottrill, who won it again with 299 points.

Funnily enough the only guy to beat Matt was Sigma Sport pro Wouter Sybrandy, who I came up against in my final round last weekend (Bottrill DNS). It was extremely hot for October here (29 degrees!) and as always in the heat my power took a battering - I was a good 25W off my best. I'm sure everyone else was down too, as the results order didn't change much. Sybrandy did win but only beat me by 42 seconds over 29.2 miles, so that was a nice way to finish off the season.

Some drinking ensued.

It wasn't quite over for me though. I set myself an appointment with the turbo trainer on day for a maximal aerobic power test (see Ric Stern's article on Cyclingnews for a full explanation of the MAP test). This test is a VO2max style effort, where you gradually ramp up the power until you fail. There are a few different protocols but the one I used last year and this year was a 25W/minute ramp (5W/12sec) taking the power over the final minute as MAP. A better protocol for me would be 20W/minute, as it's more appropriate for fitter riders, but I'll do that next time.

As you can imagine, it's a fairly demanding test. It's quite hard to control the power ramp as the time ticks over and you're gradually going crosseyed with oxygen debt. However, it can be done.

Now, I didn't think MAP was that trainable once you've been racing for a few years, let alone 20 years. It's correlated with your VO2max, which is meant to peak after just 18 months of training then decline once you pass 25 years of age. Sounds grim.

I do know that you can train all levels underneath it to maximise the percentage of MAP that you can ride at for a given duration. If you scroll to the bottom of the Ric's article, you can see the percentage ranges for various durations. e.g. for 10 miles it's 75-81% of MAP, which is a good 25W of trainability if your MAP is 400W.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find out after doing the test that my MAP has increased by 31W this year. That's quite a lot. I've done a few tests over the years and this is by far the highest, both in absolute and power/weight terms. Or to put it another way, I'm currently fitter than I have ever been, despite being well into physical decline at age 40. Maybe there is something to the maxim, "you're only as old as you feel."

I think there's a lot of scope for improvement next year, in terms of both maximising percentage of MAP at various durations and lifting MAP itself.

Now it's time for a holiday.


The human body is amazing

The end is in sight or nigh

Of the season that is. I have one race left, round 7 of the Rudy Project on the 1st of October. It's a great field (Bottrill, as well as Sybrandy and Hampton wot have been doing well in the Tour of Britain) so I'll be doing well to scrape 4th.

That said it doesn't matter too much, as I basically just need to finish to secure 2nd overall in the series again. Yay!

I did my fourth ride of the series on Saturday, and managed 2nd behind Adam Duggleby. It was my best ride of the season over that sort of distance (power pb!) and I've never gone that fast on a 'sporting' single carriageway course before. It was 24.1 miles/38.7km, very windy and the back half was quite undulating, but I managed to stay on top of it and didn't fade. The only annoyance was being stuck behind a tractor with 5 mins to go. It was going at a nice speed of 45km/h but I'd been sitting on 51 (tailwind) so I had to slow down for a minute or so until I found an opportunity to pass. It was only a few seconds lost, but it would have been nice to go sub-51 on that course.

I backed up today with a 50 on the U46/50 course. A fast day, 9-10 degs with little wind. I didn't have the legs to really capitalise on it, finishing in 1:43:25 to Scott Povey's 1:43:12. However, good to recoup some of the petrol money for the weekend.

Scroll back a bit to the BDCA 100, my last BBAR counter and an important race, as I had to improve on my 3:39:43 to buy some security at the top of the table. Turns out I needed it, as Mr Jenkinson improved on his 100 time with a storming 3:28:41 to win it. I was third in a very decent 3:31:51 with Derek Parkinson 2nd in 3:30:42. It wasn't a bad ride in speed terms (it was two laps of the 50 course, so very quick) but I did have a bad power fade in the second half, I suspect I was still recovering from the 12. My 100 in July was much better, just slower. Still, I've had two really good rides and one half decent one out of three for the BBAR, so I can't complain.

What that means is that I now have a more comfortable lead in the BBAR standings. With just one more 50 left next week and the top three in the BBAR not riding it, the only realistic contender is Andy Bason, who needs a 1:38 or better to overhaul me. If he does that then all credit to him, he'll have deserved it.

25 madness

In between all this I've also had a tilt at improving my 25 PB from 49'58 to something quicker. To that end, I entered a couple of events on the Welsh ski slope course, the R25/3L. One was the day after the aforementioned 100, the other one was a week later when I was going to be fresh. Both had stiff SW winds but by some crazy fluke I went much faster with trashed legs in the one after the 100 (49'26, pb!) on bugger all power, coming within 3sec of winning the thing. Then I did a disapppointing 50'32 with good legs a week later for a mere 8th place (better field but still...)

In the post mortem I realised I got a bit lucky with the conditions in the first one, getting the strongest wind in only the last 5 miles before the turn rather than the whole way. My turn split was 32'18 in the first week (the return leg is much shorter) and 34'06 the second week with 20W more power! Mother nature can be unkind at times. And yes it was the weekend of Hurricane Katia so it was a tad blowy.

The times in the second week were all over the shop too because of the varying conditions in the 5 hrs that the event was run over. Some people got it bad, others were a bit luckier, but everyone agreed it wasn't a quick day.

I'll try to nail a 48 there next year. If you ride these courses enough eventually you get good conditions.

One more race...

Comp record!

Me and Lowenna having tea and cake in the HQ after clocking 305.513 and 218.04 miles respectively in the CC Breckland 12 hour © Liz Hufton

305.513 miles in 12 hours in the CC Breckland event two weekends ago to break Andy Wilkinson's UK competition record (and very likely the world record for this sort of event) by 3.1 miles. Andy Bason also rode 302.75 miles to break it in the national championships on the same day, but unluckily for Andy, I'd got there a bit before him.

It was even about mile further than Sean Yates and the late Zak Carr managed (304.7 miles) when they set the tandem comp record in 2005. In fact, the only rider who's gone further in 12 hours is Glen Longland, who did 309.5 miles but didn't start and finish in the same place, so had the benefit of a tailwind. See the RRA for some insanely fast place to place records.

In kilometre terms, 305.5 miles is a shade under 492km. In speed terms, it's 25.46mph or 41km/h. In calorie terms it's well over 10,000. Which explains why I've lost a kilo and have been trying to get it back via means of pringles, snickers and beer.

Looking at the numbers as they are it's mind boggling, impossible for anyone to do that on their own, especially me! But strangely after the 50 I did the weekend previously, I had a feeling it might actually be on the cards. I did a lot of number crunching during the week and kept coming up with ridiculous distances: 305 miles was actually one of the more conservative estimates - some scenarios put it as high as 316 miles!

Basically I took the numbers from my 12hr last year (280.74 miles), plugged them into analyticcycling.com, added 15W due to extra fitness, tarted up the rolling resistance and drag estimates, allowed for the extra 123 miles of dual carriageway (probably worth 5-10 miles on its own) and crossed my fingers that it wasn't going to be as windy. Of course, as a theoretical chemist I know that in practice, things don't always turn out the way they do when calculated, so I crossed my other fingers.

I also tightened up the bolt under the nosecone of the Shiv so that the baseplate wasn't rubbing on the front wheel when I put weight on it. I'd only discovered this before the BDCA 50 and I think it might have made a difference. The creaking noise has gone at least!

Four of us piled into Mark and Lowenna's new car on Saturday to drive to somewhere near Norwich, where we had a noice B&B booked. The plan was that Mark and Liz would be supporting me and Lowenna (doing her fourth 12hr! Madness). I took it as a good omen that the race wasn't that far from where I was born and that it was a full moon. Also, without knowing the Beryl Burton story, my colleague John Whitney had offered me a liquorice allsort at work a few days previously. That's what I call a surfeit of good omens.

We also had a surfeit of food at a local pub. I think I had chili with rice, chips, bread and extra boiled potatoes all round. You can never have too many carbohydrates I say. No room for dessert, which should give you a sense of the portion size.

Half a day on the bike

Sunday dawned (well it didn't quite as it was 4am) and we got ourselves sorted for the big day, making energy drinks, having a bit of brekky and sorting out a feeding plan. Basically the first 236 miles of the course had a turnaround point every 20 miles or so, which meant Liz and Mark could just stay there and hand me a bottle/some food each lap. Simples!

Start vids


Tim Davies (28) goes followed by Lowenna (29)


My turn

Lowe smiling in the morning © Liz Hufton

The start in Scoulton. Quiet except for a gaggle of oddly dressed people on bikes © Liz Hufton

I was getting ready almost right up until I was off at 6:30. No time to think about anything else, just focus on what I had to do in the race. The first 13 miles took us on minor roads from Scoulton to the A11, where we'd spend most of the day. I enjoyed the start, getting used to the pace and making sure nothing was loose. I passed Lowe (my minute woman) in under five minutes and gave her a shout. Then navigated my way along the back roads to the main part of the course.

I was trying to get a sense of what heart rate and power to ride at, but my power meter wasn't quite playing ball as (I found out after) the cones were a bit loose so it had problems zeroing. And my heart rate seemed to be high for the effort level, so in the end I just rode on feel and kept an eye on the distance/time. Even the distance turned out to be wrong, as it was over-reading by a small but annoying amount. Gadgets eh...

Onto the A11 and after about 20 miles total I caught my two minute man, Tim Davies. He also did the Icknield 12 last year and I've seen him at quite a few races, so we know each other. As I went past, he told me he reckoned 300 miles was doable and I hoped he was right. I continued, meeting the horrible endless dips in the concrete at the Wymondham end of the A11. Bump, bump, bump, bump. And again on the way back. This was actually the second circuit that we'd do later in the day, but had to do once first thing to make up the mileage.

Then it was back past what would be the turnaround point at the famous Eccles, before heading down towards Thetford and turning just before we got there. Back along the A11 to Eccles and voila, 52.86 miles completed in 2:03. By this stage I'd already caught Nick English, my five minute man after about 40 miles, and that surprised me a bit. He went on to do 290 miles to finish second, so obviously rode at a nice even pace. On the other hand there was Steve Berry, my 15 minute man, who I'd only put a minute or so into at this point - I figured he was either going well or too hard.

At the end of the 52.86 miles I saw my helpers for the first time. I reached out to grab a bottle from Liz but was going too fast and missed it. Curse. I made sure I got one from Mark a little further up the road. I didn't need food at this stage, my shorts and sleeves were stuffed with gels and energy bars. I made a note to slow down through the feed next time, as there wasn't really much of a hill coming up from the underpass to dull the speed. You never want to use your brakes in a TT but it's better than running out of gas.

There were four more laps up to Thetford and back and my main aim was to keep the speed up without going too hard. It wasn't easy as the wind was getting stronger, so it was a bit of a batle into the headwind up to the far turn, then a nice cruise back with the tailwind. After two more laps (94 miles total) I'd put maybe another minute or so into Steve Berry and I was still thinking I was going too hard. I also thought I should stop for a toilet break but I didn't as I didn't want to stop. A mistake.

Me on one of the many laps up and down the A11 © Stephen Penney

Lowenna en route, looking good © Stephen Penney

On lap three things changed. I was still riding at an even pace but Steve had dropped from two minutes to four minutes down. I think the 100 mile mark is critical in a 12 hour, as once you reach it your body has worked out how much glycogen you've used and will down-regulate you to something sustainable for the remainder. So it's really important not to overcook it. Easier said than done when it feels like you're not even racing up until that point. I certainly lost a bit of power but it didn't bother me - as long as it wasn't too much.

After four laps (136 miles) it was straight on towards Wymondham to start circuit 2, so no chance to see Liz and Mark until I got to the turn at the far end. This was actually a nice stretch as it was 20 miles of tailwind so a further chance to take it easy while keeping on top of the gear. At the Browick turn I grabbed a gel and a bottle and got ready for the tough return leg back to Eccles - at least it was only 10 miles. I reached the turn with 156 miles on the clock in just under six hours. That's 26mph or nearly 42km/h in the new money, pretty much bang on what I needed to do. Halfway!!!

Steve was now only five minutes ahead of me and I ended up catching him the second time back from Browick. As I passed he said something like "go for the record!" and I gave him the thumbs up. Unfortunately he was obviously suffering badly at this point and told me afterwards he'd nearly packed it in from cramps in his back. It's not your legs that give way in a 12, it's everything else. He persisted though, and eventually finished with a very creditable 284 miles.


Liz and Mark capture the sheer nerve wrenching excitement of doing support in a 12hour TT

I had my own problems (yes I really should have stopped earlier). I was feeling ill from all the fluid I'd drunk and started to get quite bad mental downers. The first part of the return leg was quite tough and each time I'd think 'you idiot, what are you doing? You'll never hold this pace. <big pit of darkness>'. It wasn't good. The only thing I could do was try to ignore it and keep going until it got easier on the way back to Eccles.

This continued for a few laps but eventually after eight hours I 'cracked', chucked my bike down and stopped for a much needed break. It felt like an hour but it probably wasn't much more than a minute. When I got going again it was amazing, I felt brand new and could even drink the sickly energy drink that I'd got on the last handup (they didn't give me that again, thankfully). 216 miles in 8:20, still just under 26mph with a mere 3:40 to go. One more lap up to Browick and back, then it was time to navigate my way to the finishing circuit.

My last lap on the A11 was good, around 46:30 for the 20 miles and I reached the end of the fifth lap with 236.2 miles completed in 9:06. The dark periods had gone although I knew I was running a bit low on fuel and really needed a couple of close feeds to stock up on bars and gels. I also knew I probably wouldn't get them as Liz and Mark had to look after Lowe as well, so I was on my own for at least the first lap of the finishing circuit.

I did some calculations to keep myself occupied. I'd originally budgeted 23mph for the finishing circuit as it was obviously going to be slower than the dual carriageway. 69 miles in three hours. So a bit under 67 miles in 2hrs54, which was the time I had left. Add that to 236 and that was 303 miles. Just enough to break the record, provided I didn't blow...

The road to the finishing circuit was slightly uphill and it was hard work. I checked the clock when I got to mile 0 - 9:17 for what I knew was a bit over 240 miles. More calculations, each lap was 12.8 miles, I wanted to ride five laps (304 miles total), so I needed 32'30 a lap. That was all that mattered, to hit that or go under it.

The first lap wasn't too bad. The circuit wasn't overly hard, just a few ups and downs, not too many bends and some long straights. I rode past the cemetary at Hingham where I hoped Liz and Mark would be the next time. It had a nice little climb where I could slow down enough to collect a bottle and food. Not a problem. There were also small groups of people scattered around the circuits cheering as one by one, the knackered riders came past.

Lap 1, 32'26. That's cutting it fine. A bit over two hours to go and plenty of work to do. The cramps started now - my legs would just lock up for a short time and I had to get out of the saddle and rest them before they'd go again. Not good. I slowed right down at the cemetary and grabbed some energy drink and a gel when I saw Mark and Liz. I drank as much as I could and it helped. Lap 2, 32'20. Better than target pace. I needed to build in some insurance.

I started to pick up on the third lap and although the cramps kept getting me at odd times, I pushed it harder in other bits to compensate. I also picked up a bottle of Coke from Mark and even stopped briefly to grab a gel and a few swigs of water from Liz. That really turned things around and despite the halt I did the lap in around 32'00 (my data says 31'00 but I think that was because it was running out of memory).

Lap 4 saw me pass 280 miles - what I did last year - with over an hour to go! I took on more fuel from Liz and Mark, knowing I'd only need them one more time. The cramps were still visiting me but they weren't getting any worse. I didn't exactly feel euphoric but I did have the bit between my teeth for the last hour. 31'48. One more lap and I was now looking at 305 miles...

Final lap, time to let loose. I was very tired but I had enough in the tank to go faster when it mattered. I was still right on the edge of cramping but I'd kept it at bay. I really wanted to finish it off in style but with a couple of miles to go before the end of the lap, my neck muscles refused to work any more and I could no longer hold the TT position at all. I had to sit up and keep going on the tops. It was disappointing, albeit no surprise at all!


Passing 304.228 miles with around three minutes to go

I finished the lap in my best time, 31'20, and I knew I'd make it to the next time keeper at one mile too. That was well over 305 miles. I passed Lowe along the way and knew she would get to stop there, lucky thing! I got to the time keeper and asked if I could stop but he told me to keep going. Argh! I really really didn't want to at this point. My neck was making it impossible to ride fast so I just trundled along at the best pace I could manage until I got to Hingham (3 miles in). No-one there to tell me to stop. Argh! I knew there was someone at 5 miles and kept it going until then, wishing it would finish. I still had the power to turn the pedals OK but I also knew the race had finished. Stop it now!

I did finally reach the time keeper after what felt like an age, having covered nearly 310 miles/499km in total. That's just stupid as I still think 200km is a very very long way to ride in a day. I stopped and the time keeper took my time. We exchanged a few words and I waited for Liz and Mark to come and find me. It was only a few hundred metres to the HQ where we started but I did not want to ride any more.

That was hard © Liz Hufton

Did it and can still stand up! © Liz Hufton

Lowe and Mark still smiling afterwards © Liz Hufton


Me interviewed by Liz


Lowenna interviewed by Liz

By the time I did get back to the HQ, they'd already posted some provisional distances. Mine was 305.69 miles (later revised to 305.513) and I was absolutely delighted as well as being completely shattered. However I didn't know what was going on in the national 12. I found out that Andy Wilkinson had done 3:47 for his first 100, but then DNFd. Then as we were on our way home, a friend texted me to say Andy Bason had done 304 miles (actually 302.75, still a fantastic ride on a slower course). So I had it! Burger King has never tasted so good.

At the time it was hard to appreciate, as I was so completely drained physically and mentally, that nothing much was registering. The mental challenge of concentrating on something completely for 12 hours is formidable. You can relax occasionally but if you switch off, your race is over. And you have to keep that focus right until the last mile. It's what makes these events so demanding and, I suppose, rewarding.

Post

In the week after the ride, I've slowly been coming to terms with it and I mean slowly. I got a round of applause from the office when I staggered in on Monday, John Whitney wrote a nice article - it was quite easy to interview me as we sit about 1m apart - then I spent much of the rest of the week in a trance while I regained my energies. I received congratulations from lots of people (including Andy Bason) and am still getting them. When Hutch tells you it was rather impressive (he's done a few 12s in his time) it's really something.

Of course coach Ric was over the moon and he was mightily impressed at how even my power and speed were. I've posted some rough splits below to illustrate. If I scale the distance on my computer to what I think it should be, I did the first 100 miles in ~3:54, the second 100 in ~3:52 including the stop, the next 100 in ~4:01, which left me another 13 minutes to do 5.51 miles. So my pacing was pretty even I'd say.

Rough splits recorded by Liz

miles km Time
52.86 85.07 02:03
73.56 118.39 02:51
94.26 151.70 03:38
114.97 185.04 04:26
146.00 234.97 05:33
155.91 250.92 05:59
175.98 283.22 06:45
196.06 315.53 07:32
216.13 347.84 08:20
236.21 380.15 09:06
240.35 386.83 09:17
256.00 412.01 09:56
268.90 432.77 10:28
281.60 453.21 11:00
294.45 473.89 11:32
305.51 491.69 12:00

Next up

I've got one more big race this season, the BDCA 100 this Saturday. It's on the same course that I did my 50 in 1:39:03 on, just two laps instead of one. If the weather holds up, it will be very very fast, according to my Analytic Cycling reckoner.

My main aim is to lower my 100 time from 3:39:43 to whatever I can manage. Why? Because currently I'm leading the British Best All Rounder competition, which is based on the average of the average speeds of your best 50, 100, and 12hr TTs in a season, finishing at the end of September. It's a long distance competition for sure, but it's also the most popular national series in the UK. At this stage, I think Bason and Jenkinson have the best chance of beating me, but if I can improve my 100 time then it will be difficult, as there are only a few fast 50s left - no more 100s and only one more 12hr, which none of the BBAR contenders are doing.

I also want to try to get five rides done in the Rudy Project series, which is actually the national TT series. Bottrill has already wrapped it up but with a couple of half decent rides I could finish second. Unfortunately that means no Journo Worlds title defence this year, but "you can't do everything".

Onwards!

Le Tour and a good 50

Right, time for an udpate.

El Tour de France was just superb this year, and I normally don't like the Tour that much. The racing was excellent from day 1 and we got all sorts of Drama and Action. Like Cadel winning overall, which was well deserved and no doubt good for Orstrayan cycling. I hope they declare a public holiday and knight the bugger. That's what sportspersons get innit?

I also enjoyed THOR winning a couple of stages, resplendent in the rainbow jersey. To have the world champ win in the biggest race is always good. The one where he chased down Jeremy Roy and just blasted by him in the final kilometres was magic.

Cadel...oh I mentioned him. He can time trial a bit, unlike the Schleck Bros Andy and Fränk (silly place for an umlaut) who apart from being joined at the hip are way too skinny to be any use against the clock.

In my opinion, they clearly need to hit ther local pie shop and cäke haus and start bulking up. I think the addition of several litres of beer and 1kg of Milka each day should do the trick. If they haven't gained 10kg by next year's Tour, they're screwed. And although they will probably be in the broom wagon on the climbs, they'll make up for this on the descents. What goes up must come down and 10kg of blubber makes you go quicker downhill. Another fact. Or fat.

Don't believe me? Look at this story from this year's Criterium International. Frank Schleck, who went onto win, did the final TT with a Camelback stuffed down his jersey. Sorry, you can't do that. If you want a gut, you've got to eat pies, it's the law.

What else? There was Flecha and Hoogerland's crash into the barbed wire, courtesy of a looney driver. If riders aren't safe at the Tour, there's not much hope for the rest of us. Hoogerland is pretty awesome for getting up and finishing the race.

And who could forget Thomas 'TiTi' Voeckler? Nearly 2wks in yellow and only dethroned by his own fighting spirit on the last alpine stage. Had he dropped back to the peloton instead of trying to bridge the gap to Contador and Schleck on the Galibier, he might have stood a chance on Alpe D'Huez. Oh well, more to come from him methinks.

Then there was Evans. Oh I mentioned him. How about Cav? Five more stage wins, green jersey this year and he's still only a nipper. More to come from him too.

Only one positive test too, which is a good sign.

Going fast in a 50

I've been going ok of late and managed a really fast time in the BDCA 50 last Saturday. 1:39:03 (48.7km/h in the new money) to win the event and become the sixth fastest 50 rider of all time (with the caveat that any pro would beat that standing on their head but they don't typically do 50s). A couple of seconds quicker would have put me fourth on this list ahead of Graeme Obree (ex hour record holder) and Nik Bowdler (twice BBAR winner). That's good company.

The A50/6 course is always fast, so Saturday was a showdown between most of this year's BBAR contenders. Julian Jenkinson was there, having recently clocked 3:31 for a 100(!) and I figured he'd win it. Or Studodd would.

But surprise surprise I did, after Stu DNFed (hit a manhole and did something bad to his back) and Jenks managed 1:41:42 (4th). Scott Povey did an excellent 1:40:08 for 2nd, then Derek Parkinson finished third in 1:40:49.

The ride itself was one of those where you knew it was going to be quick. Like last year (when I did a 1:45:08) there was a headwind on the outward leg which given that it's all uphill you would think would really kill the speed. But for some bizarre reason - probably traffic and shelter - it's not that bad. I got to the far turn (35km) in 46'52, a full 2'30 quicker than last year. Then bombed back down the hill, did the flat 11.5km dogleg out to Rocester and back a minute quicker than last year, then went at warp speed for the last 20km, which I did in 22'35! Converting back to miles, I did the final 25 miles (40.25km) in 45'54 and the final 10 miles (16.1km) in 17'56.

Power wise it wasn't a bad ride but not a PB by any stretch. Also although I did it 'flat out' I wasn't spent at the end, it was just that lifting it at any point on the way back felt like it might be a bad idea. But there were several points where I eased up, took time to fiddle with my helmet and skinsuit, freewheeled, waited for cars in front of me to get around the roundabout, took a drink, had a gel, turned on the radio to see if Radio 2 had gotten any better (it hadn't), etc.

From that point of view it was good as I know there's a bit more there. Maybe I'll beat it next year...

Next up for me is the Breckland 12hr, which promises to be both fast and boring. I hope to improve on my 280.74 miles I did last year, but all the signs are there that it's possible.

And the last shall be first

Righto, time for a wee update. This will not be news to Facebook friends although it might be to Google+ friends/acquaintances/family/other.

Training

Following the national 50 I've done three weeks of very solid endurance work. It wasn't easy, especially the second week, but I came through alright. In fact, the planets aligned just after my 40th birthday and I managed a couple of power PBs in the same week. Nice.

Racing

The first one was at the Castle Combe 10 on Wednesday, where I managed to knock a substantial chunk of time off the course record to post 20'21 on a completely traffic-free circuit. That's a shade over 47km/h in the new money and I was pretty happy at being able to do that without being sucked along by a stream of traffic. As you can see from the lap splits (ignore the first, which was a bit under half a lap) I started a bit conservatively but got quicker as it went on. The main reason being was because I couldn't quite believe I could sustain the number that was showing on my power meter for the full 20 minutes, as I'd never done it in the past.

But it turned out that I could, in fact I could up it towards the end because I'd gone out comparatively steadily. An even split would have been better but there wouldn't have been much more than a second or two in it. I'll take a power PB any day: 20W up on last year's best, 13W up on this year's and 5W up on my all time best (set a few years ago in a club event), all using the same wheel.

Me @ Castle Combe
© Simonthecyclist

Fast forward to Sunday's North Middlesex and Herts CA 100 and I did it again, although not by as much. It was a similar course to the first part of the Icknield 12hr that I did last year - a few laps of the A1 followed by one and a half laps of a finishing circuit up the A421 then back along a B road. The wind was blowing about 20km/h from the SW and it made life tough coming back from the northernmost roundabout and really difficult going up the A421 towards the finish. More on that in a bit. Going the other way was fun though.

I was off last in a field of 54 (not all of whom started), which is always an advantage in an early morning event. I had a nice evenly paced ride, finishing in 3:39:43, which is 1'39 better than my PB. It was also good enough to win by 18'30 from Paul Gamlin and Dave Johnson. I did wonder how I'd go against Dean Lubin, who'd done a 3:40:09 recently and who was off 4min ahead of me. I clocked him at 1/3 distance and had taken 1'30 out of him, but he stopped a bit further on as he probably knew it wasn't going to be any quicker than 3:40.

Power-wise, it was a good ride. In contrast to previous 100s, I managed to negative split by a few watts in the second half compared to the first. That's also reflected in the time splits: 1:50:12 to halfway, 1:49:31 for the second half.

Me @ the NH&HCA 100
© Dave Jones

The finishing circuit was rather cruel but I knew what to expect having driven over it the day before. The first part was a 7km section on the A421, with two long uphill drags and a shorter downhill bit in the middle. All into the teeth of the wind. At least the road surface was good. You then turned off onto a rough B road and went back 7km with the wind behind you. Only to repeat the headwind section and finish after only 1.5km of tailwind. This had a negative affect on the average speed.

Before I hit the finishing circuit, my average was 44.5km/h, ie good enough for a short 3:37. But the extra headwind turned that into a long 3:39 - and I did the finishing circuit at +10W above the rest of the ride!

It could have been worse: had I done my usual trick of dying with an hour to go I would have lost buckets of time. Many riders did, and that became quite apparent on the headwind sections. There was some real suffering going on.

After I finished, the organiser Gordon Hart pulled up beside me in his car as I was riding back to the HQ. He said I was first to finish, which was good as I hadn't spotted Dean Lubin for a while and thought he might have taken time out of me. But what Gordon meant is that I was actually the first rider home despite being the last to start. I'd caught the entire field. I am still quite chuffed with that!

Results and more pics here

Nat 50 + visitation

The visitation was first, in the form of little sister Lucy, who was on a work trip to the UK and popped down to Bath for a hello and a sightsee.

The sightseeing involved approximately 12km of walking up and down hills. Very pleasant as we saw some nice bits of Bath that require a bit of local knowledge to spot. No pics owing to still busted camera. I must get a new one.

My legs were somewhat knackered after that, but I figured/hoped it wouldn't matter too much for the 50. In hindsight I don't think it did, as my power was pretty much bang on what I thought I could do. That was enough to get me another 8th spot, which was satisfying. It's strange, in the national 25 I was delighted, but in the 50 it felt more like confirmation that the 25 wasn't a fluke. You reset your standards when you improve.

I was happy for a few other reasons too. The main one was that I'd got an early start time (along with Richard Simmonds and Andy Bason). In a morning event this is usually a bad thing as temperature and traffic increase throughout the morning, which means you go quicker later on. I was off at 9:15, but most of the other quick guys were off between 10 and 10:30. It doesn't sound like it should matter but it can be worth minutes in some cases. And worse if you're off at 8am...

So I treated it as two races, one between me, Rich and Andy - to whom I could compare directly - and the other against the rest of the field.

I set off fairly hard into the wind as I thought it was better to counteract the slowest part of the ride with more power. It wasn't long before I passed Sean Yates (yep, the ex-pro wot is now director of Team Sky), who was on his second lap and not looking to be having an easy time of it into the wind. The road didn't help matters either: it was hard and bumpy and it's definitely not a fast course. It was a case of picking a line through the bumpiest bits and hoping you didn't get slowed down too much.

The tailwind back home was nice and I felt quite comfortable at what was close to my usual 1hr power. Never a good sign, as I know from experience. However I'd committed to this strategy. I think both Rich and Andy had this idea too, as they were 15 and 10 seconds up on me after the first lap.

Lap 2 was different. I dropped 13W but only 9sec (the splits in the results weren't taken at the end of the laps, rather at the 20 and 40 mile marks). In 20 miles at my speed, 13W should be worth 36sec so you can already see what difference conditions make. To put that another way, had I started at 10am, my first lap would have been 27sec quicker, my second and third - that's harder to tell. All up losing between 30sec and a minute based on start time is tough in a race like this! However, it's incentive to get quicker in order to get a better position on the grid.

At least I felt OK and wasn't in danger of blowing up, but I also didn't have loads left for the final short lap. I had now moved ahead of Rich (who'd beaten me on the same course by 2min a week previously) by 36sec so he'd clearly paid a higher price than me for a hard start. Andy Bason was still 9sec up so it was close.

I lost a few more watts for the final 9.6 miles but these were also my quickest (20'31) - both thanks to the conditions and also because we didn't have to go up to the second roundabout, only the first one. After gritting my teeth into the headwind the final time I flew home. The last 4.8 miles in 9'12 - that's 50.7km/h in real money. Yes it was marginally downhill, which helped!

Final time: 1:47:36, which was about 45 sec up on the previous week, when I wasn't going quite as hard. That was good, as a few people I spoke to afterwards, like Chippenham's Mark Woolford, who'd ridden both went backwards by 3-4min today as it was so windy.

Bason had lost a bit of ground to me and finished in 1:47:58, while Rich ended up with 1:49:31, which I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been happy with. Anyway, I had the lead for a bit but I could see that British long distance legend Andy Wilkinson (12 hr comp record holder with 302 miles) was motoring up and down the course and I was certain he'd demolish my time. He did with 1:45:13 which gave him third spot in the end. Hmm, I wonder if I can find 20W...

I had to wait a while before the final times were in and lo and behold, what a battle it was between Matt Bottrill and Michael Hutchinson! Bottrill was up 13sec at 20 miles, then just 7sec at 40 miles, but Hutch turned it on in the last 10 and reversed the deficit to a handy 16secs by the finish. That is not very much: 2W in power terms, or the difference between perfect pacing and slightly off pacing, or socks, or a head fairing as opposed to an aero helmet. It's really not much.

Bottrill was disappointed afterwards as he's never been that close before, but I'm pretty sure he'll get there in the next year or two. He has been flying this year and my own guesstimates (as I've raced them both) had him very close to Hutch. He was unfortunately off his best in the 25, which is why Hutch beat him fairly comfortably. But not in the 50 - where Hutch wasn't at his best.

It's good to see as we need a bit of competition at the top to stir up more interest in the sport.

Pics here (I'm on P7, P10, P19, P23, P26) and here
Results here
Report here

The women are a different matter. Julia Shaw was in a class of her own again and beat Rebecca Slack by over 6 minutes. It was a pretty grim day for them on Saturday too. I'd raced that course in the rain the previous week and it's no fun.

Next up for me: was going to be the national 100 in Yorkshire but I didn't get in as the organisers didn't receive an entry from me. Unfortunately you generally only find this out when the start list comes out, by which point it's too late to do anything about it. Annoying but not the end of the world, and I'll find another 100 to ride.

The national 25

Time to update el blog as I've just passed the main focus of the season, the national 25 mile championships. And done good too, finishing 8th, a mere 2'18 behind Dr Michael Hutchinson. Yes he had a mechanical but still, it's the closest I've ever been to him in a 25, let alone a national, so I'll take it.

To recap and I never get tired of reminding myself of this fact, in 2009 I finished 43rd @ 6'23 behind Hutch. In 2010 I was 16th @ 4'03. This year 8th at 2'18. So two more years and I'll win, ho ho. It's extrapolations like that that send companies bankrupt.

8th is a good result for me, as this is the most keenly contested championships for the amateurs. And it's also generally more popular than the British TT champs (pros can ride both, but they prefer the BTTC). So more competition, which is a good thing.

That said, the course, which started in Holsworthy in Devon, was more like the BTTC than a typical CTT course in that it contained hills. A couple of which I needed the small ring for, even down to 39x23! It also had more climbing than descending, so in that sense was like an early season hardriders course. On the other hand, apart from one corner and a roundabout that required braking, it was non-technical. And the roads were nice smooth tarmac for the most part.

The prep and the women

Liz and I drove down the day before to stay with relations of friends of ours (Lowenna and Mark), and we were generously given beds for the evening and large quantities of food. Which you don't actually need for a one hour race but hey...

Low was nervous as it was only her second 25 (she's done plenty of 10s and three(!) 12hrs). Plus she was on a new TT bike, which takes some getting used to. I spent some time sorting out her helmet so that it sat properly on her back, made sure her numbers were OK, gave her a few tips on the course and left her to it.

Liz and I cheered her and the rest of the women as they went up the first hill. We got a few nods of recognition and thanks as we named the riders correctly. It was interesting seeing how some of the women tackled the climb, which was fairly steep. Some flew up it out of the saddle, some were all over the shop in the big chainring and some rode it on the extensions to maintain a good position.

Eventual winner Julia Shaw did this, and it was clear that she was sticking to a set power as she wound her way smoothly up the hill. By contrast Chrissy Radon and several of the others were quicker on the climb but clearly paid for it later on, as Shaw won in 59'20 by over three minutes! Radon was second and Jane Kilmartin third at nearly five minutes. Our Lowenna was 25th in a very decent 1:14:36. There's room for improvement but that's not bad going for someone who had a serious accident earlier this year.

My turn

I was off at 3:10 so plenty of time to partake of some sandwiches at the HQ, a cup of coffee, a milkshake and anything else I could find in my bad. OK so you do get hungry before these events.

The start was in the town centre and we had a start ramp, a jazz band and even a closed road for the first bit. Have a look at the pics here to get a flavour of it. There are a couple of pics of me on Page 4

Off the ramp and with a twisty downhill start it was easy to pick up speed. I hit 60 before it was time to rein it in for the corner at the bottom of the hill, which led straight into a 7% climb. Change down, do not drop chain(!), try to keep myself from getting too excited, appreciate the cheering of Liz, Low and Mark on the hill and settle in.

Once at the top I picked up speed again, and was quite surprised at how quick it was into the headwind on what were apparently tiny downhill sections. I think the fact that the course was well sheltered from the wind helped, plus I was probably giving it a little too much gas. It wasn't long before I reached the main downhill bit, a dead straight 2% drag that we'd have to come up at the end. That was fun as I could just wind it up and relax, knowing the first and most tricky part of the course was behind me. Annoyingly I had to hit the brakes at the bottom as there was a car turning right ahead of me and riders coming up the other way, but that was only worth a few seconds or so.

Then it was up a two stage climb into Highampton. I thought I was going well until I heard the rush of a disk wheel next to me and my minute man, Andrew Griffiths, flew past me on the second climb. I was a bit shocked but I know he's a good rider (U23 national champ) and would have started quite hard. He quickly pulled away and I thought that was the last I'd see of him, but as we came into Highampton I could see I was gaining on him again. There was a short and very wet descent after the town and I picked up even more time, eventually deciding to overtake him a few miles before the turn.

He was having none of that and quickly re passed me, although I did wonder whether his early efforts were starting to take their toll and I might take him on the return leg. It was not to be. I had him hovering about 50m ahead of me until we got to Highampton coming back, then he just shot off and put 20 sec into me like it was nothing. That was actually a bit better from my point of view as I could concentrate on what I was doing.

The last drag was fun. We had a bit of a tailwind but it was nearly 5km at 2%. Full gas time. There were some flatter sections in it that I used to recover, but for the most part it was give it everything. I passed Liz, Mark and Low at the pub halfway up and they gave me another cheer, which was nice! Liz even took some video, which I have secured worldwide distribution rights for:



Once at the top it was flat out for another three minutes to the finish. It's hard finishing on a downhill as you feel a bit cheated somehow. I think I managed to expend my available energy though. And overall I managed the course fairly well considering I'd not pre-ridden it.

That was it. I rolled back to the HQ, packed the car, got changed, grabbed the all important bit of cake and cuppa tea and then wandered over to check the results. I knew I'd gone under 56 minutes (55'54) and a few people I chatted to seemed to think that was a decent time. But I didn't know so I started from the back of the field and checked every rider on the result board, counting any who had beaten me (I knew Griffiths had of course). Thankfully there were only a couple on page 2 who were quicker, and these I expected to be.

When I got to page 1, the top seeds, I was surprised at how many - and who - had gone slower. And by how much. Top 10 was the main goal of the season and I was at 6 when I got to Bottrill, Holton and Hutch. I was surprisingly quicker than Holton and was even more surprised at how close I was behind Bottrill (1'42) and Hutch (2'18). I learned later that Hutch had dropped his chain that probably cost him 30-40sec but still, it was better than I'd hoped for. And Bottrill was interesting: he's been putting more time into me in the Rudy Projects than that, but I managed to pull some back in the National.

I realised I was eighth, saw Liz and suddenly got the shakes, spilling my tea in the process!! Luckily the chocolate cake was unharmed. It was a pretty nice moment and you don't get that very often.

Power: tick. Not quite a PB but close enough.
Pacing: tick
Position: tick

Onwards and forwards. Next up: a test ride on the national 50 course this weekend, followed by the national 50 a week later.

U7B postcript

I did manage to break my 20'30 on the U7B 10 mile course a couple of weeks ago. 20'27 to be precise, on a pretty windy day. That is a tough course to ride fast.