Rossendale Hilly 11 - Season Splutters to a Start!

One year on from my first TT, and back to Bolton-by-Bowland it was. The weather seemed like it was going to hold off, until I opened the car door upon arrival and down came the rain! Fortunately it didn't last too long, although it was enough to turn the farmers muck on the roads into a muddy soup. A light wind was blowing, but overall conditions were good for a February day in Lancashire!

Renowned as I am for poor preparation, this time...well, this time was no different! Being in the midst of the squash season, I've been complementing 4/5 squash sessions with 2/3 sessions on the rollers per week, and a grand total of 4 rides on the road since September! These roller sessions have been more geared towards the upcoming crits at the MK Bowl, (and further afield... details to be revealed shortly!), but I thought any training is good training right?! Wrong. Cranking out suitable watts at 110 RPM for crit prep doesn't equate to good TT'ing it would appear! I also managed to overtrain just under 2 weeks ago, leading to a week of feeling awful, and not being able to sleep this week. I was going to DNS, but I figured I'd already come 250miles North, another 40 wouldn't hurt!

Another undesirable prelude was a problem with CTT affiliation. It turned out when I came to enter, that LBRCC weren't affiliated - the renewal form hadn't been sent. I held off until the last possible day, but it wasn't processed, so with hours to go I decided to join another club online! I opted for albaRosa CC, based in Leeds for a number of reasons. Firstly, I'd heard and read great things about the club, which although not even in existence when I left Leeds 4 years ago, now boasts hundreds of members! I thought at worst, it would be good to show support for the club. Also, through my recent job search I have strongly considered moving back to Leeds, so I thought this would be good potential prep if I were to do so.

On the positive side, I did take the rollers to the race, meaning I actually warmed up at a TT for the first time ever!

Pain, pain, and misery...
Photo: Ellenndan Flickr

Anyway, excuses out of the way,
on to the race itself!

It transpired that at no. 20, I was seeded. I felt bad, as this was purely a result of my 21.40 on the F11/10 last year, when I was training, and wholely unrepresentative of current squash season lack of form! Especially as super strong junior Adam Hartley was off no.22, and would essentially tear up the course. I digress. I came with a race plan this year, the most important point being not to overcook it on the first kick at about 0.5km! Of course, in the heat of the moment (according to Strava) I hit it even harder than last year! Not helped by my minute man being visible at the top, and an inability to resist the chase!

The following drag was ok, a little slower than planned, as my legs didn't seem to want to turn particularly quickly! The downhill to the turn was a welcome change, but the muddy wet conditions - roads more like Belgium than Bolton-by-Bowland - left me hesitant to go full gas. 4 rides in 6 months doesn't do too much for confidence in bike handling!

Reaching the turn, a gale seemed to appear, for arguably the hilliest section of the course. BBC weather states light wind, but all cyclists know that one must multiply those figures by at least 5 for the actual effect, 10 if you're having a slow day! My lungs were bursting here, I just didn;t seem to be able to get the power down consistently, and as such I was frantically trying spinning, grinding, tri bars, drops...nothing seemed to work! I should have just stuck with one really, certainly inefficient swapping. Finally, the last little kick appeared, at which point Adam Hartley glided past me. I knew he'd be on for a 24:XX, but I was hoping to get onto the final 7Km drag before he caught me. I managed to stay close on the downhill to the turn, a benefit of having the drops on the road bike, but at the turn, the TT bike prevailed and off he shot.

The final stretch is more or less downhill...on paper. On bike, it certainly doesn't feel like that with constant undulation. More mud and wet conditions led me to be a bit too hesitant on the corners, a few more road rides and I think my handling confidence will return. Still the legs felt leaden, but I managed to grind it out to the seemingly never-appearing final turn, cursing my decision to start racing without training! Timekeepers in sight, I mustered the strength for a sprint finish. I actually hit 56km/h during this, good indicator for the RR in a fortnight, and probably the most positive thing to take from today!

I crossed the line for 33rd out of c. 100 in 28:21, an improvement of over a minute from last year, but I was a little disappointed. I was hoping for 27.XX at least, and I reckon I could get a short 26, maybe long 25 in the midst of the season. Though after some reflection, I decided it wasn't too bad without training.

The runaway winner was Adam Hartley in 24:07, and last years winner Craig Battersby second with 24:34. Fellow albaRosa riders did excellently, coming 4th and 12th, with another unfortunately puncturing, and still not coming last despite a treacherous ride on a flat! We came 3rd in the team comp, so I guess turning up had one benefit of team filler!

Positives
- Slow, but an improvement from last year at similar stage.
- Decent sprint finish bodes well for the start of my road season in a fortnight!
- Although I didn't utilise them, the new clip on bars will be better with a bit of trial and error position wise.
- Served as team filler with the misfortune of another clubmate!

Negatives
- Slow!!!
- Unsurprisingly, 2/3 hours a week on the rollers isn't good for sustained big gear efforts...hopefully better for crits, which has been the main aim of the sessions.
- Bike position needs tweaking, riding outside seems to dictate a different position on the bike to the rollers.

Next up: Back South and back in LBRCC Team Green for the start of the road season at the MK Bowl on March 14th! Time to start my 2nd season and hopefully an assault towards 2nd Cat!!!

First Time Trial – Rossendale Hilly 11 Bolton-by-Bowland

Last Saturday was my first race, a hilly time trial on the outskirts of the Forest of Bowland. Despite being well and truly in the North, the weather was nothing short of majestic, with base layers being removed left right and centre. As it was my first race, I set out to arrive about and hour before the start, hoping to drive at least part of the course. However, when I got there it was already starting to get busy, and the lanes were even narrower than they had looked when i street-viewed the course on google maps, so I gave it a miss.

By the time I’d collected my number and set the bike up, I had about 40 minutes, time to warm up! Many people were on turbo trainers, which had crossed my mind when packing to drive up North, but space was an issue, and I didn’t know if it would look odd, evidently not! That said, there were a fair few people riding around the local lanes to warm up, which I joined in with. I didn’t want to risk missing my starting spot, so I probably only did 20 mins warm up, some high cadence stuff to get rid of 240 miles of driving, then some general riding with some sprints. Not ideal, but I was feeling pretty good.

I bumped into  friend on the starting line, and after a quick chat 2.25pm was upon us and it was time to start! The sensation of someone holding you up on the bike was odd at first, I had visions of falling, but a firm push of prevented that, and off I went. I knew the course went up for a few km from the off, but there was a steepish kick for a few hundred metres which I hadn’t anticipated, and I hit it a little hard for the beginning, gasping for air as it evened out a little. It wasn’t too bad though, and half a minute later I was fine. Not dissimilar from a tough first rally in a squash match, so nothing I couldn’t handle! I digress.

No TT bike or aero bars, but the race wheels felt great!

The next couple of km went gently uphill at 2% or so, and as I neared the crest I saw my minute-man! Visions of finishing last vanished and I burst forward to catch him. Potentially unwise, but with a downhill section to follow I think it worked out ok. As I had’nt had chance to set the clip-on aero bars up, I got down low on the hoods, using scientific reasoning that the drops widen the frontal area – plus I find I can generate more power. As the first corner loomed, unbelievably I saw my 2 minute man ahead, although this time I resisted sprinting to catch up, and a hilly section followed. It was also at this point I got overtaken, although as we hit the climb I was matching pace, a demonstration of how effective TT bikes are on the flat/downhill.

I caught my 2 minute man on the crest of the last main hill, approx halfway round the course. I put a bit more effort into this climb than I maybe should, but a sharp hairpin requiring slow speed provided respite. The downhill second half of the course proved a little more undulating than I expected, but I think that suited me, using my preferred out of the saddle position every so often. I felt to be pushing on the limit, and despite expecting to be overtaken again, it never came. I was slightly taken by surprise by a nasty 5/6% kick, which sent me really into the red, but I was able to recover quickly for a sprint finish to the finish, which was several hundred metres away.

Riding back to the village, I was gasping for air, unable to speak as I got back to base! Thus, I think I probably rode it well, on the limit without exceeding it or cracking at any point. I aimed to break 30mins, which I was kind of confident I had. The times were soon up in the village hall, and I found out I had in fact done 29:27, an average speed of 34mph. Not quick in the grand scheme of things, but for a first attempt on a hilly course on a road bike, not too bad I don’t think. I reckon knowing the course I could knock possibly 2 minutes off next time at a push, certainly 1-1.5mins.

The winning time was 25:04, so I was less than 4.30 back. It is estimated that a TT position can save approx. 5 mins over a 25mile TT, so subtract 2 minutes and I was only a couple of minuted off the pace. I’m not saying this would necessarily be guaranteed, but science doesn’t lie! In theory anyway! If nothing else, there were some incredibly expensive bikes there, so cost:time wise I think I did OK!
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable ride, compounded by tea and cake in the village hall afterwards! I’ll definitely be signing up for more soon, with better training and a tactical plan to boot.

Things to take away for next time:
-   Take the turbo to warm up, easier to do and no risk of getting lost/puncturing
-   Drive (or ideally ride!) the course before to get a proper idea of the topography
-   Don’t get over excited when catching people!
-   Spend vast amount of money on a sleek TT steed!