Main Course - National '10'

Training bike 'Lloydy'

Traditionally the National 10 Mile Time trial is the first big event of the 'Testing' season but this year its at the tail end and on the fastest course in the country or a version of it, the powers that be decided for reasons of their own to turn it off the fast dual carriageway and do the last mile along a bumpy B road so that it can finish near the headquarters, this will entail riders to negotiate a slip road a turn and a roundabout (together) when coming to the end of their ride so should be interesting. My last four rides on the traditional version of this course 20:08, 20:07 last season 20:13 and 20:08 this season so while I am informed that I have not experienced it under 'Superfast' conditions (apparently) they have been consistently fast. Now when I saw the National was going to be the tail end of the season a month or so before the World Championships my major objective of the year I planned to target the event as the start of the build up to the main course.

Oldskool style (and time) 23:38 (Pic Taceys Photos)

By way of preparation I had a full Bank Holiday of riding, first the local Leicester Forest CC '10' on A46 Six Hills. and then the VTTA National '25' at Newmarket on the Sunday early! They had tried to run this earlier in the season and it was cancelled half way completed by one of those torrential rainstorms in June. I had not entered the original event, this was to be a complete re-run.

Winner - Matt Sinclair 19:46

I rode a single fixed in both events my steel 'David Lloyd' (Lloyd'y), a modest 92" on my training bike with 'non aero' as there was a Road bike prize and I did not want to stuff my legs, it was important to get two hard rides without overdoing it as this would be my first back to back racing of the season. The only race wheels I have for the Saturday are over 30 years old 28 spoke Campag SF, my best track wheels in the day, elliptical spokes and super-light Argent 10 rims (can you feel the nostalga?), the front tyre (a Clement No6) still shellacked on (Google it!) for that real Oldskool experience. Advanced in their day but would I be able to compete with geared riders on their carbon aero road biked and wheels (No Disc or Tri bars allowed)

'Bands' get an outing

I wanted to change the bars and stem to get a better racing position (on the drops!) but the stem stuck fast, I did a nice warm-up on the rollers and it felt great that gear spinning around at 110 RPM. The race however was another thing, strong cross-winds made it tough both ways on the DC section, some were having problems with their deep rims, not me on my 'skinny' Mavics. I was off number 50 so I knew I would be caught by David Mead (Hinckley CRC) who usually beats me by half a minute or so in the Tuesday evening 10's but without the aero aids he was on me at half distance. To be fair I struggled in the conditions and did not get into my riding even though I was not over-geared and even the fast last 3 miles was a struggle, my time 23:38 only good enough for half way down the 100 rider field but I did manage to get third on the Road bike event and got my entry back, so a result of sorts I don't think I could have bothered the winner Matt Sinclair (Lutterworth) 19:46 by a second from Brett Harwood (Terry Wright RC)


On the Sunday I rode my Pursuit/Fixed Time Trial bike an alloy Cervelo SL which is 'Super Lite'  it comes in only 80 grams over the UCI minimum weight for bikes and makes a lovely 'stiff' TT bike and this was the first time this year I've stepped the gear up to 106" (56 x 14). The conditions for the 6.30 start were not ideal (cold, windy and early!) at least I was off in the last half hour (125) and had time for a 10 mile warm up on the roads this time as the organisers did not want riders disturbing the locals with Turbo's or Roller's at this un-earthly hour.

VTTA 'NuSkool' (Pic Kimroy)

It was a bit of a struggle going out, I could see I was not handling the uphill sections on the bigger gear and then not able to take advantage of the downhill until the way back when I got into my stride and managed a 30mph last five mile split (9:47) But I'd lost too much over the rest of the ride my dad's maxim "You only ever loose time!" ringing in my ears, still 53:30 good enough for 10th overall but only 16th on VTTA Standard (+14:56) Defending Champion Rob Pears (Pro Cycling) went fastest 49:46 at only a year younger than my 25 years but could not match the 'Old Guys' and 6th on Std +18:18. Local 84 year old Eric Marsh (Cycles Uno) +22:11 was the winning plus (1:03:21) over a minute ahead of Scot Derek Stewart (Deeside Thistle) a mere youngster at 78 with 58:22 but Brian Sunter (Condor RC) 54:33 at 71 only good enough for third +20:03

These are the times you need to win at this level, Rob Pears would have to break Competition Record to win today, on a slower/harder course where he is on the roads longer and the 'Old Geezers' suffer more power loss than the younger man they are clear winners even though the Standards have been adjusted (from their 1943 original) in the past few years to allow the younger man to be more competitive as riders are better even though they are getting older.

So the National '10' is this Sunday and I'm off just before 2.00pm No 55 of the 150 man field (Juniors and Ladies at Alcester) so that means there are 95 riders faster than me at the present time (or the time of entering, rider No 2 did a 19:11 in the Swift Charity '10' on the Championship course last week!) so a place in the top 50 could be considered a good one. I would still like to break Roger Hammonds club record 19:49 but that would require half a mile per hour improvement in speed to shave off the twenty odd seconds (two a mile!) needed to go from my personnel best. I would like to be within two minutes of the winner, the last time I managed that of last man Michael Hutchinson was 2010 on the windiest day I have ever raced and that too was on the V718, he just scraped a 30mph ride with 19:57 and I did 21:34 so maybe I should wish for tough conditions but that would mean my ambition for the club record would go out the window and it seems like I have been trying to attain that for most of the ten years since I came back to racing

The march of time

If you look at my times over that time, there have been a few 'wobbles' but I have steadily got faster over the years, despite the encroaching age I still feel I can do it. Roger was a 21 year old recently crowned World Champion and had all the same aero advantages that we have today (aero bars, helmet and disc wheel) but had to negotiate the six roundabouts on the Rusper course (twice) to achieve the feat. I think he was studying at Brunel University when he was racing in the club, going over to Belgium to race in the summer months and I do remember him and Steve Gowar riding (& winning) the Divisional Road Race Championships around Lingfield in SWRC colours circa 1993. I however am also a newly crowned World Champion and when I saw him at the BC dinner where he was being invested into the 'Hall of Fame' I had a quite word with him and shook his hand hoping a bit of Hammond magic would rub off.  o7ò

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Middle Season Blues

Its been a few weeks since my last post, the Tour has come and gone, so has the Commonwealth Games where there were some notable successes for British riders as the Tour was a graveyard.

'British' podium at the Commonwealth Games

I have been plugging away, after doing 600 miles in early July mostly with panniers in a bit to strengthener my condition as last year when I started to ramp up my intensity I felt that I lacked the depth of fitness to carry out all my sessions and you just need to do them all with confidence to have good moral
I have carried on racing even though it has been terrifically hot, for one notable event the Melton Olympic '25' on a new stretch of the A46 South of Newark it was so hot riders were packing for lack of a bottle and dizzy spells (only sensible on a DC course) I nearly always take a bottle (even in 10's) if only to spray on my legs but having done that here at half distance I was wishing I still had not as I ran out and was desperately thirsty by the end, Jan Bassett of the Zenith came to my rescue after the event.
For all that suffering I was rewarded with 55:02 and I cannot believe I went so fast as the combination of heat and wind seemed to go on alot longer. Adam Gascoigne (Pedal Power) who went on to 7th in the next weeks National '25' won it 50:15 beating local rival Matt Sinclair (Lutterworth RT) by just over 10 seconds but the latter admitted that the inability to fit a bottle on his TT bike was his undoing.

Staple of my season the Hinckley CRC evening '10'

Another hot day the week before was the Shaftsbury '50' on the Newmarket A14/A11 course, I've broken the club record in this event several times on equally hot days but this day there was a bit too much breeze and I still had miles in my legs that I was not getting the benefit of and although I went through half way in 52:32 I like everybody else suffered in the second half and I ended up with 1:49:22 a good time for my BAR but something I hope I can improve on although there are only a couple of chances left in the season. I've missed most of the decent fast events by starting to race later in the season, It's a price I have to pay for wanting to be on top form in October.
Winner of the Shaftsbury was a new name to me Matt Smith (Team Velocity) with a 30mph+ ride 1:39:45 (48:31) from a comeback man some people may remember Gary Dighton (Primera Sport) 1:43:25 (49:53). A slightly worrying sign was top riders packing at half distance when they saw they were not going to beat their current seasons best, not the sort of thing that used to happen, I suppose its a sign how we have become obsessed with times rather than wins
A few days before I'd ridden a midweek City RC (Hull) '10' on the course being used for the National '10' at the end of August, It required a 200 mile round trip but I needed a banker time in the current season to get in the National and even though It was a bit of a windy evening, thirty seconds slow by all accounts and when you beat riders by 20 seconds that did sub 20's the week before but I never seem to get a break on this course. I still managed 20:13. I did not go hard enough on the way out as I listened to all the talk of 'WIND' and in the end my 9:53/10:20 splits were good and I was only 50 seconds off the winner Adam Gascoigne again with 19:23
I followed this up a couple of weeks later in the Bridlington '10' with 20:08 on the same course but this time in more difficult conditions and my form was beginning to show as my 9:28/10:40 splits just to different to make a coherent effort around the whole effort. Winner this time Andy Jackson (Team Swift) was absolutely flying taking nearly two minutes out of me with 18:15 (to go with 18:54/18:37/18:18 done on this course this year) making him the fifth fastest rider of all time and the second favorite for the National. He rides this course allot and It shows that when you know the course you can reap the benefit. Dave Crawley (Wrexham RC) was half a minute back in second (6th in the National '25) I won the 50+ Vets prize though

The new Herzog & de Meuron extension to the Tate

Of course I rode the Epsom '10' with some of my fellow racing members at the beginning of August, I was not feeling myself and getting up at 4.30 to ride an effort like a ten is not the best. I was lucky to have a later start, Richard Gordon had to be on the line an hour before but still managed 23:45 even though he'd been out for a run the night before (perfect preparation...........NOT!) I did a couple of laps of Richmond Park after spending the day walking around London and the Matisse at the Tate so maybe not the best preparation for me either.
Matt Scholes rode strongly for a PB 22:13 and Karl Haliday on a borrowed bike also PB'ed with 22:54 but our target of the Club team ten mile record which has stood since 1981 eluded us by half a minute (1:06:08) my 21:01 good enough for 8th and a course PB but I would have liked to go a couple of seconds faster to keep my 20 minute run for the season going. Conall Yates (In Gear) won it with 20:06 so I have to see how I go against him in the National but I did have the pleasure of beating his dad and my old adversary from the 80's Christian Yates by a couple of seconds and take the Vets prize o7ò