Power to the people

19:57 PB

 Power meters seem to be all the rage for fast times these days, giving the riders an indication of the power necessary to optimise their training and racing performances. I told myself I'd look into it when I no longer managed a personnel best during the season in a time trail. It looks like my money is safe for another year as I scraped a PB by the smallest of margins in the evening City RC (Hull) '10' on the V718, a long way to go for an evening race and the last one I had a late start and it was cold, I got back home after midnight so an early start just after 19.00 was also a boon for a bit of heat still in the day
I'd only done 23:11 in the previous evenings Hinckley club event so the expectation of going 3 minutes faster seemed an impossible prospect, but this course is so unusual, fast it seems under any conditions as my local course so slow. After a modest first five miles in 10.00 dead  I stormed home in 9:57 and a nervous wait to see if the timekeeper gave me the benefit of the single second.

I had a trips to different sides of the country next, first the Shaftsbury '50' at Newmarket with an overnight stay with friends in Bedford. It garnered a hard ride on a terrifically windy day. I was inside 53 minutes at half distance but the slog back saw me drop to a disappointing 1:50:46 as I'd eased off in the first half to give myself a better chance to battle the wind in my effort to negative split more of my rides. On this day I was well wide of the mark.

VTTA '25' dashboard fare

The next weekend required a visit to South Wales for the VTTA National '25' necessitating another overnight stop in nearby Neath. I rode down the course on the Saturday evening where Michael Hutchinson set competition record 45:46 in 2012 and Matt Bottrill went 3 seconds faster two years later. It was a lovely breathless evening warm and I touched 40mph on the start hill so I was expecting a great event with all the top over 40's in the country. I was alarmed and dismayed to be greeted with strong winds and lashing rain when I arose the next morning

VTTA '25' wind & rain (Photo - Kimroy)

I was off early at No 10 so I was waiting outside the HQ with the organiser when the slightly worse for wear local opened up at 6.45 swearing he was doing us a favour, 'it' not having to be open for another 15 minutes! Some of the locals had already decided not to start but us far travelling guests to this lovely corner of the country had to make good on our commitment to the cause. After helping to setup a few tables and lay out the numbers I was off to get ready parking at the finish as I figures I'd need to get into the car as soon as I finished as the temperature still not above ten degrees. The only problem with this a five mile ride to the start, half of it up the start hill in a torrential downpour. I made it to the start with a couple of minutes to spare having given myself an adequate 25 minutes but I was blowing a bit but I was WARM! Alarmingly only one rider in the top ten had started, the race was a bit of a blur as my visor fogged and the motionless trees that lined the lush valley and had been a picture the night before were a streaked and cloudy mass. I finished with 54:15 good enough for 12th on Standard (+14:24) and 9th fastest, longer travelling even than me Derek Stewart (Deeside Thistle) won on Standard so the Champion with a plus of +20:26 and late starting  Brian Sunter (Condor RC) second once again +18:58 with a handy 56:11 at 72 years Gavin Hinxman (Kettering CC) who had travelled down on the morning fastest in 51:09 and third on Std +16:17

VTTA '25' Hinxman Stewart and Sunter Team (Bynea CC)

Although I did not find the roads busy or dangerous the result sheet showed only 61 from 157 entrants had started. a record number of DNS for my racing career

I was in London in early August for the Epsom '10' on the course at Rusper back half a minute on last year in similar conditions 21:47 not able to turn around a 11:18 first half despite the 10:28 second half. I think I was still fast asleep, after another early rise at 4am. I went back along the course after I'd finished to give fellow SWRC rider Fidel Gonzales a shout to the line and he recorded a PB 26:10. Event won by Simon McNamara (South Down Bikes) 20:24

LFCC '10' last corner 21:50

Next morning was the VTTA National '50' on the A3 in the Surrey hinterland, Alan joined me this time (4am again!) but this time it was foggy and cold and I needed some warming leg rub before heading off Brow Hill to do two laps between Petersfield and Liphook. Despite a very even ride over the whole distance I found it difficult to get going 54:39 at half way as the sun gave a bit of muted heat away and I struggled to find any rhythm. Maybe I should stick to all fixed or gears as the chopping and changing between styles of racing play havoc with your pedaling tempo and you find yourself unable to settle. I ended up with a slight improvement for the season 1:49:56 Winner was Brian Sunter 1:50:57 (+44:46) a National record for a 72 yr old. Kevin Tye (Velorefiners) recorded a spectacular 1:40:57 (+40:24) fastest and second on Std.

I have been building my fitness towards the end of the season so the National '10' promoted by my second claim club Hinckley CRC on my local Wolvey course at the end of August is an obvious choice to judge my fitness for the Worlds in October. I ride their Tuesday evening '10' most weeks for training and I've been trying to beat my times on here from a few seasons ago. My best ever 22:01 August 2011 had seemed a long way off but in recent weeks I'd got within 20 seconds of this and then last week 22:02 On my computer I had 22:00.6 but on this occasion the timekeeper took the second away so I will have all to play for in doing my first sub 22 minute ride on the a course that should give a more accurate position of riders in the country than the super fast 'V' The event closed on 21:00 and I'm off number 62 as opposed to 55 last year (riders go off in descending order of time) o7ò

22:02 on the National course

Hull (City) RC '10' Result here

VTTA Nat '25' Result here

VTTA Nat '50' Result here

Leicester Forest CC '10' Result here

National '10' Start Sheet