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

NNO 25 + SB 50

I had a couple of fast outings mid July while the 100th Tour was wending its way through France, the North Nott's Oly '25' I've ridden numerous times on fixed usually but this time I plumped for gears as I've not done much and I was wanting to get the best out of myself in the next week Shaftsbury '50'
Almost a repeat of last year when the long spell of dry weather was broken by thunder storms that fell early evening, gone are the days when a Saturday time trial was midday due to traffic count this part of the Great North Road is used in the early evening (first rider 5PM) so it was a long days wait (I did 20m in the AM & some Yoga) watching the Tour for inspiration. The first 30 or so riders were deluged to the point where the A1 was almost un-rideable and some competitors decided it was too dangerous but by the time I was off an hour later the rain had completely cleared up and the temperature dropped and all we were left with was damp roads to contend with.
I still did a good warm-up on the 'rollers' as my legs had been sore after doing my first Mallory Park evening criterium in two years on the Tuesday, I finished in the bunch and a bit of a shock to the system. The wind was a bit weird stirred up by the evening storms and I set out with the aim of not going too much into the red too early! 10:45 for my first (5m) split and then 11:02 and 11:20 as I negotiated the damp turn and then picked up a bit on the way back, as it was evidently faster 10:24 as you climb up to Newark and then 10:14 dropping down to finish at Sutton on Trent 53:46 about 30 seconds down on my usual for this course but good enough for 10th and only 2:30 off the winner's time Adam Gascoigne (Loughborough)
The next Saturday I have the Uber fast '50' on the Newmarket bypass and around (A14/A11) Last year this event was run off in almost perfect windless conditions but today we have a steady NW wind that will make the long 20 mile pull out to the turn at Red Lodge hard work and the heat is there to make it worse, I still see some riders with a bare 500ml bottle and some with none at all but I'm taking a full litre! (of water) and it can go on my legs if I think I don't need it.
The first ten miles out and home 21:57 does not look bad as I think anything inside 1:50 today will be a 'good job' so I have to average 22:00 for each ten mile section over the duration, my second split 23:34 is not so pleasant as the wind hampers my progress but I dare not put in too much for fear of overdoing it and having nothing for the return. After a while my legs get the hang of the conditions but my head still has to rule and the (out & home) third split 22:28 means I can let loose a bit as I now have a tail wind and the worst is out the way 19:58 is good work and pulls back the time lost on the two previous splits but I still have to do the final ten miles, (the same as the first) This means a hard final five miles but 21:41 gives me a time of 1:48:51 making a negative split of nearly 5 minutes as I was at the '25' point in 56:51 and then a nice round 52:00 for the second half. Just shows what you can make back if you hold your nerve, last year I was 53:04 to the turn and I suffered on the way back into the wind as I usually put everything into the first half but when you only have a limited amount of condition you have to be assiduous with it and on this occasion I think I played it right. Winner was a new name at this level Jon Wynn (Northover VT) 1:40:47 (52:10) from current BBAR Adam Topham (High Wycombe) 1:41:16 (52:54) and third 51 year old Kevin Tye 1:41:37 (53:28) winning the Vets prize with +38:50