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| Me at the finish, slightly sweaty |
Nine years since my previous time trial - time flies. What have I been doing?
I have not been idle; still cycling regularly, even racing in triathlons and Sportives and online Zwift.
But not the dreaded race of truth, the 10 mile time trial.
The start of course H10/10 is less than 15 minutes cycle from my house, but the circumstances and weather have always made it difficult to get to. No excuses today.
I leisurely made my way over, signed up and paid (£6 - that's inflation for you) and got number 11 just 25 minutes before the first rider start at 7pm.
I was hoping for a time of 26, maybe 27; I wasn't confident, and my backup idea was just to beat 30 minutes. At the line number 13 told me he was going for 25 minutes. If he passed me then I'd know I was outside 27. (Each rider goes off at one minute intervals, so number 13 woulod be two minutes behind me, breathing down my neck).
Pacing is difficult, and I think I was too slow in the early part of the ride, which is mostly downhill. I was overtaken within 5 minutes, by number 12, the eventual winner. Hawthorn Hill wasn't great, but I was going OK after that. Once again, in hindsight, I could have pushed harder, but I was trying to save myself.
Number 14 went past me next - he came 2nd overall. I was unlucky to have these two overtaking me and draining my morale.
As I approached the final bend, number 12 went past. So I was over 27 minutes in all probability. I was having some issues with my Garmin 1030 bike computer which had reset the lap at 8km so my mental calculations were a bit off (why Garmin, why?), so this was my first real indication of my time. I had to slow a little to avoid drafting him, and then I hit the finish line.
My Official time is 27.09.
I'm fairly happy with my return to TT. It's not good enough, but I can see scope for improvement (try harder) and in the next few weeks the course is H10/2, which suits me better. Onward and upward.
Results:
11th out of 16 riders - MaidenheadCC : Strava
