Bank Holiday Saturday witnessed the first running of the Eton Half Olympic and this year it was to be the event that would decide who would hold the Sprint Race crown for 2009. I was last year's winner so I had to try my best to keep hold of the trophy, even though my run training has been pretty close to non-existent this season.
There was some tough competition for me, Tim and Andy, have both beaten me in some races of recent and I had also perhaps not prepared in the best fashion. On Friday night I was in Regent's park doing very hard 1min intervals for about an hour - hence, my legs weren't feeling too great come the morning of the race. Still, my main concern at the moment is the National 25 in a couple of weeks and I can't miss any bike sessions for anything as I lead up to it, this unfortunately means just training through this race and Crystal Palace Triathlon next week.
I had decided that the only way I was going to stand a chance in this race would be to swim quite hard so that I could at least try and make it out on to the bike in the lead. From there, I planned to race a bit harder than normal, not flat out, but a decent effort to see if I could build any form of a gap. Thankfully, my plan all came together. I led for most of the swim and managed to exit in 10:46 which is not too bad, not great though based on my training.
Still, I was in the lead though and I was out on the bike, this time riding my new Ceepo Venom which I am using as part of the Team's sponsorship. This was the first time that I had ridden the bike though so I didn't know what to expect. Although I am not as low as I would like, the frame is really sturdy. I quickly realised on the bike that I was managing to put some time in to my nearest opponent Tim - I could not see him on the few occasions I turned my head anyway.
Eventually, I heard a mate shout out that I had about 35 seconds as I headed out on to the run. I thought to myself that, going on my current fitness, that was never going to be enough. Tim is a good runner, and worse still, Andy is an amazing runner. They would all be hunting me down now. At the turn on the first lap it looked like Tim was really close. I thought I had done enough to hold of Andy, but it looked like Tim was catching fast. At the turn with 2.5k to go, I was told I had 25s. I thought to myself, I've only lost 10s in 2.5k and I am starting to feel better, I may actually do this. So, I put my head down and worked a bit harder, all the time feeling the lack of running in the legs.
Still, the last 400m were quite nice, a quick turn around and I knew I had done enough. Tim was too far back and Andy had not bridged the gap. So, that was it, I get to hold on to the Sprint trophy for another year. Paula also managed to win the ladies event, so we'll have a nice set of his and hers trophies.
At the start of this season, and in conjunction with my aim to do some more cycling this season, I got myself signed up for a 3 stage road race in Wales along with 3 other Dynamos who were going to make up our little team. The main reason for this was undoubtedly the fact, nestled in amongst the road racing, there was going to be a team time trial - how could I resist.
When we arrived, we already knew that we were going to be in for a weekend of rather unpleasant weather, there certainly wasn't much n the way of sunshine in any of the weather reports anyway. The first stage was a 45 mile, 2 lap, race around some of the local Welsh countryside. Things started off at an okay pace, but it was clear from the outset that things were not going to be as easy as we counted on. Our afternoon of scanning the riders names and typing these into the Time Trials results pages had elicited only a handful of contenders, albeit, we thought that we could beat most of them. If there was one thing that I learnt this weekend, it is this, one's ability to TT is in no way a reflection on their ability to road race. By the time we were starting the second lap, I had been run ragged, I had seen a couple of chaps fall off right next to me and I had heard about 3 people puncture...the wet, windy conditions were taking there toll on the pack.
Still, I managed to hang on to the pack all the way until the finishing straight which rose sharply and, as a result, I was spat out the back of the back with about 500m to go. I lost about 15 seconds on the pack and hence I was going into the TTT quite far down the field. Still, my time to shine was only a couple of hours away. Also, as an added bonus, we had a team member in the breakaway for the day and he was now in second place. A good TTT and we could have the yellow jersey overnight.
We had reccied the TTT course the night before so I knew that it was going to be a tough 9.5 miles of racing.. The course was eitherup or down - not great for me, but still, was looking forward to it. As soon as we started, I knew that I was going to have a good ride. My legs actually did not feel that bad from the morning's efforts so it was just gonna be a case of hammering it out as hard as you can for 20 odd minutes. I think that I may have been feeling a bit better than the rest of the team during this one as well, on a couple of occasions, I had to slow down to let them get back in the slipstream and I also tried my best to make use of my bigger gearing to get us down the hills quicker. I was feeling good though so just tired to maintain as high a pace as possible without causing the group to split. The last hill up to the finish was quite brutal, but it seemed a lot better compared to the morning's efforts. We crossed the line in 21:54 and managed to beat the next best team by over 40 seconds. We had managed to secure the yellow jersey and we also now had a 1,2 and 3 in the general classification going into the last stage.....we quite literally had it all to lose.
Over the course of the last stage, we did in fact do just that...we all lost positions on our 1,2,3, we lost the yellow jersey and we lost a place on the team GC. The second road stage was hilly, for me anyway. I had decided to be near the front at the bottom of the first climb but even this was not enough to get me to the top and still be in the main bunch. I had dropped off the back and then the second little rise after that ensured that I was not going to get back on without some really hard work. Thankfully, a few others who had been dropped joined up and we set about trying to get back on. I did most of the work and we did get close, but another push by the pack on one of the hills and they were out of sight, never to be seen again. The next 20 miles were hard work, generally riding on my own and feeling pretty miserable about having lost the pack. All of my efforts to get back on really came to the fore in the last 3 or so miles as I quite literally had nothing left to give, quite appropriately, it had started to chuck it down as well....the stage was set for a miserable finish. I had dropped 8 minutes on the pack and I had gone from 3rd to 39th in one day.
Still, looking back now, it was a great weekend. I think I have realised that I am better off sticking to the dual carriageways for now though. Maybe I'll spend some time in the winter trying to learn how to ride up hills. As a team we did win quite a lot of money anyway, Martin finished second overall, we had 4th with James. We won the TTT so had winnings for that and our second place in the team prize just increased the prize purse even more.
When I woke up on Sunday, I could not believe my luck...it actually looked like I was going to get to do a time trial in good conditions after all. The sun was out and the there was no wind, about as good as it gets really. Today was going to be a team time trial though and the other two members of the team had shown that they were on form - we all guessed it was going to be a fast ride, we just didn't quite guess how fast it would be.
Before we got there, we had all made a mental note of the course record. This stood at 49:33 and although this was recorded as a solo effort, it was always a worthy challenge. Basically, in the world of time trialling, there are very few opportunities to break 50 minutes so this only served to increase our anticipation, especially after we drove round the course and we realised that this was my dream course, pretty flat with loads of dual carriageway.
Before we started it was decided to not go out too hard, we wanted to save ourselves a bit for the last 10 miles where we thought that a lot of teams would lose some time. The plan worked well and I started out feeling comfortable. We were on the dual carriageway in no time and then started to get more organised and working hard to keep the train moving as fast as possible. Both Paul and I had set our Garmins up with a virtual partner doing a 50 minute ride and we knew from early on that we were up on that. At about half way, we were on level terms with the course record but we still had a drag up to the turn but then a good 6 miles of 35-40mph to take us to the finish. When we started the downhill section, we were up and then the time just kept on growing and growing....we knew by this point that we were going under 49 and that the course record was gonna be smashed.
We eventually crossed the line with a 48:43. I think that works out as just shy of 31mph!!.
When we rolled back into the HQ, the time had already been posted on the board and it was cool to have people coming to you to congratulate you on the ride. We had beaten some very stiff competition, and beaten them by a fair margin as well. The second place team came in over a minute down on us...that doesn't sound like much, but that's more than half a mile at these speeds.
The Thames Turbo sprint race was going to make up my double header weekend with the TT on the Sunday and then this race on the Bank Holiday Monday. I wanted to do well here, but I knew that there was going to be some damage to the legs from yesterday's efforts. Still, this is only ever an hour of hard work, so I was hopeful of being able to sneak through it and get a good time.
My swimming is certainly improving with the number of sessions that I am doing with Camden Swiss Cottage Masters as I feel a lot more comfortable in the water now and a lot more powerful when I want to be. Still, in saying that, I was still dropped by about 10s from the person that went off in front of me and was being caught from behind. Still, I was not that bothered though, as long as I don't get caught really....that's the main aim.
I did actually record one of my fastest ever swim splits even though, I suppose I was helped with where my bike was racked on this occasion. Still, it was all going to plan when I got out on the bike. The conditions were perfect for riding and I quickly settled down in to what I thought was a good pace....I chose not to wear a watch at this race though, so had no idea of my speed etc.....perhaps a bit of a mistake actually as I probably should have been going a bit quicker. Still, the bike went okay and I managed to catch the guys who had all started the swim before me and one of my main competitors had not caught me from behind - things seemed to be going okay. The run was not great, in fact, I think that it is one of my slowest ever times. Without the watch and with the lack of recent run training, I suppose I had lost the feel for how fast I should be running. In the end, I did a 20:16 run when my best is a sub 19 last season.
In the end, my time of 59:05 was enough to secure me second place (again for the weekend), so pretty good really. The race is always good fun anyway. They even shot a short video on the day which will be used at a later stage for the club.
The West London CA 25 had been built up in my mind as 'the race' where I was going to smash my PB for 25 miles. I had mapped the course out on the web and discovered that the first 2 miles were downhill and that the rest was pretty flat - what more could a time trial rider wish for - it was a, in effect a 'ski-slope' course.
When I eventually got to the race, it was quickly very evident that the weather wasn't getting better, in fact, it seemed to be getting colder and windier as I hung around the start area setting the bike up etc. I was not overly bothered by the cold, but the wind was certainly something I did not want today. The weather report had said that it would be picking up and it certainly was doing that.
My start time eventually rolled round and I was off...quickly up to about 45mph as I flew down the 'ski-slope' start. It was only when I got to the bottom that I realised that today was not in fact going to be a great day. My legs had this weird fatigue which I didn't really understand. I can only now put it down to the fact that perhaps I did not recover properly after Lisbon. I had also done two hard rides during the week and then a long run and I think that the combined effect was that my legs were not going to be as helpful as I had hoped in terms of breaking through the 53 minute barrier.
In the end, I never really felt great for most of the course. I was going okay, don't get me wrong, it was just not one of those days where I was going to be able to really hammer out a good time. The wind was just never really anywhere, just felt like a crosswind the whole way.
Still, all excuses really....at the end of the day, it was not that bad a ride. I finished second behind a very respectable rider and even beat a local legend...albeit, I am not sure how much training he is doing etc.
