This year I raced on my own and was keen to start the season off with a good ride. The training has been going pretty well since January (started a new job) and my turbo numbers were about where I could have best hoped they could be. The biggest incentive has been that the numbers had been going up consistently since January, but my starting point this year was probably the lowest for a few years. Anyway, I hoped a good ride was on the cards.
The race itself was a bit of a shock to the system - firstly, being back on the (new - see below) TT bike is good due to the speed you can go for the same effort as a road bike. Secondly, I had forgotten how quick the HR just shoots up and then has to just stay up for the whole ride. Mine averaged 172, but maxed out at 180 in the last 100m.
The course is basically split up in to three sections in my mind, you start with a gentle bit of climbing for about 10 miles and then you gradually descend for the next 15 or so. Part of that descent contains one very fast section where I think I hit over 70kph riding on the extensions - hitting a pot hole would have not been very pretty. The main part of the 'sporting' course is however all saved for the last 5 miles. The climb from Marlow back up to Freith is by no means easy and is also probably the last thing that you would like at the end of a TT. To really finish things off there is also a short sharp climb to the finish.
I felt I did a good ride however and it transpired that my 1:09:25 was good enough for the win on the day and also good enough to put over two minutes between myself and second.
Link to RTTC roundup
Garmin Output
