The ‘100’ is cursed. After the SCCU 100 in 2010 where I rode in trainers after forgetting my cycling shoes I didn’t think it could go much worse. Cue phone call at 6am: “the car won’t start”. *le sigh* Here we go again.

Thankfully Scherrit grabbed us a minicab pretty quick and we were on track to make the start in time. It was going to be tight so I was already changed when the cab arrived. Signed on at the HQ, filled pocket with gels while Scherrit and Mal prepped the bike and put numbers on. Rode to the start line with some guy who was on a 4 hour Sunday outing. Didn’t really warm up.

The first 1.5 hours went well. Pacing was pretty good save for a bit of toing and froing with another rider I decided to eventually try and drop.

Between 1.5 and 2 hours it all went pear shaped. Total glute failure. At the time I thought it might have been that I was riding too hard but it was most likely the 20mm bar height drop I’d finally got around to doing. On the road bike, going to midfoot meant dropping the saddle and bar height 20mm. We’d done the same to the TT bike save for the bar height drop. Not noticing any issues doing openers I’d left it. Big mistake. I couldn’t actually use the aerobars and even pedaling whilst on the start bars was excruciating. Instead of doing the sensible thing, stopping and trying to stretch out my glutes I rode a whole lap at about 20kph, pacing less than my 24hr TT average! I asked Mal for some ibuprofen which had helped during the 12hr with the same issue but we didn’t even have tools due to the rushed start so that was a no go.

By the time I’d got back to my team I was pissed off to say the least and the closest I’ve been to giving up in a race. I sat on the side of road and did some glute stretches, restarting a bit later to see if it had made a difference. Actually, it had and I was able to get back on the aerobars and even generate some power. 30 minutes later though the problem was back so I stopped with my team again and did some proper glute stretches – you know the really dignified ones with your arse in the air and your legs crossed like some kind of tantric yoga wizard. This lot did the trick and I was able to finish the race without stopping again, even making the same power as the first hour.

I don’t know my official time yet but I guess around 4:30. I was aiming for 4:10-4:15 and was on track for that at the half-way mark, actually PBing the 50mi distance in the same ride but after the total collapse in the middle it was nice enough to salvage a fairly lame 100mi PB.

Cycled the numbers back to the HQ and we had lunch at the Hen and Chicken Inn while waiting for a minicab back home.

Massive thanks once again to Scherrit and Malwina for giving up their Sunday to coax a whinging git back onto the road. You guys rock! 🙂

tl;dr

I set some PBs. Don’t ever adjust things before a race. Own a car (no Fords :P).

www.timetriallingforum.co.uk – Hounslow 100

UPDATE: Results are available.

25: 1:02:24

50: 2:06:51 (PB)

100: 4:28:07 (PB)