24:24

Last night I looked at the TT bike and thought “nah, it’ll be slower on the hill climb” so chose to prep the S-Works road bike instead.

I looked at the 11T DA cassette and thought “nah, I’ll not go fast enough for that” and kept the 12T cassette on. Turns out I could’ve done with both. Damn!

My normalised power was 20W up on the 10mi TT I did on 18/09/2011. The tailwind on the way out meant that at my preferred cadence I ran out of gears on the Wendover bypass. I was averaging ~47kph/30mph at the turn-around. The average after the turn-around dropped to a meagre 36kph – the wind made a difference!

I probably should’ve made use of the holder at the start and perhaps not got involved in the err ‘Willesden 3-up’ 🙂

Using the road bike meant I paid less attention to the power meter, so perhaps rode more to my body’s limit than a pre-determined best guess? Anyway, a good lesson in preparation that I will ignore like the other hundred lessons in preparation I’ve ignored in the past. The ‘green army’ headed to Deep Mill Diner where those who had planned to do the hill climb had a coffee and those that were perhaps talked into doing the hill climb had breakfast.. 😉

The hill climb over Longdown (Cadsdean Road) was a fairly standard affair for me with the only things worth noting: sort gears out before starting! Crunch Bang Crack Pop Click Snap Etc. and if you want to perform well.. don’t do a 10mi TT beforehand!

I came in 2nd place with a 2:44 I think, way off Dom’s first place 2:15. Apparently I was only a second slower than him last year with a 2:47 which means he has basically got a lot faster going up hills. But it also means I am marginally faster up hills which is nice. Maybe doing thousands of kilometres during the season works for me? *bins turbo trainer* Yeeess!!!

Thanks for the photography Ron

2:01, 3rd overall, 1st Willesden

With thanks to the lovely man Digger, for not encouraging me to stay for drinks too much, I managed to get up on time and make it through the thick fog to the bottom of Windsor Hill. Without too much time to spare before the start I didn’t bother riding up the hill pre-race. I know it well enough now anyway. Tony, riding his first hill climb (I wonder if he’ll be back for more?) and his daughter Kirsten let me use their car to stow all my warm kit. Cheers guys! A brief roll around the block (I’d call it a warm-up but think it actually made me colder) and then back to the start line ready to roll.

Little ring, smallish sprocket so I don’t have to use the front derailler or spin too fast off the line and get my HR high too early. 30.. 15.. clip in.. 10.. 5.. go!

Using my light-weight Ksyrium ES’s instead of the Zipp 404 Powertap wheels meant the bike was probably >500g lighter but I had no power for pacing the effort. With this in mind I tried to ride conservatively early on the hill, knowing it ramped a lot near the end. Around the first corner I was already going for easier gears as the all-too-familiar rapid and heavy breathing kicked in. Dropped another gear here and then as it kicked I climbed out of the saddle to get some more speed into the ascent.

Seeing the finish is a nice bonus here and I was out of the saddle again to impress the fans 🙂 I heard some cheering going on (thanks Gladys and Ron) and crossed the line, gasping for air. Considering I could barely move after having done these previously, I was happy to roll down the road for 30s and then have enough in the tank to turn around and cheer on Tony and Kirsten and the last rider off, 29. I’m not sure what happened to Pete – he was going to be my main opposition for the club HC trophy this year.

In the end, I came in 3rd overall doing a 2:01, which oddly enough is 1 second faster than I did on this course 2 years ago. I was sure I was going to be a lot slower, owing to all the LSD I’d been doing (that’s Long Slow Distance not Lysergic Acid Diethylamide). Pretty happy with that – though I reckon it’s down to that 500g and not my (relatively poor) training lead up. 2nd did a 2:00 and the winner, Joe Holloway(?) did a 1:44. Not sure of the Savage duo’s times, they’ll appear on the blog soon, no doubt. Thanks for the gels Gladys. Found a quid on the way home too. Bonus. 🙂

Welcome to Dopeology, a website about reported instances of doping in European professional road cycling. Make no mistake, this is an enormous subject. That’s why our story begins as recently as 1980, while the history of doping in professional cycling actually began over a century earlier.

Dopeology builds a topology of the densely interconnected network of doping, by listing the people, substances, techniques and events involved as recorded by reliable press sources. The purpose of the exercise is simply to organise and present the data in a logical way rather than to make any judgements about what has happened over the years.

The data on Dopeology is divided into just a few categories: People, Teams and Products, combinations of which go together to form doping-related Incidents. Every incident is supported by published sources, all but a handful of which are accessible online.

www.dopeology.org

59:44 Under the hour, finally!

Okay, it’s not like I train for 10s and 25s but I’ve been close before (1:00:04 was my previous PB) so it was only a matter of time. I didn’t think it would happen on this course though. The HCC114 is bit bumpy north-south-north-south with no real gift sections except perhaps the Wendover bypass downhill. My PB for this course on the TT bike was 1:02:11 last year.

I think the main problem with my TTing is that until this year I’ve never trained on the TT bike. It was strictly for the TTs and maybe the odd turbo session. Having spent the last 8 months riding for hours and hours and hours on this bike is obviously paying off (two PBs in two weeks) even though I’m not really doing any specific short distance training – at least until this week I wasn’t.

A smaller breakfast was on the cards this morning due to the unknown start time forcing me to be there before the first rider off time of 8.30am. Espresso and a single Vegemite (food of champions.. and me) toast. Nibbled on a Powerbar riding out. Caffeine and gel 15min before the start. Set off a bit fast, wanting to catch Ray and John, the other two Willesden CC riders and Westerley’s Rolly, who I’d cycled some of the way to the start with. Paid for that exuberance at the Wendover turn-around when the speed sunk but at least I kept the power up.

Half way through the race my left leg started going numb, like pins and needles. Unlike last week I’d done my shoes up this time so stopped and undid them a little bit thinking that might’ve been the cause. Shuffled about on the saddle too. I guess it helped a bit but still something that needs addressing. Glutes were hurting again too.

Still heading south and held up by a 4×4 waiting to go past another rider for a bit. It might’ve cost me some time but the rest was welcome. Shardeloes RAB turn-around and then back up past the finish line – which is unfortunately on the other side of the road. I was looking at the distance and time and thinking to myself “something is wrong, there’s no way I’m this slow, I’ll never get near the hour”. It took me some time to work out that we didn’t go all the way back down the Wendover bypass but actually turned around at the start of it. “Oh, sweet, so I might actually be able to get near the hour”. After the turn-around with this new goal in mind it was hammer time. This is where everything hurts and you have to push harder. I knew the finish line was coming up soon but where?! Dig dig dig! “There it is!” Go go go! 59-something!!! Woo!!! Finally cracked the hour. Grovel back to the HQ and then wait to have it confirmed (my last three race times/distances have been wrong so I wasn’t getting too excited just yet). Ate cake, had a coffee and… confirmed! Yes!

2010-05-30 WLC 25mi TT HCC114

2009-04-19 WLC 25 mile TT HCC114

westerleycc.blogspot.com – Interclub Sunday 25 September result

www.willesdencyclingclub.co.uk – hippy under the hour

After training for and competing in a 12hr and 24hr this felt a bit odd. The ride out was 40k, the ride back 40k but the race was only 16k – something’s wrong! 🙂

I decided to use the 24hr TT bike rather than the road bike as I couldn’t be bothered with wheel swaps – Iain and Brent from Oz had arrived Sat night so working on bikes wasn’t an option anyway. Also didn’t bother with my S80 front wheel or overshoes. The Willesden skinsuit saw its first use this year though and the Kask ‘sperm hat’ was good to go.

At the start I found the two Richo’s had found something better to do Sunday morning so I had a double gap in front of me. As soon as I hit the road I realised I’d not done up my shoes properly so I quickly tightened the straps and started properly (that’s what all stop/start is at the start, Scherrit). I was trying to hold around 330-350W I guess or at least trying to to wander into 400W+ too often.

I couldn’t believe I was a quarter of the way through already. Flying down the Wendover bypass I regretted still having the 50T big ring on. At the turn-around I spiked the effort trying to get some draft from a truck that had got there before me. It was too far in front though so the effort was somewhat wasted. The grind up here is usually horrible and once again it didn’t disappoint.

Up to RAB and into the trees I couldn’t see properly because my glasses had fogged up and I’d dripped loads of sweat all over them. I had to pull them down. The effort increased here as it was the homeward stretch. Back past the start so almost onto the finish line and I ramp it up a lot. Proper pain time now as I grovel towards the line as fast as possible. Feel the burn! (insert your choice of sporting cliche here).

A few minutes riding down the road to catch my breath and I head to the HQ. Chatted to some of the other riders and eventually looked at the time 23:08. Nice! That’s a PB by almost 2 minutes. I was only 10 seconds down from Pete and give him some stick about pies. Looking at my PT data later on though I’m sure I did a 24:08 and they’ve messed up either the start time or got my number wrong. So, I’m going to keep the 24:08 time (probably the right one given Peter was loads faster than me normally) and it’s still a PB anyway. Next time I’ll tighten my shoes up first and make it into the 23s officially. 🙂

I’ve been looking at buying a car so that next year I’ll be able to drive to different courses instead of always riding out to the West London races. We’ll see how that goes though.

240.603mi officially, 256mi actual

Since a great time was had riding the National 24 hour and knowing the Kent 12 was organised by the same people (Esther and co. I believe) I was keen to have a go at a 12hr and set a marker at this distance. Whatever happened would be a PB, right 🙂

Unbelievably Malwina and Scherrit were again willing to form ‘Team Foreigners’, get up at stupid o’clock (before 4am! urgh!) drive us out to Kent, hand up food/drink, wrench and cheer. They are the nicest, most enthusiastic two nutters I could hope to have following me around. Thanks guys!

Up before 4am the three of us loaded the car with bikes (the Planet-X TT, Kinesis road bike spare and Scherrit’s roadie), food and drink for rider and crew, race clothing and then headed to the M25/M26 making rapid progress towards Bethersden via Ashford. We arrived in good time, grabbed my numbers (arms and lower back) changed into the same Assos and Grupetto kit as I used during the 24hr. Mal and Scherrit prepped the bike, filling the Speedfil with Go and the Profile pack with Powergels. It was a very short ride to start. I had a caffeine gel and remember wishing Chris (clubman) well as he left. I told the holder not to bother even though he was worried I might knock his teeth out if I only lost by a second 🙂

The plan was to hold 24hr pace for the first 6 hours and then try to add 10W onto that and see how it was going before trying to add another 10W, etc. I found out afterwards there were lots of course changes made due to last minute road works. This was fine for me, since I had no idea how to navigate the course anyway – as I managed to prove by following a rider the wrong way (left instead of over some large orbital thing) and missing an entire section of the course. This was confirmed when the very distinctive low-cadence rider 55 went past me.. for the second time. I was not a happy chappy – to screw up the course so early really pissed me off.

Onto the Camber circuit, heading towards the coast (I’d ridden here before on an LFGSS Camber Sands ride!) and man was that wind buffeting me around with the 404 on the front! My upbringing was flat, windy roads around Sunraysia so I hoped, sadistically, it would make everyone else miserable and slow down while I got low, hung on and held my pace. I noticed what looked like a broken seat-mount bottle cage after turning away from the coast road – just after hitting a large pothole – so I could make a good guess as to why it detached!

The team were up at the top of the Camber circuit so I stopped for a leak and a massive rant about getting lost. With that off my chest and my Speedfil topped up I carried on for another lap. My glutes (butt muscles), which never really give me any grief were in a world of pain – yet it had only been 2-3 hours of cycling – something was wrong. I thought my saddle might have moved or maybe I had changed my position on the bike too much due to the high wind.

On the next loop I stopped again and downed an Ibuprofen and maybe a Paracetamol with a can of V I think (the early start made me quite drowsy early on). It felt like I’d pulled a muscle on both sides of my butt cheeks. I was trying to massage them but until the drugs kicked in I was grimacing with the pain. The team thought I was talking about saddle sores or something and they were puzzled as to how I could ride a 24hr and be sore after only 2-3 hours! No, my muscles were sore not my undercarriage!

I think there were about five laps of the Camber circuit. I was stopped at traffic lights on one of these but generally felt I was doing ok, especially since the glute pain had died down.

Eventually, Scherrit let me know we were transferring and so it was a right turn heading north along a large road for a while and then up a kind of off-ramp thing and back around heading south and onto the Ivychurch circuit, I think.

Probably around here is when it started to rain (Mal says it was later). The roads became quite slippery but nothing too treacherous and I had to lose the clear glasses to see properly. Apparently I had been sounding and looking pretty miserable (no way, me?) so I got quite a nice surprise to see Mal jumping up and down like a mental with the Aussie flag draped over her shoulders. It gave me a real boost, I had a quick moment thinking about Cadel’s fantastic Tour win for Australia and my mood lifted substantially.. until I arrived at a T-junction that was devoid of marshalls or signs. “Ahh crap!!!”. I decided to take the natural road progression, right. After a few kilometres I called my team – “where the &%&$ am I? Where the ^”%$ am I supposed to be?!” hoping they’d be able to see my GPS position on the map. Unfortunately they couldn’t work out where I was so I took the time to have another ‘natural break’ and continued..

At New Romney, coming across another junction devoid of race marshalls or signs I knew I’d made the wrong choice and so turned around. Chris had made the same mistake but I was too far behind to catch him up and tell him. Finally I made it to a sign that said Newchurch, the village Mal had told me to head for. This little debacle had cost me probably half an hour, maybe 16k/10 miles. I was ^?$”ing furious. I think when I finally got to my team I stopped and had another colourful rant before taking on more supplies and continuing. Argh, time trialling sucks some times!

Once I’d got everything off my chest Mal says I did 4 solid laps, fast, focused and without any stupid stops. I think the smaller circuit helped here as you get to chase down riders more frequently and even a little comment here and there between riders helps take your mind of the effort. Apparently Mal was thinking about handing me up a pint, as they were parked up outside The Bell Inn. I’m glad it wasn’t offered to me otherwise I might have just stopped at the pub – Go and V would have to do. The marshals arrived at the pub and directed us right, away from it, bound for the finishing circuit.

Apparently the finishing circuit was changed – again I have no idea I just rode where they pointed me. There were maybe 4 hours to go and each lap of the circuit was taking around 30 minutes to complete. Mal and Scherrit were parked atop a short rise, still armed with the Aussie flag. The sun had come out now. I remember trying to signal that I wanted sunglasses before I got to the team, riding no hands up the hill with my fingers around my eyes to indicate glasses – Mal already had them out so it was a wasted gesture. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take the glasses and the bottle+gel so I ended up running low on fuel that lap and was desperate for a refill the next time around, caning the gel immediately and the whole Powerbar shortly after.

Really moving now, knowing the end was near. I knew I’d lost mileage with the detours but thought I might be able to scrape over the 400k mark if I smashed myself. Mal says she watched me just ride past 4 or 5 people going up the hill. I wasn’t controlling my power output now but riding more like it was a 25 and not the end of a 12hr. I really wanted to hurt myself in the closing stages of this race – it feels good. I remember one of the faster guys (maybe VE Elan) went past me and got maybe 500m down the road before I decided I’d chase him down. It’d turned into commuter racing, ie. using every rider as a target before moving onto the next one. I went past the team once more and then hunted down the final time keeper. I wasn’t sure of the time so I kept riding briefly until Mal and Scherrit passed in the car and told me I could stop.

The Powertap had stopped recording with 30min to go (stupid ^$?$^$% piece of $%^$&) even though it’s supposed to do 15 hours in 1 second mode so the final push failed to record. Luckily the on-screen speedo keeps running so Scherrit took down the finishing values: 415k, 11hr 44min, 236Wavg, 33.4kph avg. So, unofficially I’d beaten 400k/250mi but of course due to getting lost this was brought back down to 240mi/386k. Officially, 5th place, unofficially it would have been my first TT podium finish as I’d come in at least 3rd, possibly 2nd place.

In many ways this was a harder event than the 24 hour. The pace was higher, the weather was much worse, lack of hills actually meant being stuck in the one position for longer, I’d not trained as much, my muscles didn’t work properly, the 4am start made me noticeably tired and got lost, twice. But after all that it was still great fun to do and once again proved that I am sick in the head for actually enjoying this stuff 🙂

Picture > 1000 words, no?

www.kca12hour.org.uk – Provisional Results

www.mapmyride.com – Brenzett – Camber Circuit and IvyChurch

Nick Wilson’s Photos

Cycle Racing Plus Photos

Megan Marshall’s event photos from www.rywheelers.org

www.timetriallingforum.co.uk – pre race chat

www.timetriallingforum.co.uk – post race chat

The official results sheet from the RTTC appeared through the letterbox today and it looks like the organisers have made some changes.

One of my missing laps has been reinstated so my overall position is now 17th and my mileage is now 425.84 (685.32 kilometres). If they’d counted the other one it would have been 10th place with around 445mi. This would have got me the national record… in 1935! 🙂

Once more I’d like to thank everyone involved and I look forward to having a go at the Mersey Roads event next year.

Anthony, I hope I’ve supplied enough undercarriage detail for you in the previous post.

Quentin/PedalBikerUK is uploading a series of interviews with record holder Andy Wilkinson:

Andrew Wilkinson – Doing it My Way – Episode One

Andrew Wilkinson – Doing it My Way – Episode Two

Andrew Wilkinson – Doing it My Way – Episode Three

24 Jul

I’zoard today followed by 3200m ascent in cable car. #ccwtdf

22 Jul

http://twitgoo.com/2kesrm #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2kesra #ccwtdf

Great day on Alpe d’Huez.

Tension here on Alpe d’Huez! #tdf

Going to try and get up Alpe d’Huez today to watch stage finish. Could be tricky with crowds. #tdf

21 Jul

Col Deux Alpes today. Great descent. 11T baby! Watched Tour in bar. Sunburnt. Come on Cadel!

20 Jul

http://twitgoo.com/2k0x8i Watched stage finish in cafe at base of Telegraphe. #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2k0x80 Style is everything for Jamo. #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2k0x6u The view from Galibier was much better (ie. actually existing) 1k down mountain. #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2k0x1i Snowing at 2600m Galibier peak. Not as cold as other days. 2 undershirts, 2 jerseys, plastic bag, gillet. #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2k0x0x Bang. Galibier. Epic.

http://twitgoo.com/2k0x08 straw man. #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2k0wzm Col du Telegraphe. Nice warm up climb. #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2k0ww4 Start of hangover #ccwtdf

Galibier was snowing at 2600m. Massive climb.

Telegraphe, Galibier, Telegraphe today. Hard work especially hungover. Might do Galibier from other side to see Le Tour tomorrow. #ccwtdf

Galibier and Telegraphe today. Hangover, check. #ccwtdf #drunks

20 Jul

Col du Glandon. Undershirt, 2 jerseys and windvest plus arm and knee warmers and I still think it was the coldest ride I’ve done. #ccwtdf

19 Jul

http://twitgoo.com/2juvpw Stunning views from Alpe d’Huez. #ccwtdf

18 Jul

http://twitgoo.com/2juvpl Alpe d’Huez. Easy. #ccwtdf

@fatboyralph Not stopped for anything other than photos and beer thus far. Huez tomorrow perhaps.

17 Jul

http://twitgoo.com/2jtgd0 Croix de Fer #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2jtgcm Croix du Fer #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2jtg94 Valley near Rivier du Allemont #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2jtg8h Croix du Fer and I’ve not yet frozen to death. #ccwtdf

Col de la Croix du Fer today. Pissing down. Almost froze to death. Great views in the valley near Rivier du Allemont. #ccwtdf

http://twitgoo.com/2js2gi View from Chalet. Pissing down today. Big lingering thunderstorm. #ccwtdf

16 Jul

http://twitgoo.com/2js2ep View from ridge after Villard Reculas climb towards Huez.

http://twitgoo.com/2js29e Did Col d’Ornon then back way up Alpe d’Huez.

http://twitgoo.com/2js28y French Alps. Awesome. #ccwtdf

Croydon Cycle Works – Tour de Alpes 2011

For the last 8 months I’ve been thinking about and training for the East Sussex Cycling Association’s 24-hour time trial. Never before had I invested so much time or money into a single event. Never before had I contemplated entering an event so long and with requirements for training, fuelling, equipment and support that far out-strip any of the shorter races and rides I’ve done in the past. This was a whole new ball game for me.

Almost as soon as the plan was hatched to enter the race, Scherrit from The Bike Whisperer was on board as my coach, bike fitter and volunteer to provide race-day support. Without his help I’m certain I’d not have ridden as far as I did and I’m not even sure I would’ve entered the event.

Malwina is always providing support, be it cooking my post-ride meals, massaging my tired legs, calming me down when I’d get stressed, standing out in the pouring rain under an umbrella to provide food, drink and warm clothes on a training ride or just letting me bounce ideas about the race off her. She was always available to help and did so with Scherrit during the race itself.

The Race:

Mal had bought lots of food and packed it into labelled boxes along with the existing race fuel, medical supplies and other kit the night before and Scherrit arrived with the car and bike rack. We were taking two bikes – my heavily ‘tweaked for distance’ Planet-X TT bike and my S-Works road bike with spare race wheels fitted. Scherrit had also brought along mechanical supplies, eskie, bedding and seating. Mal, importantly, had a clipboard – nothing could go wrong. It all went into the car and we left for Sussex around 9am.

With a slight detour into Berwick we eventually found the HQ around 11am, signed on, collected numbers and I waited in the car while Scherrit spoke to some riders he knew and Mal prepped my cycling kit. I was starting at 12:47 so delayed getting changed as long as possible. Once changed and it was time to go we drove towards the start at Michelham Priory a few miles down the road. Thinking about it now, riding to the start as Scherrit suggested, would’ve have been a better idea. At Michelham Priory Scherrit added some air to the tyres, Mal helped me into TT helmet, gloves and overshoes and I rolled towards the line.

VRRRR VRRRRR VRRRRRRR VRRRRRR

“What the hell?!” Something was rubbing. The whole bike was vibrating. Scherrit had a look, pulled the wheel back a bit and we tried again. Nope, still rubbing. “Arrgh! Could the wheel have moved whilst on the car rack?” Backing the rear brake right off seemed to help. It was almost my start time so I rolled towards the line while Mal and Scherrit walked up. Something was still rubbing though so I was off the bike and examining anything for signs of contact – the fat 25mm Michelin Pro Optimum tyres left little room for error in the chainstays.

Someone at the start line held my bike up (thanks, whoever you were!) while I adjusted the wheel fore/aft and left/right, checked brake pads, etc. It was time to start, so giving up, the rear brake callipers were backed right off and with 30 seconds to go I was with the holder, Mike Anton (who went on to take loads of great photos of the event).

5..4..3..2..1.. Go! There was some clapping and cheering but I didn’t really notice much while trying to keep my wattage at Scherrit’s super-conservative “first 20 minutes warm up” 200W.

Half a kilometre down the road, at the end of Arlington Road West, I stopped and readjusted the rear wheel as the rider behind me went passed. For a change I had no concern about people passing me. This was about the “long game” as Scherrit called it. I knew the pacing strategy we’d decided upon was good so I just had to apply it. Of course, it would help if the wheels on my bike would turn properly! Thinking about it, while bouncing down the A22, my conclusion was when the tyres were properly inflated, the rear rubbed on the chainstay and when it was moved back to stop this, one of the the brake blocks was then slightly out and rubbed on the tyre instead.

“Focus!”, reducing pressure on the pedals to bring my overexcited power down a little. My biggest concern about the 24, believe it or not, was not my legs or my feeding, it was simply getting lost. The course notes were very complex with no chance I could remember the turns and I was worried about how many marshalls they’d have and how good the signage would be. After the first couple of turns those fears started to disappear – there were LOADS of marshalls at each turn and huge signs made it a breeze knowing where to go. The organisers really excelled here!

The course headed along a turn-around road so you could nod/wave/sneer at the other competitors coming back along it. There were already spectators and support crews out on the road cheering everyone on. Being able to see other riders and other crews helped calm my nerves too.

Up to the Little Horsted circuit (a sign for the village made this fact obvious) where I’d do 3 laps. The terrain was quite rolling – made obvious by the fact I was flying down the hills only to almost stop when going up them – in order to keep my power output steady. There’d be no attacking hills this early in the game! There was good tree cover a lot of the time or perhaps the wind died down so I ended up sticking with the Zipp 404 front wheel choice rather than the shallower option.

Spotting my crew for the first time, after Newick on the top part of the course, Mal handed me a bottle on the move with food attached but I stopped further up the hill anyway. While I ‘shed some water weight’ Scherrit had a look at the bike, sorting it all out so nothing was touching the back wheel. It was better after that but still rubbed throughout the event when I was out of the saddle after a corner or on a hill. I think it was just a case of very close tolerance with the fat tyre choice and the Zipp 808 flexing slightly with my bulk above it. Riding out of the saddle isn’t so efficient so this wasn’t too much of a concern. Rolling again there were some long drags, fast downhills and after the sharp turn an appropriately named Deadmantree Hill – short, steep annoying climbs that meant even in the lowest gear, power was above target wattage. Through a slightly technical section with some rougher roads and blind corners and then back onto the A26 to the A22 where the riders had started the course.

Using a Speedfil hydration system (Corinne’s suggestion – a tank on the bike with a tube up through the aerobars to drink from) meant the empty ‘normal’ bottles being handed up would have to remain in a saddle-mounted cage after the Speedfil’s tank had been refilled. The first bottle wouldn’t stay open so it was a struggle to empty its contents into the Speedfil. Whilst thinking about how to tell Mal not to use this bottle again the problem resolved itself when the bottle bounced out and onto the road on the very rough A22. Another empty bottle (London to Canterbury TdF sportive one *sob*) bounced out a few hundred metres after I’d ridden past my crew at a roundabout on the transition to the Pevensey circuit. Grrr.. no more 800ml bottles in the Profile cages!

The Pevensey circuit was probably the worst of the three. There was a lot of very rough dual carriage way followed by long, exposed and therefore windy B-roads. Then some steep hills (again with poor surfaces though at least you’re not doing 50kph+ on them) and some towns with the usual problem of lights, pedestrian crossings, parked cars, etc, etc. Two laps of this were required before the ~70k transition to the Henfield night circuit and familiar territory (I’d done a 12 hour training ride on the night circuit in the pouring rain the week before). On the last Pevensey circuit I stopped, sat down and ate one of Mal’s chicken sandwiches and drank a Pepsi while Scherrit fitted my lights (thanks James, Wayne, Tom and Laura for the lights!) – it was 7:26pm and it would be getting dark at some stage of the transition.

Mal and Scherrit seemed to me to keep appearing but I didn’t really know what they were doing. Turns out they were just cheering but I didn’t know this at the time – I was wondering if I should be stopping to pick stuff up. At some stage I yelled “I’m a third of the way through!” and I think they were yelling the same thing but 40kph Doppler means “Hashhshfeueueffeaaaa!!” is what people actually hear. Mal’s got some great notes of all the transition times and what I was taking up and so I’m finding out now they were struggling to catch me during this transition leg. At some time between 8.40 and 10pm the lights were turned on and a fishing lure glowstick (Starlite) was crushed to activate and jammed into the blutack (high tech!) already on the Powertap so I could continue to monitor output through the night. Great in theory…

Riding in the dark but not yet on the night circuit caused me to check my speed a bit since it was unfamiliar roads and I had no idea about potholes and the like. Traffic through Cowfold was also a pain totally stopping progress a few times (at least on a 24hr you don’t go mental knowing your race is ruined like during a 25mi!). Somewhere around here there was a high-speed bottle grab (Mal still has both her arms – you can relax) and when the team drove past I confirmed I could (just) see the Powertap with my single glowstick and we’d meet at Ashurt Village Hall. The best laid plans…

Riding through Ashurst there were a huge amount of cars and people but none were recognisable. I was expecting Mal to be covered head to toe in the glowsticks she’d bought but she’d run out of time to prepare. Instead of doing the sensible thing and slowing down to find my team I maintained speed and at the last second saw Mal but stubbornly and stupidly carried on with a “what the hell?” look thinking I’ll get to them next lap. Unfortunately this screwed up their plans to feed me the pasta and left me running out of fluids. I also felt the need to use a toilet but for some reason this feeling disappeared for the rest of the race.

My team being clever cookies moved down the road out of the crowd and made a sign out of glowsticks with my number on it for the next lap. Carrying on a bit miffed about the Ashurst failure I was actually enjoying the night laps. Being familiar with the course meant I could ride the descents pretty fast without too much worry. I could see my power output for the climbs but more light would have been better as it took time for my eyes to adjust to reading the unit.

Spotted my crew easily the next time around (Scherrit had gone up the road to make sure of this). For some reason I still didn’t eat any pasta but instead had a ham sandwich and some Pepsi Max (why Mal bought sugar-free Pepsi I don’t know – actually I do know – it’s because I like it, I just would have bought full strength stuff during a race). The plan was also to change to HIgh5 4:1 during the night from Cytomax and SIS Go. I’d ridden for 12hrs on just 4:1 the week before so thought I’d be fine. This wasn’t the case and I started to feel quite sick after drinking it. I kept drinking it though – it would either settle or come back out. It did neither and thinking about it now, making myself sick and going back to the Go drink or water would’ve been a better idea. Feeling horrible now, my intake of food (gels and bars) dropped drastically – Mal notes at 1:30am that she was actually taking Powerbars off me! After another lap it was decided to get rid of the 4:1 so the crew emptied my Speedfil tank and refilled it with Go.

The mist/fog became thicker and thicker through the night. At some points I’m sure visibility was 30-40m. Everything was wet, with water collecting and dripping off my helmet and as such any attempt to stick my glowsticks to my Powertap failed so I gave up on it and rode by feel. It’s not so difficult but when unwell it’s very easy to ride very slow.

The crew expected me in around an hour for the dawn lap but it didn’t happen as riders were moved off to the transition back to Little Horsted. I was now feeling quite tired and sick and thinking to myself “should I call them, no, don’t stop riding, they’re watching the GPS, they’ll know I’ve left the course”. Unfortunately, the phone signal in this part of the world is pretty bad so they weren’t getting any/many updates. The crew didn’t find out I’d left the night circuit until the last rider car came through, which by this stage meant we were at least an hour apart. They decided rather than drive the course which would be full of cyclists and other support cars it would be quicker to take yesterday’s transition road back to the Little Horsted loop and wait there. Out of fluids again now I called Mal around the Deadmantree Hill but went straight to voicemail so carried on. Calling Scherrit later in the lap and he’d spoken to Twickenham CC to get them to give me some water. I had no idea where they were stationed though and in the end grabbed a water refill from a guy (later found out it was Mad One from TTF) at one of the marked ‘sponge & water’ stops (thanks Mad One!) and carried on until I finally met my team again at the Newick location. I finally grabbed a bowl full of pasta and took a caffeine tablet before heading off for another lap.

Dawn. The worst part of the 24 hours.

The second Little Horsted lap was horrible with me literally nodding off whilst on the bike. The caffeine I’d taken wasn’t helping and eventually I decided that sitting down for a breather was better than crashing. A woman on a trike who looked like she was enjoying herself a lot more than I was wished me a ‘good morning’. Getting back to the team I thought what the hell and took a lot more caffeine and Scherrit switched me onto energy drink from water. He said to take it easy, just try and hold 200W but within 100m I was thinking to myself “nah, I’m feeling good now” and brought the pace back up.

Once again, riders were transitioned towards Pevensey loop and my team didn’t find out until the last rider car came through. Somewhere around this time I decided to have a look at the distance completed. After my failure at night/dawn, the club record was out of the question but for some reason I had a look and saw something like 580k and looked at my watch I’ve got roughly 4 hours to ride. “Hmm.. 700k sounds like a good goal, let’s ride!”. I had a mission, felt good, the sun was up and I was now hammering. Okay, “hammering” is relative but after 20 hours riding to average 33kph for the last 4 on the worst of the circuits is pretty cool in my book.

Now all that worried me was bonking. Running out of Go drink again half way around the first Pevensey lap when it’s about 25degC and getting hotter and I’m hauling arse over the hills at 500W+ ignoring my power pacing, trying to claw back every single metre in the final push, is not what I need. When instead of the team car I see a Timing Marshall I’m annoyed but not going to stop until I see my team. Now I’m drinking gels and just hoping I can hold this pace for another 2-3 hours. Scherrit jumps out in the middle of a small town and Mal provides gels and a much needed refill. I’m busting for a leak but this is not the place to do it so I hold on for a while longer until I find a nice wide-open and yet hard to get to part of the A22 to flash my tackle (ok, not quite but you get the idea).

The Pevensey finishing circuit is the only place I don’t get passed by Warnock and Wilco, in fact I’m passing almost everyone else. People at the turns and marshalling points are all cheering – it’s like a sprint finish that goes on for hours! Mal and Scherrit find an uphill to wait for me and hand up bottles and gels. Mal’s brother Mirek has come along to watch but I don’t have time to really acknowledge him (thanks for popping down). My Achilles tendon is agony but I’m going to get 700k if it kills me (well, ok not if it kills me).

I’m not sure how the distance measuring system works – Scherrit had said “just keep riding”. They pass me in the car and later give me “7 minutes to go” sign. Scherrit says later I didn’t acknowledge him but I thought I nodded – if I didn’t it was because I was focused. Scherrit spoke to one of the marshalls and they said you should go to the next timing point AFTER your time is up, so at 12:47 Sunday I’m still riding as hard as I can manage. I can feel myself flagging and I know I’ve done over 700k but I also know this will come down a bit when they do their calculations so I want to be sure.

Lifting the power once more for the final timing point I’m done and roll down the road before heading to the car and sitting down. It’s over. 24-and-a-bit hours, 722k unofficially.

www.youtube.com – finishing

www.youtube.com – Mike Haylor and the 2011 Sussex 24 hour

www.youtube.com – damonpeacock esca 24

www.youtube.com – JulianSotonia – Cycling Time Trials National 24 Hr Championships 25/26th June 2011

And… relax..

Massive thanks to the organisers, marshalls, volunteers, supporters and everyone who loaned me stuff or helped me in some way.

Very special thank you to Scherrit and Malwina. You guys were frickin’ awesome! I had such a cool race.

Stats:

Duration: 22:57:22 (24:07:18)

Work: 16102 kJ

TSS: 1072.5 (intensity factor 0.684)

Norm Power: 212

Distance: 722.914 km

Avg Speed: 30.4kph

Max Speed: 62.9kph

~13L of fluids (water, Go, High5 4:1, Cytomax)

1 Pepsi

1 Pepsi Max

1 V energy drink

2 small instant coffees

26 Powergels

9 Powerbars

1 chicken roll

1 ham roll

1 brioche jam

1 brioche plain

1 bowl pasta

1 Kit Kat

5 Pro Plus tablets

LFGSS

YACF – East Sussex 24 hour 2011

YACF – What Andy Wilkinson can teach us

TTF 1

TTF 2

Provisional Winners

rupertracer photos

mike anton Saturday Afternoon photos

mike anton The Night Shift photos

mike anton Sunday Finish photos

andy sheridan photos

Kimroy Photography

“Questions are being asked as to why you haven’t been riding the timerials on the Amersham Road.”

Gladys, this ridiculous looking stem alteration to my TT bike should be confirmation that something is not quite right in the land of the hippy.

After hearing about Meurig setting all the club records last year I went a bit wonky in the brain and decided I would try to break the one he didn’t set – the Willesden 24 hour TT record.

As a fat, err, big-boned, ex-sprinter it’s proving to be some task trying to train for something at the complete opposite end of the spectrum – “ultra-endurance” perhaps?

I’ve enlisted the help of friend, bike-fitter, coach and mechanic, Scherrit from The Bike Whisperer, to attempt to get me into shape for the ride.

Mick’s Tour des Alpes is on the cards for this July so my only 24hr option is the East Sussex Cycling Association 24hr in late June.

Having actually done some of the specified training and knowing the speeds required along with hearing the course is anything but flat and not having any 12 hours before this 24hr I have decided to make this a bit of a “test” event. By test event, I mean I want to finish it, alive, mostly in one piece, without crying in a ditch for 8 hours, vowing never to ride a bike again rather than break any records.

So, I might be out to do some of the West London TTs but they’re not really suited to 24hr preparation. Thanks for the concern 🙂