30.61 mph. Yes, really!

  Well, 19:59 was clearly being a bit modest!

   19:36 was the final score – quite insane really…

  I’d done a couple of mid 20’s in the few weeks leading up to this event in ‘average’ conditions so I dared to dream about getting close to a 19 on a good day. I know it often sounds like marketing hype, but I really could feel those extra 20 seconds or so of aero savings I invested in over the winter.  Plus I might have clawed a few more watts too for good measure. Whatever, my default dual carriageway 10 mile time had come down from 20:50ish to around 20:30. Very pleasing!

  The day in question was really special – the guy parked next to me at the race HQ was on a mid 21 PB and was hoping to creep under 21 minutes for the first time. He knocked out a long 19!! It was clearly a perfect day – absolutely no wind, warmish and slightly gloomy. And the course? The legendary V718.

  My last trip to Hull on Good Friday had seen the event cancelled due to heavy rain. This was the very same rescheduled event a couple of months later and I very nearly couldn’t be arsed to make the trip. Glad I did!

  Had a deceptively sluggish warm-up on the turbo – it took me nearly 40 mins to get going but when I did, I felt spectacularly strong. Wow, this could be it. The 19 could be on…

  I rehearsed the ride in my head pedalling to the start. I’d just got to do what I’d done over and over again lying on the TT bike on the turbo. 10 mins hard & controlled, out the saddle, over the turn, 8 mins hard and controlled, 2 mins self-destruct. Tada! 19:59.

 Piece of cake…

  3 – 2 – 1 – Go!

  I love the start on the ‘V’, it’s like having a rocket lit under you! Clack, clack, clack, down the cogs and onto the 60 x 12. Woohoo! Escape velocity! Levelling off a bit… clatter clack into the 13 and settle down…  ‘Fast as you can but no faster…’

  Very good progress for the first couple of miles, easily 30+mph. In fact I became slightly concerned that I was in a slight tailwind and actually feathered off the power a couple of times on the way out approaching 35mph, hoping to keep a bit in the bank for the headwind ride home. ‘Thumbs together, stretch out, don’t hunch... Velocity squared matey, velocity squared…’

  At the foot of the sliproad at 4.5 miles, I had an average speed of 31.8mph to defend on the way back.  Attack the 1^st roundabout, hard and controlled to the 2^nd… sweep around the far side and out the saddle for a big squirt of delta V at PC +2 to break orbit again…

  Bloody hell, average down to 30.4mph! That’s the trouble with going fast, the slow bits do much more damage! Going to be a close run thing now…

  But there wasn’t a headwind – in fact it felt like a tailwind again. How is that even possible?! Wow, really belting along – this feels fantastic!  ‘Come on, stay focussed… Thumbs together, stretch out, don’t hunch… remember velocity squared…’

  A bit of mental arithmetic with 2.5 miles to go told me that, barring disasters, I was going to do it. That was an amazing feeling. No need for desperate kamikaze efforts from here, just stay in control and try to capitalise on the ride so far. There was one potential hiccup though, a bit of a drag a mile or so out from the finish that could ruin my rhythm. There’s a footbridge and then a bit of a ‘climb’ which normally stops me dead. But even a few seconds at 20 mph shouldn’t ruin my 30+mph average, in fact I was gaining seconds all the time. I hit the foot of the climb and soft pedalled ever-so-gently through the downshift so my chain had absolutely no excuse for jumping off and was delighted to find myself going over at 25+mph. Excellent! I’m easily under 20 mins… Hold on… Bloody hell I could get under 19:30 from here. That’s just ridiculous!!

  Two minutes out I went effing mental! Just as I slid to the front of the saddle to cane it, I spotted the photographer. Shit, I’ll look like bloody Quasimodo on that one now!  I briefly smashed it up to 38mph but, with the flag in sight, my legs started to lock up and knew I couldn’t sustain it, but fortunately my momentum carried me over the line with no real damage done.

  19:38 according to the Gaaahhhrmin. (For some reason, I’ve started saying it like a pirate. Going doolally…).

  19:36 in fact. That is just R I D I C U L O U S!

  Anyway, you know what us testers are like. The euphoria gave way after a few days to feelings of doubting the validity of it all. Was I really that fast? Was that really a measure of my actual ability? Thing is, it wasn’t a ‘freak’ day, it was just a boring day with no real weather and not much traffic. I know from my data that it was dead even both ways so no magical shelter one way and tailwind the other etc. Perhaps we get so used to riding in ‘weather’ that we forget what it’s like to ride without any! Dunno.

  But just to make sure, I decided I needed to do it again for my own peace of mind but the next three DC events I entered got cancelled or conditions weren’t conducive to fast times so I was thwarted. Maybe next year…

  I think part of my problem in lacking self-belief is that I sort of like to perpetuate this myth that I don’t take it that seriously and just turn up and have a bash etc. I think part of me likes to pretend that’s the case - taking it seriously would be so saaaad after all. But the truth is slowly dawning that I might actually be a bit saaaaad!

  Once my season has finished, I just stop riding completely for a month or two (or even three!). I need to – if I try and go all through the winter I’m knackered by the spring and my season is ruined. Thing is, now I’m ‘stopped’, it’s made me realise what a large chunk training / racing is in my spare time!  I deliberately don’t train a lot but I train hard with lots of quality but even so, I think I must be more dedicated than I give myself credit for. I quick read through the log on my Gaaaahhrrmin confirms the extent of my saaaadness.

  The thing is, and this is going to sound daft, but I’m not sure I even like random ‘cycling’ any more. I’ve got a bit of time off at the minute and friends have said stuff like, ‘Oooh, plenty of time to get out on your bike then?”

  Eh? Why on earth would I want to do that! I love training (well, sometimes), I love seeing the improvements and the feeling I got at 7.5 miles in my PB ride was priceless.  Perhaps I’ve got a bit obsessive, perhaps I need to get back to enjoying just ‘going out for a bimble’. Hmmm…..

  A couple of people have said that they’ve missed my blog entries this year which is quite nice. I never thought anyone actually read them! So I’ll try and get back to regular updates featuring the usual random profanity and general weirdness.

  My favourite pic of 2015 is this one taken by Davey Jones at the finish line of a 50 mile TT in June. I was on a monster PB but inexplicably crashed in the wet with seven miles to go and smashed myself up a bit. I got back on and finished with slightly wonky wheels & handlebars but still PB’d by 6 minutes. I look like a real hard man, love it!

  My wife likes it because she thinks it just sums me up as a person. Smashed up, soaking wet, battered, bloodied but still doggedly carrying on, staring at the finish line. That’s a compliment, I think.