New AG World Hour Record!!

In March of last year, whilst I was 6 months pregnant, I attended a talk by Graeme Obree at Athlete Service, my local bike shop. I came out utterly in awe of this man who was not only revolutionized our sport but has repeatedly pushed his body to its absolute limits multiple in his bid for the Hour Record. It was impossible to resist his enthusiasm and I left wondering if I could ever anything like that.

Fast forward to October 18th 2015. David, a 3-month-old Zoe and I are driving back from my very lacklustre debut at the National Closed Circuit Champs.

D: Maybe you should do some track stuff

Me: No, I’m not buying another bike

D: But there’d be no cars and you can’t get lost

Me: No, I’m not buying another bike

D: You could be good! You could win medals at the Masters. Oh my god, you could do the Masters Hour Record. Go on, look it up, what is it?

If nothing else David is persistent and I knew I wouldn’t have a moments peace for the rest of the journey home… Slow mobile internet be damned, I Googled whilst D tried to contain his excitement — Adelia Reyneke, 41.386km.

Given my 25mile PB of just under 56 minutes, this wasn’t totally outside the realms of possibility. I just needed to do it without a massive downhill start, traffic assistance and on a fixed wheel bike…. Nooooo problem!

And so it was that on New Years Eve, despite being so unfit that I couldn’t finish a club training session the day before at Newport, I’d bought a bike and was putting together a power/speed spreadsheet whilst everyone else was getting merry.

It was a simple enough plan, I had to find 20 watts, get my CdA back down to pre pregnancy best on a UCI legal bike and spend as much time in the velodrome as possible.As for equipment, I took articles on Molly Van Houweling and Bradley Wiggins to be the start of a shopping list and happily found that David and I hadn’t done badly with our purchases over the past few years!

  • Cervelo T4 – on order
  • Dash saddle – check
  • USE Tula bars – check
  • Mavic Comete wheels – an old club mate agreed to lend us a set as spares but I would use a prototype Revolver disc front from Harry Walker (previous owner, one Dame Sarah Storey, if its good enough for her…)
  • Speedplay zero pedals – check
  • Giro Empire shoes – check
  • S-works helmet – yup, though it was not designed for comfort
  • Skinsuit – a Nopinz/Aerocoach tripsuit in team colours, of course
  • Cranks – I had a set of Infocranks on loan from Verve Cycling which Athlete Service had arranged for me.

I had Bob Tobin on my side so the improvement in power was never going to be an issue, especially given my previously lax approach to training. The problem was whether or not I could do it in the time we had and without getting ill.

Finances meant that I was only able to get 3 private sessions at Newport, the last of which was for the attempt itself. Luckily I had a very understanding club in GS Henley who let me gatecrash their training session and made time for me to do individual efforts. Being on maternity leave also meant that I was able to ‘pop’ over to Wales for a few drop in sessions and I made the most of living near an outdoor velodrome to learn the art of a fixie. I finally got the hang of ‘sagging’ my head and watched as my CdA dropped and dropped with every tweak we made. Things were looking good and I was clocking 42.5km/h consistently

Once we had lined up the UCI officials in April, we were ready to announce the attempt to the world and by that I mean, the poor folk who ‘follow’ me on social media. Almost as soon as we went public, the plan began to unravel. I had cold after cold after cold, training was erratic but we were hopeful that with some final tweaks from Xav and Aerocoach, my CdA was low enough that we could break the record without being at full fitness.

But, like I said, things didn’t exactly go to plan! The helmet that Xav had recommended arrived 2 days before the attempt missing the aerodynamically vital front cover! There was a mad scramble to find another in stock and delivered. The rear Mavic disc we’d borrowed didn’t fit my T4, which was massively confusing given the number of people who claim to be using this combination. A track conversion kit was hastily fitted to our Zipp disc and the glue in the new super thin tub was barely dry.

And so the 14th of May came by quicker than I could have imagined. I had a brand new custom made CFD Tripsuit from Nopinz, I knew this suit would be fast, I just didn’t know how fast. That, coupled with my lingering cold, meant that there was a bit of uncertainty around what power I would need to break the record and what speeds I was capable of. With Xav’s wise parting words of “Your first priority is to break the record, your second is to do a good record. Too many people get the priorities the wrong way round”, we settled on a target of 42km.

Even as I arrived at Newport with many thousands of pounds worth of carbon fibre in the car, things didn’t seem real. It wasn’t until I introduced myself to the UCI commissaire Julie Rodman that it began to dawn on me what was going on.

My crack team of Carl Whitwell and Justin Layne put my bikes together and through the bike check without any issue and then it was on the rollers (facing away from the spectator area for my sanity) to warm up. Not that I needed it as we’d cranked the heating to some 27 degrees. Actually, the hugely experienced Julie (she’d worked on the Boardman, Dowsett and Wiggins attempts but this was obviously going to be the highlight of her career!?) advised that we had the heating turned off midway so that I didn’t get too sweaty.

Bike in gate, Clarry on bike, no no gate in wrong place, Clarry gets off, gate moved and repeat 3 times. I keep looking at the clock, so much for my 7.15 kick off. Oh well, at least I’m getting lots of practice clipping in.

With a ‘Good Luck’, Julie leaves me and 25 seconds later I hear the ominous beep beep beep. It’s been over a month since I was last in a start gate and I’m not sure I remember what to do. I move my bum up and back but keep as much of my weight as I can on my front foot, ready to push down hard as soon as that last pip goes.

And we’re off. I’m in the saddle far far too early but I tell myself it’s OK. Better that than lose control and fall off. As I pass Justin for the first time, I hear a ‘four’. Shit, that must have been a really slow 34 second lap so I kick hard. Turns out that was a 24 second lap, over 3 seconds faster than I’d expected and completely threw off the timing spreadsheet I’d given Bob and Carl. Then with a 46km/h Lap 2, I was basically on target speed of 42km/h already.

13220907_519614104830153_2680361413789339463_n

From then on, we were aiming for a 21.4 second lap. Sometimes I’d hear a ‘One Four, perfect’ but more often than not I’d fluctuate wildly between ‘Oh Nine, calm down’ and ‘One Nine, pick it up’.

I completely lost track of time. Any attempt to look up at the big screen took almost 4 laps of mental preparation but it was a pointless exercise, as I didn’t know what time I’d started and I couldn’t read the whiteboard that was displaying my average speed and time. All I could do was keep reminding myself to breathe and stay on top of the pedals. Finally, I heard David’s voice on the back straight “Halfway, you’re smashing it”. From then on, I can hear the crowd get more and more animated. They’ve started to spread round the velodrome making the back straight a far less lonely place. I can actually identify some of the voices now and it’s a pretty welcome distraction.

10 minutes and I try to wind the pace up again. 30 laps to go and I count them down. Not long until I can use my favourite ever phrase ‘3 minutes! You can do anything for 3 minutes!’ It was a stalwart of my rowing career and I do like to use it at every opportunity. (You can see where that kicks in on my pacing chart!!)

Ci09kkbXIAIHkZQ.jpg-large

I’m in the very fortunate position that the record is broken with a minute to spare so everything after that is pure bonus. The bell rings but I’m not actually sure if that means I have one more lap to go or I just finish the lap I’m on. Better safe than sorry so I put my head down and carry on until I’m absolutely sure. 42.116km, not quite what I thought I could do but a record’s a record.

RD-2016-05-14-1930-14

Massive hug from David, I put my head in between my knees until the sicky feeling passes then I’m coerced into posing for the spectators. You want me to lift the bike above my head, are you kidding? Awkward photos done and I’m onto the much more awkward issue of drugs testing. Sadly, by the time that’s done the velodrome is shutting up for the night and most people have gone home before I’ve really had a chance to thank them for coming all the way to watch. I never expected that many people would come and I’m truly blessed that I have so many great family, friends, teammates who are willing to give up their weekend for me. Thank you all!!!

13241118_10154850436054167_7711978922938022965_n

Thanks again to the fabulous people who’ve made this attempt possible and successful!

My team and sponsors, SSLL (I have a massive banner with my name on it!! Dreams do come true!)

Blake at Nopinz and Xav at Aerocoach for the custom tripsuit.

Verve Cycling for lending me the super accurate and hassle free Infocranks

Harry at Revolver Wheels for a truly beautiful front disc

OTE for the very yummy mint choc protein bar that I look forward to after every hard session

Bob Tobin at CyclePowerMeters for agreeing to coach me (I bet he regrets that now he knows how much of a drama queen I am)

Rob and Laurence at Athlete Service for all their hard work putting Beryl together for me

My lovely club mates at GS Henley especially Ryan and Bex for their brilliant photos

Carl and Justin who’s support, wise words and calming influence have been second to none

And of course my punch bag, oops I mean husband, David Woodhouse, who has always had more faith in my abilities than I do and is the reason I actually get off the sofa to do something with my life.

Ilkley Two Day Stage Race -7/8 May 2016

Ilkley 2 day.

Well this weekend brought the 4 stage race that is the ilkley 2-day, yep 4 stages in two days… Famous for its tough terrain and conditions that usually match.

Stage 1 – By Max McMurdo

Stage 1 was a very short but painful 2.37km prologue, designed to just shake up the GC and get everyone prepped for what was to come.

I had been told that the course was “all down hill” more times than I care to think, so I was expecting to struggle with my junior gearing. It turned out that it started with a slight rise in the road followed by a flat fast mile. Myself and Ali were at HQ warming up with Eugene warming up on the course. Our race start times were 10:57 10:58 and 10:59 with Eugene starting, myself second and Alastair the last of the SSLL boys. I had quite a sweat on when I got to the start line after Ali and I both getting slightly lost finding our ways to the start.
I got myself psyched up on the start line and waited to be called up. I got clipped in, shoes tightened, St Christopher out for good luck, Garmin on and I was ready. 30 seconds to go… Deep breathes, this is gonna hurt! 10 secs… Out the pedals. 3 secs to go… Lean back. Off! Sprinting up the rise, cresting it with a lot left in the tank, my thoughts were to finish strong not to tail off towards the end.
Now anyone who’s ridden the course they’ll know that this is probably one of the longest straightest roads around us! I could see the finish with just under 1 km to go, I started to run out of gears as expected as I started to sprint. I had emptied the tank and finished in 3 mins 3 seconds according to my Garmin. It was only till I got back to HQ where I realised it wasn’t quite as good a ride as id hoped. I had done it in 3 mins 8 seconds which although doesn’t sound like a lot, those 5 seconds split the top 20. I finished in 23rd, Eugene had done a stormer and beat both me and Ali coming in in 3 mins 2 seconds.
Everyone was then in to recovery mode for the afternoons road race round the infamous Pennypot circuit.

Stage 2 – By Alastair Wareham

Stage 2 followed the morning’s Prologue in which I sitting 9th overall, Eugene 6th and Max 23rd with just a handful of seconds separating us all. Max and I had already spent a few matches in the morning event and that was before the Prologue. We got lost trying to get to the start, and with 10 minutes to go we were drilling it in the opposite direction we had come realising our error and trying to get to the start on time. It was a good warm up nonetheless. This would be my first road race for 2 years. I had endured a few sleepless nights questioning why I even entered the event. 4 Stages, over 2 days, off an average of 7 hours a week training, what could possibly go wrong!

The event itself was filled with some of the country’s best up and coming talent. Adam Hartley, Harry Hardcastle, Kieron Savage, Archie Cross to name a few, as well as our own Eugene Cross (Archie’s younger brother) and Max McMurdo. I felt a little out of my depth if I am completely honest.

Lining up in the neutralised area and looking around me, I felt somewhat overweight and underprepared! My plan was to conserve as much energy as possible because I knew the 4th and final stage was going to be absolutely brutal. Obviously any pre-race plan goes out the window as soon as the flag drops.

The 2nd stage was held on the Penny Pot circuit which is fairly brutal itself. Penny Pot lane is a 5 mile drag at around 3-4% gradient. After 4 or 5 laps it felt more like 10% gradient. There were some fast sweeping descents and tough little drags to contend with, with each lap covering 11 miles. The day itself was beautiful. 20 degrees or so but fairly windy.

We rolled out of the neutralised zone and made our way to the start area. One of my main downfalls from when I used to road race was positioning and almost immediately I found myself at the back of the bunch. Two years none-the-wiser it seems. As soon as the flag dropped it was carnage with attacks going off left, right and centre. The first hairy moment of the day was the descent of Pot Bank which is 17% gradient with 75 riders jostling for position. The screeching smell of carbon brake blocks was delightful and all I could hear was somebody flying off to the right of me and into the bushes. Man down. Not me luckily (I saved that for the final stage) and the race continued at breakneck speed. By the time I had made my way up to mid bunch, a break had already gone BUT thankfully it contained one of my teammates, Eugene (more about him later). Post race reports say that riders were getting dropped in their droves. It really was a tough race but with so many national standard riders it was no surprise.

I slowly started making my way towards the front of the 2nd group where I was joined by my other teammate, Max McMurdo. Max reminds me a lot of myself when I started road racing. Bags of power, very good at causing mischief in the early stages of a race, great at dishing out some pain, but using too many matches early on and missing the vital move. I had made a note of the strong riders left in the 2nd group and those doing the work to try and reel in the breakaway. After Max had finished his latest pull on the front, things settled down momentarily until a rider from HD Revolution (Mike Harris – he won this stage last year) and Ed Hooper from Audlem CC broke away. Michael is a local rider to me and I know he is very strong – particularly on the hills so I knew it was a move to chase down. I got out the saddle and chased after them. Once I’d got on the back of them I had a quick look round and noted that nobody had chased me down and there was a decent gap between the three of us and the second group. I relayed this to the other two and we then proceeded to spend the next 2 laps, 22 miles, trying to reel in the front group. I am not entirely sure what the gap was to the leading group, maybe 60/90 seconds, but it took an almighty effort to try and catch them. Ed was the most vocal breakaway rider I’ve ridden with. It was like being back at school. ‘’Is this pace ok’’ ‘’easy over the hills’’ ‘’is everyone ok’’ ‘’ease off a touch’’ ‘’are we all still together?’’ ‘’don’t get too excited boys, they are still 20 seconds in front’’ ‘’big effort now boys’’. I on the other hand barely mustered a breath as I was so tired! Penny Pot lane was so draining. The road surface is terrible and the incline just goes on and on. We rode really well together, each doing their turn and contributing to the cause.

We finally had the breakaway in sight on Penny Pot lane and reeled them in with just over 1 lap to go. Ed briefly suggested that rather than sit on the back we just drill it and go round them. I suggested he was a lunatic and told him that I’d be having a breather. He gave me a very disappointed look. I pulled alongside Eugene and he briefly looked disappointed to see me as he thought that the bunch had caught them. I reassured him that it was just the 3 of us. Suffice to say, there was no rest, now we had caught them, the lead group was up to 15 riders and everyone started attacking. I begged for mercy but it fell on deaf ears. With half a lap to go, Eugene’s brother, Archie, took his chance and went for a solo break. Nobody followed. We all looked around at each other and nobody wanted to chase. 1 lad from Adept Precision did try to catch Archie but to no avail (although he did finish 2nd on the stage). Archie won the stage. The rest of us jostled for position for the minor placings. I tried to sit on Eugene’s wheel up the final hill but I had absolutely nothing left in the tank and lost 11 seconds in the final 100 metres. I had bonked big style. 2 gels and 2 bottles of OTE didn’t quite cut the mustard. The 2 laps we spent reeling in the breakaway had taken all my reserves. I finished 15th on Stage 2. Eugene was 12th. Max came in approximately 5 minutes down and looked a broken man. He will learn to read a race better, and conserve more energy, with more experience. Eugene on the other hand already seems to have a great knack of reading a race. It also helps that he is a very strong rider across all terrain. He is also the politest team mate I have ever ridden with. Although we are all doing individual write ups from the 4 stages, it would be remiss of me not to mention what he said on the 4th and final stage. With 2 laps to go, one of his GC rivals broke away. He turned to me and said ‘’excuse me, Alastair, but would you mind chasing that move down for me. He’s one of my rivals’’. Legend. Whilst I momentarily thought to myself, no, I’m only 11 seconds down on you on GC, I duly obliged and did what was asked of me. I was impressed with both our junior riders this weekend. Eugene is already at a great level and will only get better. Max has power in spades but not quite the racing craft. It’ll come. Of that there is no doubt.

Stats for Stage 2.

65 miles (inc neutralised section)

24.4 mph average.

283 w average.

319W NP.

202 TSS.

Ouch.

Stage 3 – By Max McMurdo

Stage 3 was a TTT which was run on the last 9km of the Dacre road circuit. It was here where it would tell who had recovered well and who was left wanting after a tough day in the saddle on Saturday.
SSLL were strong favourites to do well here, but we were at a slight disadvantage to some teams as both me and Eugene were on junior gearing, meaning we would be struggling to do turns at times. We were gonna give it everything we had none the less. We drove up in the team car to see the course, and set up turbos and rollers by the start of the course.
It quickly became our turn to start, my legs felt like they had recovered well after a hard day. That ice bath, foam roller and protein shake from OTE must have done the trick.
I was the front man who would get us up to speed, Eugene sat second to get us into the rhythm with Ali, the Diesel engine, at the back ready to put in a big shift.
It felt very smooth and fast, and considering we have never ridden together like that before I was very impressed. And meant the finish came far quicker than expected! We had let Ali do a lot of the turns on the downhills with myself and Eugene doing turns on the flat and rises where we could.
We came onto the prologue course and I knew we had only 2.37 km to go. Eugene did a big turn up the rise and I was hanging on for dear life!
We all stayed together well and the last 1 km sign had appeared. We started to sprint with about 500m to go where we fanned out to three abreast to get the fastest time possible, as it was the third rider across the line who’s time was taken. I stopped my Garmin at 10:57 for the 9km course. I was buzzing that was over 30 mph average!
Unfortunately it was only good enough for 3rd but it meant Ali and Eugene had moved up on GC to a strong position going into the 4th and final stage. I moved up aswell however I was not in contention like the other two were, having not been able to get into the break on stage 2.
It was time once again to dine on pesto pasta and chicken, before getting changed for the last time to race once again on the final stage.

Stage 4 – By Eugene Cross

After 3 stages the GC race had been set up nicely. Archie sat in 1st but this was definitely the day that the the GC could go any direction. The course was short. 4.5 laps of the Dacre circuit. Due to the horrific road surface on the descent the race would be neutralised for the descent. To sum it up this race was 5 hill climbs. Each climb would take about 12 minutes. The hill was split in half with about 1 minute descent in the middle of a 7 minute first half and a 4 minute second half. There was a tail wind up the climb and this worked in the favour of lighter people like myself however meant that the race was more likely to split up. I was sitting 1st Junior and 3rd overall after the TTT and just had to finish with the other juniors to take the 1st junior prize home.

The first time up the hill University of Sheffield Cycling Club (UOSCC) started as they meant to go on. One rider would sit on the front at a pace that strong people could live with, but that was quick enough to deter people from attacking off the front. Archie would sit second wheel behind a teammate, with the other UOSCC rider never far behind. I would sit a few wheel back, aiming to sit in the around 8th, sheltered but at the front.

The majority of the race became a routine. UOSCC would drill it up the hill, someone would attack over the top for the KOM points and we would roll back round, at a steady pace bar the intermediate sprint, and start the climb again. Having said that it wasn’t easy. The heat was incredible. The race was only 36 miles but people were still taking on extra bottles. On one of the ascents I watched second placed Chris Sleath drop his bottle. This was seriously bad news for him. Without a second bottle he was going to suffer a lot to finish this race. At this point Archie (1st) took a swig and passed Chris the final ⅓ of his first bottle. This was either the best piece of sportsmanship I’d ever seen or the bribe that sealed Archie’s overall. I guess we’ll never know.

After the 4th ascent Harry Hardcastle had jumped clear, and I was not going to let him slip away. I asked Alistair who was still right at the front of the race if he would mind chasing for me. In hindsight this was a selfish request as Alistair was only 11s behind me overall and most likely had his own ambitions. Having said that Alistair went above and beyond. He shot off the front of the bunch chased down Harry and sat behind him. Reluctant to tow Alistair round Harry sat up and the group caught up.

Ultimately I’d asked Alistair to chase because I was starting to feel tired and I knew that the final ascent would be quick. I was right. Kieran Savage on the front setting a stupid pace. I was struggling to hold it together, and Adam Hartley (2nd Junior) knew about it. We crested the first half of the hill and I got some rest , kieran was spent and pulled off. Adam flew down the corner at the bottom of the brief descent and got a couple of bike lengths on me. At this point he knew that I was struggling and that he had to take time. He didn’t sprint off the front but rode as hard as he could. I tried telling myself that I didn’t have long to hold on but with about 150m I blew and flicked my elbow to tell whoever was behind that I was losing the wheel in front. Nobody came through. People came alongside me but only archie had managed to stay with Adam. At the top of the hill I was spent, but mildly optimistic. I knew that archie had nothing to gain from working and would just sit on to give me a fighting chance of chasing. I tried to get a chase going, openly begging people to try chase, but my whole group, which still contained Alistair, couldn’t muster a chase. Meanwhile Adam was riding away with my 3rd place and first junior. I drilled it into the last Km knowing that I hadn’t done enough. The group behind me all sprinted around me with a few hundred metres to go. I’d blown it. I watched the sprint from behind and saw Alistair and Paddy Clark (UOSCC) both crash to the floor hard after incredible races from both of them. Torn kit and plenty of road rash, but otherwise ok. Rumour is that Paddys skinsuit will be framed by UOSCC or worn for “shit lycra socials”. Adam had put 30s into my group, nailing me down to 4th, and taking 2nd for himself overall. Archie had won the stage (by an overly small margin considering Adam had towed him the final 5km).  Archie had also won the GC, but owed this 98% to his teammates.  The way Kieran and Paddy had sacrificed themselves all day for Archie was admirable. I think Archie was very grateful to them both. Ian Savage came over to me after the stage and wagered that Archie would break down to tears at some point that evening over how moved he was by the performance.  Again, I guess we’ll never know.

Max had dropped from the front group due to a mechanical with under a lap to go hence his absence in the finale. Max did not sit up. Whilst many people had quit once they’d been dropped Max fought for each second. It was entirely this attitude of not quitting that secured SSLL the 2nd team overall.

Max, Alistair and I all owe a huge thanks to Jon Surtees who supported us both days. All three SSLL riders had a great time and are definitely looking forward to racing as a team in a stage race again soon.

Ilkley 10 V212-keep it rolling…

After last week`s disaster when I punctured in the warm up and missed my start, I just needed a solid ride to get me back on track in this event. I had the week from hell at work and training has not gone to plan with my power really suffering and for the first time I struggled to finish a couple of Matts sessions. In his usual confidence building style he coaxed me through each one and promised me it would return in time. He was right. It shows what a great coach Matt is, not just giving me the work to do, but having that relationship where he knows his riders so well and saying the right things at the right time to keep your head on.

 Friday night when I usually have an easy ish ride, Matt gave me a ridiculous session with some top end power intervals mixed with sweetspot which I thought would end any chances of a good ride the next day, but he clearly knows what he is doing so I did it exactly to the letter and staggered in to see my wife (who`s a brilliant physio!) and she rubbed the pain away with a sports massage. J

Saturday morning the legs felt fine and I never had the time to consider the event given I had to drive to York with my son for his bike training. Two hours stood at the side of the track was nice in the cold followed by a drive back, get my kit ready and off I went.

The V212 was once the mecca for cyclists when it was part of the old A1 at Boroughbridge, but these days its even described as a sporting course with the horrible `red wall` climb about 3 miles from the finish. Its ended many a decent ride by me in the past, but the one thing I think this course is, is fair to all. Hardly any traffic to assist and no luck with lorries dragging you along. Perfect.

This was one of the best fields I had ridden in this season, Adam Duggleby whos off to the Olympics and a great rider, Steven Burke MBE and Olympic gold medal winner, then some of the best Yorkshire Tt`ists, not least my two SSLL buddies Joel and Ali.

As I was so early I went out to the course to watch a few riders who seemed to be slogging in the strong crosswind, hail, sleet, rain…..I have to say I was not looking forward to it. With 45 mins to go I pulled my kit on and set off on my usual warm up. Legs felt ok but started to grumble whenever I touched it up to 330 watts plus for any length of time. With 10 mins to my start time the sun came out, hoorhay!!

What I learnt in my ride today was that you really need to keep going regardless of how you feel. You would think I should know this all of the years I have been riding but the head can play many tricks on you when on the limit. Its no exaggeration to say that after 3 miles I very nearly sat up and packed which would have been inexcusable and ruined the team win chances! Thankfully I had a word with myself and immediately I felt better. With the turn wet I went round gingerly and made my mind up to go as hard as I could back to the finish. When I reached the red wall I suddenly felt brilliant, banged up the power and to my amazement was able to hold that to the top of the climb. Once over the top it’s a hard 1.5 miles and like riding through glue, but again no problems and actually increased my speed and power.

I crossed the line in 20.57 which was about 30 secs better than any previous time on here and I was really pleased to do a 20 in a power PB this season. My first thoughts were that I would be lucky to be top 10 as it seemed a decent day and that the better riders would be in 19 territory. However, speaking to Adam it seemed he had only put about 15 secs into me which I was more than happy with. Back at HQ it seemed I had done a good ride and finished 2nd to Adam with Burke in 3rd in 2105 and Ali Wareham 4th with 21.15. Not a lot between us at all. With Joel putting in a solid ride we also managed to win the team.

Results

http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110344

Great event and so thanks go to my second claim club, Ilkley CC and in particular Ged for organising. Ilkley are a great club and put lots back into the sport on all levels.