Ely Hardriders 25 TT

Sunday 10th Feb - my bike racing debut! Buoyed by Mr Turner and Mr Handcock telling me nothing could go wrong, just ride hard and bury yourself, I set out for this TT with hope in my heart. My overriding worry was going the wrong way - in a running race a shout will get you back on track but in a bike race you're a couple of hundred meters down the road before you'd even be missed!

Get to the village hall in Little Downham at about 9am with 90 mins to go till my start. Mr T has kindly bought my bike along fresh with the new FFWD wheels he's talked me into buying. And he's set them up for me :) cheers coach !!

Quickly discover TT racing makes the start of running races look like a scene from the only way is Essex. It's hardcore riders only. No hangers on, family or support - it's riders, bikes & officials.

Do a bit of a warm up, to be fair I have no clue what I am doing. Ride to the local shop to buy a Lucozade as I'd forgotten to bring a drink, then just kind of ride up and down the street a bit trying to stay warm-ish. To be fair it's fucking freezing. I've wrapped up in a bike jumper and winter leggins though and running gloves and winter overshoes. The bike looks quick but the rider does not! I even had the £8.23 change from the Lucozade rattling in my back pocket.

I headed to the start when the riders were starting. I was 11th man off (start is a minute gap each) and before I know it the man is beckoning me to the start and holding my bike. Feels kinda weird.

Count down from 10 and all I can think about is starting my Garmin without falling off like a twat. Go, I peddle like a fucker and when I hit what feels like 20 mph I hit start on the Garmin. No beep. Hit it again. No beep. Look at it - says timer stopped (twat) and hit it again. And we're off (I think). Get into the drops and peddle again.

First few miles downhill with a good wind. Not sure what direction there just feels like wind everywhere. Get into a good gear and before I know it I'm a mile down the road. Happy days I haven't crashed yet. See my minute lady in front, sail past shortly to be over taken by some racing snake with a disc. Fuck me he looks quick - 2 miles in and I'm a minute down!

About 6 miles is 'villagey' with some shit roads, turns and inclines then we hit the A10. Mr T rockets past taking the piss, I can only laugh as I'm doing about 25 mph here and he looks like he's left the gas on. Bit of a hill and I laugh again as there's a traffic jam behind Mr T with the big arctic unable to round his fat ass !! Big ass hill like Mr T briefed me - don't panic - then there's about 6 miles of good A10 and I am flying. 21 mph avge at 12.5 miles - bang on the money.

A10 and the next road I am killing it (well for me) I peddle hard, keep my head down and enjoy the speed. 26 mph for long periods is by far best I've ever managed (I later found out Ian & Rich were holding 32mph here and Luke Hattersley blogged about holding 38 #wft)! Then we turn onto some dog shit redneck road that's like an assault course. If they dig it up and leave it next year it'll be more ridable. I was holding 21 mph but spent most of the time smashing my forarms into my bars. What a twattingly shite peice of road that is. Off that at about 20 miles and then disaster - marshall standing behind a corner doesn't give a good point and I'm flying off course - annoyingly in the right direction just taking the scenic route. Feel worried here as it looked like I should have turned but by now I'm way into it and just keep my head down and peddle hard. Peak avge speed was 22.1 mph and this drops all the way till I stop the Garmin now at 25.44 miles and 21.4mph avge.

Finish up in good spirits. I'm not a bike racer and if I had have finished the 25 route (69.5x) would have been mid pack. 2 other people behind me go wrong including Rich who was on a fast one so jury out on blame (OK you should always know the route BUT marshal could have saved me there).

So, happy days. Roll on the next one!

Got to say a huge thanks to Mr T who basically set me up, got all my shit there, took it home and also pulled everyones pants down on the day riding a 59.48 on a cold, windy, tough route. Fucking awesome riding my man.

So last weeks numbers ended up thusly -

Swim 1hr40 2.38 miles
Bike 4hr19 82 miles
Run 3hr22 29 miles

Swim - nailled a technical session swimming really well. Also did a 4 x 400 with a pb (6.56) and had my arse handed to me with the pull by Mr T (doesn't count as he kicks more with a pull than without !!!)
Bike - goes without saying! Dissapointing week in terms of numbers but conditions are still shitty and was let down by Ed on my Friday ride. Going to start getting better, longer rides in and my 25 mile TT shows things are not too shabby just now considering I don't feel fast.
Run - great 16.6 with Dan on his #project100. 15 of those miles @ 6.56 avge with last one in 6.04 shows things are OK. 7.02/mm avge for the week too which isn't bad.

After the Ely 25 I headed back to Center Parcs - have been on a family holiday. Just been doing easy running Monday - Thursday morning and headed out for a steady 5 @ 6.19/mm tonight so know that things are ticking along nicely. Plan for the weekend is 40 mile bike tomorrow (if Ange gets back early enough) - usual route and attack the hills (a bit), 8-12 miles easy/steady Saturday (again tome dependent) then making my St Neots CC debut on Sunday morning. Meeting Mark and riding to St Neots, do the club run and ride back. From spying on his Strava this is usually about 68 miles @ 17.5 mph with a coffee stop. Just my cuppa right now. Will give me a good run/bike week that!