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"You will always be in our hearts and on our roads." - @Giro d'Italia on Michele Scarponi
@Shannonball
Seconds out - 15/07/2024
I can hardly believe I am on the start line of an actual race. It’s been 14 months since +RichardM and myself last raced a time trial. We set a PB (and a club record) at 10 miles for tandems on this same F11/10 course. It’s near Tring, so easily reached from London and it is a fast course. Yes, there are a few roundabouts which impact your speed, but there’s also a glorious long down hill section after about 4 miles, which give you a boost and the good news is you don’t have to go back up it.
The race HQ is at Aston Clinton School
Why the 14-month break? Well, there have been organiser cancellations, poor weather, the time I brought two left shoes, mechanical issues, course changes and the list goes on. It seems like we’ve found every conceivable way to mess up. One time we even headed home without signing back in (technically and DNF). But we’re here. And we are hideously early. Stung by the shoe debacle, I’m more fastidious than ever about scheduling everything and writing lists of things that need to find their way into my race bag.
I use lists to manage my anxiety. Here's my schedule and warm up routine
It’s a huge field. We’re last off and we’re No 156. As we sign in the racing is well under way. Riders are heading off to the start point, which is 2 miles away and coming back in having given their all. The car park is full of people setting up and even assembling their bikes and doing their warm ups. Having signed in (must remember to sign out, I say out loud), we head back to the car to set about setting up the Calfee tandem.
Volunteers are the life blood of grassroots sport and time trials are no exception
The wheels go on, bike computers mounted, power pedals fitted and the tyres inspected for pressure. This is the only area we’ve improved since last year, when we had 28mm front and rear. Now we have 28mm at the front and 32mm rear and new TT tyres. Then it’s out with the turbo and I find a nice shady spot to warm up in. I follow the standard British Cycling 20 minute warm up and I do feel thoroughly warm at the end. Richard’s left Velotoze overshoe keeps riding down. It’s annoying him.
It's a warm day and I find a shady spot for our warm up
Richard does a good job of appearing relaxed before we race
When the time comes, we really cruise the two miles to the start. Star tandem pair Rachel Elliott and Ian Greenstreet haven’t even done that, they have driven to within 100m of the start. No one iota of wasted energy there. They are starting just ahead of us and we greet them on the start line.
Elliott and Greenstreet about to be held up - a wise choice it turns out
Our turn comes and we eschew the offer of being held up. It feels like a kindness to the starter, in spite of both of us having recent weight loss, but it leads to Richard struggling to clip in and we are delayed a smidge. Maybe we lose 2 seconds. There’s about 9 minutes riding until Gift Hill, the wonderful drop off, and I have planned to go a little harder than I might on a flat 10, on the basis that I can recover on the drop off. I don’t quite do that, but I do know I’m maxing out my efforts and begging for the easier section. And go easier I do as our speed kicks up to close to 45mph.
As the road levels off, the painful realisation kicks in that I need to do 10 more minutes of full gas pedalling before I can stop. It’s not pretty. I’m sweating up a storm and thankful I’ve enabled the rainlock on my bike computer. Looking at the computer and gauging my effort in watts doesn’t help. Nor does counting off the miles. Looking ahead, getting in the most aero position and getting big gulps of air feels like the best option.
Getting within one mile of the finish, things ease off, mentally at least. At 0.2 of a mile to go, I know I will be able to see the finish soon and the legs seem to hurt a little less. As we pass the finish it looks like a 20:50 time to me, but I can barely talk when we pull in for moment. Then the most pathetic, gentle pedalling back to base. I can’t think to direct Richard. I’m thankful it’s a simple route back and that he knows it.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” says one of the fabulous volunteers. Of course, I do, and there’s some homemade apple and almond cake among the “recovery snacks” on display. I grab it and we park ourselves and watch the results going up on the big screen. 20:50 is confirmed as our official time and 18:46 for Rachel and Ian. We have a 50 second advantage over them on the Age Adjusted Time calculations, but it’s nowhere near enough to close the gap on our illustrious opponents.
The apple and almond sit next to my tea. I only had one slice!
Twenty minutes and 50 seconds is just 2 seconds outside our PB. Two seconds! On the way home we run through what we could change to gain a little time:
And then I remember, at last year's race on the F11/10, we got involved in a three-way sprint to the line with the two other tandem pairs racing. We caught the pair that started 2 mins ahead of us and Elliott and Greenstreet caught us. It was exciting and we all pulled out a little extra effort. There's your 2 seconds, right there!
Confirming results on the big screen with time collated by still more volunteers
If you fancy a super quick 10 mile time trial, there is another F11/10 race this year on 14 September, the Icknield RC 10.