Damn, beaten by Ed Clancy and Andy Tennant in my first 10TT!

Hi Mike

Did one 10 on my road bike last May, only joined the club in Jan and started the season the week before, where I punctured 2 miles in! So this was my second TT on my TT bike, the first lasting only a few minutes!

I did 25:05 on my road bike back last year on the same course, with saddle pack, two full 750ml bottles, tyre levers and spare tubes etc so just wanted to go sub 25 this time out. Sub 24 was my target for a PB some time this season. To do 23:26 was a shock to me I can tell you! To come 3rd overall was an even bigger shock!

Since last year I have ridden a lot on the road bike, and done lots and lots of hills and I usually ride hard up hills. This is similar to the effort of a flat out 10, so I guess has given me a good base. I have also started to eat a bit healthier and lost about 7lbs since last year. There is still more weight to lose to get to my ideal (no lurv handles) and I am still getting used to the TT bike/ position. My neck tends to ache a bit at the moment and I think I need to swap the saddle for something a little more forgiving. I may get a bike fit done on the TT bike to optimise the set up too. Hopefully there is still some room for improvement then!

My advice? Ride plenty of miles, then ride some more. I tend to ride pretty hard wherever I go, which is not ideal training, but sure gives you a strong base. I am planning to just ride this season in that fashion on all the TTs I can do, plus all my road biking, starting later in the year on a little more specific training for next season. On that course I set off really hard and was flying for the first 5 miles. At the turn you start the more uphill bit and I just keep pushing. At 3/4 distance I could feel I was slowing and had to dig pretty deep to try and keep the pace as high as possible; this is the area where I think I can make most progress, i.e. trying to prevent the fade towards the end. Maybe I went off too quickly.....? I'm certainly looking forward to Tuesday on the same course! I think Andy Tennant said he was coming along again so maybe he'll look to break the course record again.....!

PP