2013 Time Trial Season

I don't think we've started a thread for this season yet, have we?

I'll get the ball rolling - Saturday afternoon was bright but cold and windy, even so after work I took the Ribble on its first competitive spin for 2013 and rode the North Hampshire RC event on the P751 course north of Winchester, about 11.5 miles total. There was a headwind all the way up the rolling A33 to the half-way point resulting in much grovelling! All the same, I came in 20th of 34 finishers in a time of 32m36s which is the quickest I've been on that course since March 2010 (when I was 3 years younger and riding a lighter if twitchier bike in the shape of a Look KG241). There were a few of us on standard road machines without tri-bars or aero wheels but less still of us on old-school steel.

No more racing for a few weeks now until the Hampshire Road Club start their summer evening series* over at Chichester in early April....

David

*Recommended if you live in the area - they're only club level rather than open TTs but even so have the bonus of a proper HQ (with a loo!) and as a result good post-race social atmosphere with hot drinks and biscuits.

That's not a bad ride at all David, especially for early season, comparable to around 28mins or so for a '10'? Plenty of time for improvement.

I'm afraid my early season is already heavily comprimised. I've not been at all well for the past month or so (and hadn't got many miles in previous to that) with at least 4 hospital visits in the past 10 days (including a chest x-ray and a CT scan) and it turns out I've had pneumonia! That's what you get for riding your bike when it's cold and drinking from damp glasses. The respiratory specialist I saw yesterday recommended that I keep off the bike for at least another week, especially if the weather doesn't improve, and she also said it can take 6 weeks to get over it. So I reckon I'll start again with gentle turbo rides in the warm from the middle of next week looking to get on the road properly early April (weather permitting!). At least I won't peak to soon!

In the meantime I'll plan a new mini-layout.

Old Ned":1e68b8uz said:

That's not a bad ride at all David, especially for early season, comparable to around 28mins or so for a '10'? Plenty of time for improvement.

I'm afraid my early season is already heavily comprimised. I've not been at all well for the past month or so (and hadn't got many miles in previous to that) with at least 4 hospital visits in the past 10 days (including a chest x-ray and a CT scan) and it turns out I've had pneumonia! That's what you get for riding your bike when it's cold and drinking from damp glasses. The respiratory specialist I saw yesterday recommended that I keep off the bike for at least another week, especially if the weather doesn't improve, and she also said it can take 6 weeks to get over it. So I reckon I'll start again with gentle turbo rides in the warm from the middle of next week looking to get on the road properly early April (weather permitting!). At least I won't peak to soon!

In the meantime I'll plan a new mini-layout.

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Thanks for the note of encouragement - my 10-mile best is about 25m40s on a near-flat B-road course in Sussex back in the days when I bothered with tri-bars, though even without I can easily get under 27m on a good day on said course.

Sorry to hear the bad news health-wise, hope you're on the mend soon. What with Gil's recent accident too, us RBers do seem to have been in the wars of late.

David

I posted 26m14s on the reasonably flat P841 10-mile course near Chichester last night, which I'm really pleased with as it marks a PB for using a bog-standard road bike, and is only 36s off my best-ever "10" time, clocked using my KG241 with tri-bars fitted, so a good effort all round. I generally had a good feeling beforehand and was proved right - here's hoping the rest of the season goes as well.

Some of the early riders off yesterday (in contrast, I was last man but one) had the slightly surreal complication of a tank/personnel carrier using the road to contend with on the outward leg (it passed me whilst I was on my warm-up)! :shock:

David

I have to confess all my tts are done on modern kit.

Although I plan to do a 10 on the Montello. I will still use the aero lid and skin suit so I will get a bit of a view what difference the bike makes.

No chance this year I reckon. Still having problems with my chest so racing is a no-no. Only managed 2 outings since March about an hour each.

I've managed a few TT outings this month - a slightly slower posting of 26m43s on the P841 again early in June, followed by 2 recent local events near Winchester in the space of 3 days. In spite of the latter I'm not feeling too bad today; last night I recorded 27m2s on the P140 "10" course near Romsey (which has the benefit of a "gift hill" at the start), whilst I did 29m7s for 10 miles over the rolling P751 north of Winchester on a breezy Sunday morning last weekend. In both instances I ended up on the results sheets with what would be called "mid-table respectability" in footballing circles so am quite pleased with my racing for June - I seem to be heading in the right direction ready for the serious muddy stuff come the autumn! The Ribble attracted a few amusing comments re. its age (it was described along the lines of being Merckx-era!) on Sunday in amongst all of the modern carbon and alloy bikes, but coming in 17th of 34 finishers showed it held its own well enough. For anyone interested, I can't recommend Continental's 24mm Poly-X-Breaker Grand Prix clinchers highly enough - they're an excellent ride.

David

Old Ned":bnigp5jl said:

No chance this year I reckon. Still having problems with my chest so racing is a no-no. Only managed 2 outings since March about an hour each.

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Good rides David, keep at it and you'll be going well in CX this winter.

Forgot to mention that I went out to our club's 10 a couple of weeks ago with the intention of marshalling so took a bike to get me to the marshalling point rather than drive. When I arrived I discovered it was the Club Championship 10 so just had to have a go - there might have been prizes! (slowest veteran etc.!) so rode around without exerting myself and recorded 34.50 - which is possibly my slowest ever 10! (and it is definitely a 'sporting course'!). However, I've now been given the all-clear on my chest problems from the specialist so I can start trying a bit harder now.

Perhaps I'll wait until next year now...........................

Old Ned":3tovq0ll said:

Forgot to mention that I went out to our club's 10 a couple of weeks ago with the intention of marshalling so took a bike to get me to the marshalling point rather than drive. When I arrived I discovered it was the Club Championship 10 so just had to have a go - there might have been prizes! (slowest veteran etc.!) so rode around without exerting myself and recorded 34.50 - which is possibly my slowest ever 10! (and it is definitely a 'sporting course'!). However, I've now been given the all-clear on my chest problems from the specialist so I can start trying a bit harder now.

Perhaps I'll wait until next year now...........................

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Glad you've had some good news on the health front - still plenty of summer left for getting back out on the road even if it means taking it easy. Gentle riding beats no riding at all any day (I was once told to have 2 months off the bike due to crash injuries - I was still able to get around on foot but bored silly).

David

Well the Alan (no aero aids as that would spoil the look) Competizone has been in action again this season. Tonight I posted a PB on the CCS lavenham 10 course 27:22 that's 53 second faster than my previous PB last year on the same bike and 1:18 faster than my last time on this course a couple of weeks ago. This course is fast circuit bt with lots of dragging hills.

Not to sure what happened but my goal of a 26:00 on the Lavenham 10 on this bike suddenly looks attainable. Tubs at 140 Psi front and 150 rear may have helped. Road surface is pretty good on this course mostly. I m now closing on folk with lots of aero aids and TT bikes. My goal is to quicker than most of them.

Also did the Hitcham 13.1 mile hilly course in 39:03