>Up at 5:15am to head North on the A1 for a 25 mile time trial. It should have been my third ’25’ of the year but the previous two have been respectively flooded and snowed off. Although I’ve got plenty of training miles in my legs I knew that a sustained 1 hour plus of effort would test the system. I was not wrong.
It was a frosty morning. A day for leg and arm warmers and a hat. Even after a half-hearted ‘warm-up’ it took a good five miles to settle the heart down and search for a pedalling rhythm. A couple of rises before the turn slowed me down and disheartened me, but the journey back from half way was fast and I increased the pace.
I was aiming for 1 hour, 8 minutes and 59 seconds and pushed hard towards the finish. I ended up doing 1:06:50, which was great. This despite the front tyre deflating as the finish approached. The winner, it should be noted, did a 55:43.
Unfortunately, the turn off for the event HQ involved stopping suddenly after the finish. As I stopped the combination of cold, effort and a fixed position for over an hour set a hamstring into spasm. I’ve had this once before – it hurts (though it does amuse onlookers). I limped around for about an hour before I felt it was safe to drive home. Even now (8 hours later) the leg is sore and I can’t get up and down stairs without hilarious sound effects.
It may be wise to give Tuesday’s criterium a miss and ride a club 10 mile time trial at Hillingdon on Wednesday instead. Of course, it might be wise not to ride so hard so early in the year.
I’ve got another ’25’ next Saturday – at least it starts in the afternoon. My next target is the 1:05:59 I did in 2005.
Lance Woodman 