>Rivalry

>There are things you should probably never do – declaring a rivalry being one of them. Over the winter I let someone know that I wanted to beat R, who was faster than me every time last season. This someone let R know, and it has become a friendly point of contention between us. Last night we both rode a club 10 mile time trial at Hillingdon. It was time to put up…

It was a hard race – breezy and cold. The nature of the circuit meant establishing a rhythm was difficult and my computer being bost meant that I had no idea of how fast I was pedalling or moving. I lost count of the laps after about 4 of the 11. Luckily I had caught R on that fourth circuit and only had to keep him behind me to be certain of beating him. As the temperature dropped my lungs got rawer and rawer. The finish could not come soon enough. The final time up the hill was hard and I ended up freewheeling across the line (this is a time trialling sin). My time was a disappointing 28:48, but at least I achieved one of my winter aims. Of course R now knows what he needs to do and will raise his game accordingly. Here’s to the next time.