>Goodness me I was tired after yesterday’s ’10’. The 5am alarm for today’s event didn’t help either.
The High Wycombe CC ’25’ was my first ride on the fast H25/2 course at Marlow this year. I like the course (it has a gift hill start) but it’s not an easy ride by any means. It was another cold morning with a light breeze. I should probably have wrapped up a bit more, but I hate racing in pyjamas.
The ski-slope saw me once again fail to top 40mph – courage deserted me when a truck came past and its slipstream moved me over. This was also the moment I hit my maximum heart rate – 171bpm. The rest of the time the HR was depressed after yesterday’s exertion. Nothing like fear to wind me up.
The early drags out to the turn saw me trundling up them at 17mph. My legs were shot from yesterday’s effort. I plugged away on slightly too high a gear (see average cadence below) and bought it home in 1:02:17. I was still shivering 30 minutes later. I’d targeted a sub 1:02 ride, but that wasn’t a bad effort in the circumstances.
Race stats: Time: 1:02:17 (24.08mph). First 12.5 miles: 31:39, last 12.5 miles: 30:38. Top speed: 39.1mph. Slowest mile (9): 3:07 (19.25mph), fastest mile (2): 1:46 (33.96mph). Average HR: 154bpm, maximum HR: 171bpm. Average cadence: 75rpm. 50th of 89 finishers. Winner: Rob Griffiths (www.athleteservices.com) 54:42.
Condolences to three of my mates who recorded PBs of 1:00:04, 1:00:06 and 1:00:38 respectively. This whole ‘under the hour’ thing is harder than it looks.
Got home and decided not to freeze watching the Hillingdon GP or schlep into Lunnon to watch the Giro at the new Look Mum No Hands café (though I’d like to get there soon). No, I thought I’d take it easy and watch the F1 Monaco GP. Two hours later I woke up – missed the whole race. Did I mention I was tired?
Lance Woodman 
>I'm pretty sure it was a slow day out there today, I've not done a 25 so can't say for sure, but it didn't feel fast, and I think without the gift hill it would be a pretty slow course all round!
>That was a pretty good first '25', Jim. Well done. The cold certainly slows things down (and I think the wind got up for the later riders). I've gone a minute faster on that course on a warmer day (and John Tuckett has done a 49 on it), so it can be fast. You're right tho' – it has no flow, so it's never easy.
>It didn't feel particularly fast to me! I was really fighting to get above 35 on the ski slope and once at the bottom all the momentum disappeared. The Maidenhead Thicket section going out was pretty awful, too – I felt like I was riding through treacle. There will be better days.
>That's what most TT courses are like, Simon. You improved an amazing amount which is why it felt hard. "It never gets easier, you just go faster." Greg Lemond