Iona at Peterborough Crit

Iona at Peterborough Crit

Sunday 4 August 2013

Bruntingthorpe 10 mile Time Trail - 30th July

I was really looking forward to this as I had not entered a time trail locally for over a year and this was a course I'd never ridden.  I heard that it was windy, due to being an air field and so very exposed.  The surface was also quite rough but it was nice to be on a closed circuit course, so no lorries and speeding cars to contend with like on the A46 (the only other TT I've ridden locally).
The sat nav sent us on a city adventure through Leicester which meant we got stuck in some rush hour traffic so didn't have much time for a thorough warm up and to ride the course. 
It was two and a half laps and on the the first lap I was concentrating on picking the best line, avoiding some pretty good pot holes and cracks, but as it was on a run way the road was very wide and there were lots of other cyclists and always a 'carrot' to chase.

I'd gone out pretty quick but felt good, my first lap was the quickest and I overtook my friend Gav, it was his first TT and I couldn't believe it when I caught him up, he's got some power when he decides to use it but he looked like he was on a Sunday ride!! (he admitted it and I know he'll see the funny side)!  He said after he thought he should put in some effort when I went by and I knew that was the case as then he caught me up and overtook, I caught him up again and we were ridding at a similar speed for a while (not draughting of course)!  On the last lap we rounded a bend and hit the head wind on a slight ascent, Gav started dropping back and I  kept going, there is no respite on a TT, although I knew once I got on the the run way  it would be easier in a tail wind and I could spin it up. I got up to max speed of 28mph and kept pushing on, no easier then!  I was pleased to get a PB over 10 miles,  especially on new course, which made me swear with the surface on the first lap but now I'm hooked and will be going back sometime soon that's for sure...

Linda