Hemel Hempstead CC '25' 5th July 2009

Unbelievably, this was only my first solo '25' of the 2009 season.  In part this has been because there seems to have been a smaller number of events in the London North district, but also because of calendar clashes with, for example, our cycle tour in June, and in part my reluctance to return to racing on the F1 courses after the Icknield RC '25' back in May.  Anyway, the long and short of it was that my performance was not what I would have liked.

The morning was rather nicer than the forecast indicated during the week, while is was quite breezy in a blustery way, there was no rain and with the sunny spells was quite pleasantly warm.  The event was held on the F13/25, which runs along the A41 from near Launton to the outskirts of Aylesbury and back,  and it's not a particularly quick course, including some quite tough sections, including a steep bank about 9 minutes in to the event.  There's also the dreaded traffic lights at a pedestrian crossing in Waddesdon (immediately outside a police station!), at which a marshal is stationed to spot errant riders running the red light.

On the morning it was clear quite early on that it was going to be quite hard, and the bends i the course meant that riders had no lengthy spells of wind assistance.  I felt my legs were really heavy, and while I was frequently able to raise my speed to respectable levels, these spells were unfortunately short-lived.  Effort-wise, I rode well enough to maintain my HR in the upper reaches of level 3, occasionally in level 4, so I guess that at the very least it represented a decent training ride.

I finished in an uninspiring 1:02:05, though I did catch a couple of riders, and was about to catch another as I crossed the line.  I've entered a '10' next weekend, and a '25' the week following, so perhaps I can begin to raise my fitness as the Duo Normand approaches (September 20th).