The first of the VTTA Zwift time trial series was preceded by a 'test event' that I missed. So I came at it a bit cold, not having done a Zwift TT in nearly a year. The TT was on the nearly pan-flat Tempus Fugit course. This is really quite unrealistic as even on the flattest real life courses there are minor undulations and variations in wind resistance that make the ride a bit more variable than in a virtual world like Zwift.

Anyway, I made the most stupid error (especially given the decades of TT experience I have), and shot off at the start at a completely unsustainably power. Subsequently I was all over the place power-wise and faded really badly towards the end. I could see my average power dropping...I finished in 24:20 (I think), with an average power of 232W. Apparently this was good enough for 7th place on Age Adjusted Time (so I am told). Maybe the re weren't many VTTA members taking part!

 I am a happy user of a Garmin Edge 840. In fact, since GPS-enabled bike computers became a thing I've only ever owned Garmin Edge devices (500, 520, 520 Plus and now 840). That, I think, says quite a lot about my perceptions of these devices.

Over time, the capabilities of these devices has increased, with new (and often connected) features available. I now routinely use live-tracking and a ConnectIQ app called Windfield which both require a bluetooth connection to a phone. Windfield is very useful as it provides upcoming weather forecast updates and shows current wind speed and direction.

I started using Zwift after recovering from my first (and so far only) bout of Covid at the outset of the first UK lockdown in spring 2020. At that time I was working from home and I settled into a routine of riding Zwift before and after each working day, with a significant impact on my fitness. I remained a home-worker until I retired in 2023, but I kept using Zwift along with some other virtual platforms after that.

For me, Zwift has generally been a bit of a solitary activity. I did try a couple of meet-ups with work colleagues, and took part in the VTTA Zwift time trial series last January, but really I'm just there on my own in the garage.

The New Years Day '10' is a regular event in the North Bucks Road Club calendar of events, and one that I am generally keen to turn out for. Unfortunately over the last few years, my attendance has been spotty to say the least. I ddn't ride in 2023 owing to a family emergency, and I didn't ride in 2024 owing to a hideous respiratory cold (not Covid, at least!).

One of the frequent problems with winter events it the likelihood of bad weather. This year was particularly bad, and while we were optimistic owing to the larger than usual number of entries (11, including a many from a local Triathlon club), as I was monitoring the forecast over the last week, as New Year's Day drew closer I was seeing rain, then sleet, then snow, then finally strong gusts of wind combined with heavy rain.

As usual I've gone into Christmas week with an eye on the club's New Years Day '10'. Also as usual, the travelling and generally trying to be sociable, has disrupted things along with not sleeping too well. The NYD '10' was one of the events that I set in Athletica.ai training plan as a target event, and it'll be the first real test of my fitness. I am still funneling workouts into TrainerRoad, and my AI estimated FTP has jumped a whapping 2W to 251W since I started with Athletica.ai. That might reflect better progress than it seems since having an increasing FTP in one's mid-60s could be rather good.

In other news, I added a second A race to my schedule, the Duo Normand, reinstated to the calendar for the first time since Covid did away with the 2020 edition. At least this event is on a Sunday and can be properly entered in the Athletica.ai calemdar, unlike events not on a weekend (almost all of the North Bucks Club events are on Wednesdays). This is actually pretty poor feature of Athletica.ai, but I suppose only a few mid-week events are likely to be key events in my season.

On the whole, this set of 20 albums was pretty disappointing, with the top spot in my ranking going to the first Ian Dury album, New Boots and Panties!! This album didn't seem to connect with many other reviewers, maybe because it's so deeply rooted in the London vernacular. But for those of us who came to music in the punk years, it was an important album bridging pub rock with the new punk rock and quite typical of the (often peculiar) Stiff Records roster. Every track is a banger.

Biggest disappointment was Prince's Purple Rain. I've tried over the years to like his albums, but I've never been able to muster the enthusiasm of his many admirers. Other disappointments included My Bloody Valentine's comeback bore-fest mbv and I really didn't like Adele's 25 much either.

This is a career-spanning box set of vinyl albums, comprising the four studio albums released 1978-1981 (Real Life, Secondhand Daylight, The Correct Use Of Soap and Magic, Murder and the Weather), the 2011 album No Thyself and a compilation album Rays & Hail, now beefed up to double album status with tracks from No Thyself. I'm not familiar with Rays & Hail, but I do have a couple of other compilations featuring rarities and alternative versions of songs, including the John Peel radio sessions.

I'm going to review this set in two sections. First my recollection from the time of original release and then second a review of the set as I play through it.

 This tranche of albums that I should apparently play before I die had some strong contenders. Love's Forever Changes, heralding the end of the 60s dream; The Beatles' White Album, which I rated 4 as I think they should have made a single album; Wild Gift by X, which was new to me; Motorhead's Ace of Spade all merited a score of 4 from me.

Two albums scored 5 - Nirvana's Nevermind (I rated it because of it's impact on grunge, otherwise I'd probably have rated it 4) and Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.

Word has reached me via the timetrialling forum that my favourite time trial, the Duo Normand 2-up team time trial, is slated to return in 2025 and will be run on September 21st.

The last time I rode the Duo Normand was in 2019 - in 2020 it was abandoned owing to the Covid pandemic, and it never returned to the calendar, though I recall a half-baked effort with an event over two days with a short run and a very short 2-up time trial. My long-term 2-up partner and I are very excited by the possibility of another outing at the Duo. Our first race was in 2003, and with the exception of one event, roade it each year until 2019. We even won the Corpo category in 2010 at the combined age of 100! 

I’ve now been using Athletica for a few months. While the indications I see on form via intervals.icu are nothing but positive, I reckon the proof will be in performance on the ground in the New Year’s Day ’10’ - about 6 weeks away. Here's a banner from Athletica, proclaiming "Train Smarter, not Harder". Does the app live up to that billing? Read on...

The whole training plan seems rooted in science - every so often I see a link to a publication or at the least an athletica blog article. This makes the app seem much less of a black box than, for example, TrainerRoad. There is a regularity about the training plan: each week has a recovery session; a 30:30 short HIIT session; a Threshold session of 4m intervals set at several watts above threshold; two tempo/sweetspot sessions, one of which is at higher gear/lower cadence as a strength training session. Interspersed are endurance sessions, often long enough that I’d prefer to do them outdoors. I’ve also noted that while I sometimes struggle to complete sessions (particularly the Threshold sessions), I am more able to do so than I was with TrainerRoad. Every few weeks, there are threshold and power profile tests scheduled. I’m unsure how these play out in terms of fine-tuning the various parameters, but as far as I understand it, the system looks at the power profile graph as a whole (or maybe specific points along the chart).