Another lovely evening (though rather too hot for me) for this club event. A depleted number of "regulars" was augmented by some cyclists keen to give time trialling a shot - this was a nominated "come and try it" event. I pounded out to the meeting point, getting there with a little time to spare.
I decided to play around with gearing on the evening, and chose to tackle the main climb in a slightly lower gear that I would usually muscle up the hill. It didn't seem to help - either I need to drop it further or I need to carry on grinding out big gears! More problematic were the obstacles on the course this evening. Firstly, a large tractor/trailer combo seemingly abandoned just outside Beachampton; secondly some silly kids leaping out into the course near the turn; and finally, I got stopped at the turn roundabout ("foot on the ground stopped") by a nose-to-tail line of cars coming from the right. I don't know how much time that cost me, but I had to re-catch a rider I'd just past, and was myself caught shortly after while I was struggling back up to speed in a rather high gear.
Anyway, roaring back down to Beachampton was pretty quick, and I was helped a bit by having a bit of a ding-dong with the guy who's caught me - I think I could descend a bit quicker, especially with my enormous top gear engaged.
I finished with 27:51, which I wasn't hugely pleased with. But I suppose taking into account my "excess baggage" and the hassles at the turn it wasn't too bad (any anyway this course doesn't best suit me). I have a rare outing at an open '10' at the weekend, and it'll be good to see how that goes.
Another lovely evening (though rather too hot for me) for this club event. A depleted number of "regulars" was augmented by some cyclists keen to give time trialling a shot - this was a nominated "come and try it" event. I pounded out to the meeting point, getting there with a little time to spare.
I decided to play around with gearing on the evening, and chose to tackle the main climb in a slightly lower gear that I would usually muscle up the hill. It didn't seem to help - either I need to drop it further or I need to carry on grinding out big gears! More problematic were the obstacles on the course this evening. Firstly, a large tractor/trailer combo seemingly abandoned just outside Beachampton; secondly some silly kids leaping out into the course near the turn; and finally, I got stopped at the turn roundabout ("foot on the ground stopped") by a nose-to-tail line of cars coming from the right. I don't know how much time that cost me, but I had to re-catch a rider I'd just past, and was myself caught shortly after while I was struggling back up to speed in a rather high gear.
Anyway, roaring back down to Beachampton was pretty quick, and I was helped a bit by having a bit of a ding-dong with the guy who's caught me - I think I could descend a bit quicker, especially with my enormous top gear engaged.
I finished with 27:51, which I wasn't hugely pleased with. But I suppose taking into account my "excess baggage" and the hassles at the turn it wasn't too bad (any anyway this course doesn't best suit me). I have a rare outing at an open '10' at the weekend, and it'll be good to see how that goes.