The start of my time trial season is looming ominously on the horizon. In 2024 I plan to ride more open events. Over the last couple of years I've ridden fewer open events (which are usually at weekends) because of various family issues. Mostly those issues have kept me from being able to race at weekends. Our club events are usually mid-week, and therefore have fit better with my lifestyle over the last couple of years.
The first event is an open event, the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' on 10th March. In the past this has always offered an opportunity to brush up my 2-up skills with my regular 2-up partner Gerry - the event is in his neck of the woods. In the following three weekends, I hope to ride the road bike TT series aimed at recruiting beginners to the NBRC club events. This series is on successive Saturday mornings on a 5 mile circuit course.
While I've kept actively training through the winter, a couple of things have dented my preparation for the coming season. Firstly I was ill over the Christmas period with that nasty respiratory illness that was doing the rounds, and from which I didn't fully recover until well into January. Then a trip to Edinburgh and Leeds in mid-February halted training for a week and seems to have set me back a fair bit.
There's been considerable discussion in UK time trialling circles around how the CTT should approach the rising number of 20mph zones on the roads. In the NBRC, we've assessed the courses we use for our club events, and only one has a 20mph zone, and that is a hill climb course on which riders won't exceed 20mph. The same can't be said for the course to be used for the Port Talbot Wh 2-up, which I understand may well have 20mph zones, which are widespread in Wales. Time will tell how this will play out.