EAST ANGLIAN VTTA 25 - Cambourne - 25/09/2021

 11th Overall 1st male on Standard - National Age Record 50:00 mins

Last race of the season and a chance to pull off a fast time, target another National Age Record and redeem myself for last week but....again awoke not too good, did consider pulling out, but first did 30 mins on turbo...and felt quite good, so off I set...what's the worst case? Two lap race, so assess how I feel after one lap, and take it from there....

Unusually drove all the way there (near Cambridge) with no apparent affects in the race....and yes, felt good! Averaging over 340w from the start, which is as good as it gets....and maintained it, in fact increased my output and speed on the 2nd lap....

Coming close to the finish line I could see I was bang on 30mph average, so very close to a sub 50 mins - and crossed the line on.....exactly 50 bloody minutes! Could not believe it, did put a little challenge in (as I caught just after the line a tandem that started 5 mins exactly in from of me and were given 54-57 - so where was that 3 second gap! ) but it was upheld - bottom line is I could not have produced anymore in the last mile or so...and even still, a 50 minute 25 mile on only a moderately fast course was rather a good way to finish the season, and 11th overall on a course that typically attracts a quality field, and 1st man on standard, but pipped to the overall by Jackie Field.💪

Better still though was the very amusing and erudite report from Andrew Grant - see below 😂

NATIONAL VTTA 10 CHAMPIONSHIPS - Hatfield Woodhouse - 18th September 2021

7th Overall & Silver in National VTTA Championship 

Bugger, I knew I'd have to get very close to if not beat my course PB of 20-31 in order to challenge for the National Gold against favourite Richard Oakes, Richard would have to be close to 19-20 if I'd achieved my target....considering the course record up to recently was only about 19-12 and that was Connor Swift, I had a chance, but first I had to provide the goods!

Confident too after my course PB for the 25 on the same course last week, so looking good...BUT....did feel a little 'queer' these last 48 hours....🤒

Well, it wasn't to be, in fact was almost a minute down on my target and recording my slowest time on that course since my very early start up days...friggin rubbish, in fact slower than the last 10 miles in the '25' last week...really do not know why? 🤔

Still good enough for 2nd in the Championship, but a few places behind where I'd expect to be in the actual results?

Richard did get close to that 19-20 (19-25) and again the mercurial Angela Carpenter smashed the women's Championship, and actually finishing equal with Richard on Vets standard for overall....and if it was not for a hold up due to a car turning right, Angela would've broke the course record of Sarah Storey....she will next time....💪

"Local Boy" 😂

SHEFFREC CC 25 - Hatfield Woodhouse - 11th September 2021

 1st Overall - 1st Vet - Course PB

Rescheduled race from a cancellation earlier in the season, not my favourite course, but as my own club 25, felt loyal to do it....really small field, and rather hot favourite to win (according to SpinData predictions!).

And so it proved being nearly 4 mins in front of 2nd place...but more importantly, produced my performance of the season....with a power PB back up to above 340w, and a course PB in pretty basic conditions...with a strong westerly headwind on more than 50% of the course...just a shame I could not have repeated this performance on one of the bigger races!🔥🔥

Covered the last 10 miles too in a rather scintillating sub 21-20 - which on that sketchy course is usually good enough for a top 10 spot on a straight '10' (see next week! 🙄)

NATIONAL VTTA 25 CHAMPIONSHIPS - Nr Telford - 5th September 2021

 4th Overall - National Silver on Standard

There was always a risk on racing back to back days...and so retrospectively so it proved....felt ok whilst racing, but on completion my power average was down over 10w, on a course so similar to Hatfield (see next week!)...however still good enough for 4th place overall, but 30 seconds down on standard to the mercurial Richard Oakes for silver (again!) in the National VTTA Championship...but the performance of the day was that amazing Angela Carpenter, who was 5th overall and 2 mins ahead of even Richard on Standard....she's breathing down my neck so closely, I'll have to watch her, very closely! 😜 

ICKNIELD RC '10' - Aylesbury - 4th September 2021

 1st Overall - National Age Record plus others - 19-23

Skinsuits, skin suits...can they make such a difference, well, apparently YES - especially according to that aerodynamicist wizz, Mr B....so I decided to splash out on an Endura skin suit (I won't mention the cost, but that's bloody cycling! 😳)...bit of a risk considering the performance of a skin suit is not generic, can be great on one person and average on another! Anyhow, I knew be a good test, on arguably one of the fastest '10' courses in the UK, the Tring by-pass...a tough course though to judge...needed above 30mph to break that 20 min barrier, and started off quite modest well below, but the 2nd half is pretty fast....managed to pick the pace right up and finished in 19-23, a new National Age record, and first overall in the race and first of course on vets Standard...even for what I considered a 'ragged' performance!