51.28

Lately I have been feeling super strong, and following a week of hard road racing I was hoping to build on my fitness and set a new personal best for a 25. The road races included my first national b race with elite riders, a taste of the big time, the faster races. It was tough but I didn't feel out of my depth and finished a respectable 34th.

The big event was the Merthyr CC 25 mile TT in Wales, on the R25/3L course, a notoriously fast course with a long downhill section after 3 miles. Conditions were overcast but relatively calm, with a slight breeze in the air forming a gentle headwind on the way out to the turn. I was in the overflow event for juniors and women, and with the main event seeing some stonking times, I had high expectations for my ride. There was a strong field in the overflow event, with 2 of the fastest women in the country, Julia Shaw and Wendy Houvenaghel going for top spot amongst the women, while the Junior race boasted the 19 minute man Ed Clemens of VC10 and 6th placed National 10 rider Josh Teasdale. I warmed up for 20 minutes then hit the start line where I was greeted by "fast conditions today, you'll do a quick time", to which I responded, "no pressure". I started gently winding up to speed and soon settled in to a rhythm at 32mph on the small road leading to the dual carriageway, by the time I hit the dual carriageway after 2 miles I already had my minute man in sight and passed him just as we went over the top of 'the bank', the long downhill section, at first it wasn't as fast as I thought, but as it ramped down I gathered momentum and soon hit top speed at over 45mph. Once at the bottom I once again settled into a steady rhythm at around 30mph and held it firm. Interestingly, my 10 mile split time was astonishing, I had covered the first 10 miles in 19.04, with an average speed of 31.5mph!! I had by now reeled in 3 riders, with another in the distance, and as I hit the long sweeping turn I started to feel my legs burning but nevertheless pushed on round the turn, looking to gain time on my main rivals. As I powered back on the homeward leg I had a second wind in my legs and surged on down the road, my average speed never dropped below 29mph, as I made the final bend before the finish I dug in for a huge sprint and crossed the line in 51m28s. I had knocked a massive 2m53s off my PB.

I trundled back up the massive hill to HQ at snails pace, got changed and headed into the hall. As we waited for the last few times to come in, I was up there with the fastest, only for Wendy Houvenaghel to come in with an astonishing 50m18s, a national record for the womens 25, well done Wendy. Turns out that she held the comp record for all of 9 minutes and 43 seconds... Julia Shaw rocked in with a staggering 50m1s, to take the record back and win the event in the process. Those 2 stole the top 2 positions in the event and the battle was on for 3rd, turns out I was fastest Junior in the event, beating Teasdale by 9 seconds and Clemens by 22 seconds, a close run thing but my preference to 25 mile TTs came through and helped me take the win, and 3rd place overall. Also worth mentioning was a storming ride by Jake Thomas to break the long-standing Oxford City RC Junior 25 record, well done mate.

So I left Wales very happy, with a bit of prize money, and starting to think about the Junior Best British All Rounder Competition as a potential target.

Next up is the fast V718 in Hull on Sunday, weather permitting.

Ciao.

Negotiating the turn...