RTTC Junior National 25 Mile Time Trial Championship

So last weekend was the big one, the National 25!! My favourite distance, I was in the form of my life, and feeling more motivated than ever before!! The event was held in Holsworthy, Devon, and we were staying in a Travelodge in Okehampton. I was travelling down with my team-mate Cameron Foster and his parents, we drove down early Saturday morning and arrived in Devon around Midday. A quick drive down one leg of the course and we were ready to go and reccy the course!!

Cameron and I got changed, sorted the bikes out, training wheels in and we were on the road! The course started in Holsworthy town centre, descended under a bridge and out of town before a sharp left hander onto the main road for the course. This section was to be closed off to traffic on Sunday, so could be taken quickly and safely!! Once on the main road there was a sharp climb right away, followed by various up and down sections along both the outward and return legs of the course. Not a flat section in sight... There were some very fast downhill sections with a couple of sweeping bends that you could carry your speed through. We finished our ride and both felt pretty good about the course, it suited us with its sporting profile. We were now ready for the big one!!

Cameron & I riding the course!

We woke up Sunday morning feeling refreshed, strong, and up for it! We arrived at Race HQ nice and early to leave plenty of time, but before long we were changed and warming up! My warm up consisted of 20 minutes steady on the turbo with a couple of sprints to get the blood lactate up to threshold. Cam was off 4 minutes before me so we made our way to the town centre in good time, saw the closed roads, the start ramp, and the riders being sent on their way!! It looked amazing, like something out of the Tour de France!! Cameron was soon off and he sprinted off the ramp at top speed. Then a couple of minutes later I was up...

Ready on the ramp!!

I was set off down the ramp and was greeted by a cheer from the crowd, this got the blood pumping and I pelted down the closed road section and took the sharp left hander at speed!! Then it went up... I powered up the short climb to applause from the spectators at the top of the hill. I pelted along the rest of the course at completely inconsistent speeds, this reflected the profile of the course. I got to the turn in fairly good time and could see I was gaining on a few riders, I continued to power back towards the finish and despite my visor continually steaming up due to the rain in the air, I remained focussed and managed to push hard in the final few miles, catching 5 riders in the last 5 miles. The final push for the line, and then it was over, I pootled back to HQ and after sorting everything out I went in and the results were up... 11th. Damn. My aim was to break into the top 10, and I had missed out by around 30 seconds to Mike Barnes of ColourTech RT. Nevermind, a good result nonetheless! My time was 1:00:58, a good 4 minutes off my PB for a 25, but not a bad time for the course, Cameron completed the course in 1:02:44, another good time and a great showing from the Zappi's!!

The event was won by National 10 champion Ryan Mullen of Planet-X, a clean sweep for Mullen this year, at only 16 years of age, definately one to watch in the future!! Oli Rossi from PCA Ciclos Unos came second with Luke Grivell-Mellor topping off the podium for the Mid Shropshire Wheelers. The womens event was won by hot favourite Julia Shaw of Drag2Zero.com, but a fantastic ride by team-mate Chrissy Radon meant that the Zappi's were on the podium in 2nd place! Well done Chrissy!! Michael Hutchinson won the mens event, despite a mechanical whilst riding, a testimony to how powerful a rider he is!!

Here are a few pictures of my ride:

A great success in my opinion, for now I am more than happy with 11th place at nationals, and I am now focussing on getting good results in road races and bring down my 10 and 25 mile TT times!!

Since the Nat 25 I have done a couple of club time trials and came 2nd in both, form is still here, now to bring in some points in the bunch racing!!

Thanks for reading!!

Ciao.