I have yet to regale you of my most recent success. Well, it was a modest but well earned nibbling away (even if I say it myself) of my 10 mile time trial pb back in Irvine. I had entered this ages ago. I think it's the flattest course in Britain for this event. Possibly the fastest? I doubted that the weather would be as good as it had been earlier this year when I set 24:11 as my seasons best. I feared that it would not be conducive to a good time and as I crossed the A69, the weather was appalling. If it had been a teenager, I would have sent it to its bedroom with a thick ear and without any supper. The major highway between east and west was flooded in places and it was coming down in stair rods. The sky was a multi-layered ragged f&%ked up angry mix of black, grey and deep blue and it was doing the Wealdstone Raider....'dya want some? If you want some, I'll give it ya'.
Somewhere past Gretna Green it began to dry out. The sky was still a mess, but it wasn't raining so heavily. As I cut west for Ayrshire at Douglas, I watched the black sky in my mirror while I sped toward a cloudless clear blue sky. Hard to believe that by the time I stopped at McDonalds in Kilmarnock for a coffee at 5pm, it was 22 degrees and they were all in T shirts. Could it last, I wondered as I peeled the little white sticker off the cup and stuck it to my dashboard with the rest of them.
I signed on in Eglington Park at 5:30pm, an hour before my start time. I warmed up by riding the 2 miles into Irvine and then back out on the Kilwinning Road a couple of times. I had my new skinsuit on and had wrestled with the velotoze things for my feet. They're on their last legs and will be slung this weekend. I was number 40. Usually those that wear the 'zero' numbers (10,20 etc) are the fastest, but I wasnt fooling anyone. I simply didnt have the disc wheels and sleek black racing steeds that most others had.
I knew that I had to go hard from the start and, as I started, I assumed the aero position within a couple of seconds and buried myself along the carriageway. There was a 12 mph side-tailwind and as I hammered down the slow lane I recalled looking at my garmin last time where I had been surprised to see 27mph. Today it said 29mph. I caught sight of my minute man ahead but he was going well and, at the turn, I was at 11m:50s or thereabouts. More speed required, Scottie. I cracked on as the sweat began to drip drip off my nose. Its 100% effort eyeballs out on a flat course. I was generating 300 watts which is easily double what I might do on a training ride around the lanes. I needed to go faster. More, More. I tried to remember to try and maintain an aero position. Glancing at the garmin it said 25mph, then later 24mph and I was flailing as I gobbled up the miles to the finish. The final kilometre is a very gentle decline and I mustered every last atom of energy that I could as I came past the line in 23m:57s. Pheewww, that was tight, but 'sub 24' on 'normal' wheels was the seasons objective. I know with a small mortgage and some crowd-funding over the winter I can raise enough dosh for some carbon wheels next year. I was elated with the time and warmed down by riding into Irvine. It still didn't look any better in the late evening sun.
I drove back home via Edinburgh and as I travelled along the M8 it got blacker and blacker with flashes of lightning illuminating the sky every so often. It was torrential along the bypass and while my heart said kebab, my brain said fish supper in Dalkeith, so it was a fish supper and a salt n sauce wet drive home. I think I was lucky.
Oh, and by the way...breaking news.....a new pair of trainers and 12 miles of running this week. Its looking like it could be a decent Autumn.
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