I arrived at the race looking to achieve a sub 60. The record had to go and I knew after my last attempt that I could manage the time. However, the weather wasn’t looking good. It was very overcast at best. Anyway, the race got going and starts with a descent, the first time trial I’ve done with a descent. The outward section feels like it’s going up hill and then under a tunnel. The wind was following me and was probably the cause of me being undergeared. On the return I looked and notice an average of 25.9mph, I thought right dig deep and make sure you get to the line and notice at least 25mph. I noticed the line and the chequered flag and gave a final sprint as I passed the marshalls shouting 68 (come to think about it could easily be turned around to look like 86). I looked at the garmin to see the magic average spped of 25.6mph and a massive “YES”.

Final Time = 00:58:47

Below are my Garmin reading for the route.

The course was a little too lumpy, and a little windy and I could have done without my chain coming on my rear cassett (cost me 90 seconds). The wind picked up later in the race, so the early starters definitely had it easier (oh that would be me). The race venue was spot on and I enjoyed the delights of my black coffee and Carrott cake at the end. It was also a good outing from team trisports so it was good to come home first for the club. Now to target a course to beat that sub 60! The end result was 1.02.42.

My 25m Time Trial pursuit of the sub 60 time continued at Wisbech Wheelers 25-mile Time Trial out in the Fens. The course consisted of 2 laps of a 6-miles stretch of road between 2 roundabouts completely in the open. A tough breeze made it hard as it seemed a very hard outward leg and yet very hard crosswind on the way back.

There was a 30-min delay to the start because of torrential rain. I finally got started and battled against the wind outwards and continued with cross winds on way back to start point. I noticed how close I was to Sub 60 but just couldn’t duck under the time required. Back to the drawing board for me !

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been busy doing some TT races in preperation for the season. Following the welwyn hilly race I decided to target the A1 and the Bedfordshire Road CC 25 (Slowest 90). I previously raced this race in 2009 and recorded a time of 01:12:13 in a windy and miserable day. However, this year was exceptionally good weather and I managed to record a PB of  01:04:54 and going under 65 for 25 miles. My target for the year is getting close to 60, we’ll see how close I can get !!!

18/04/10 – Bedfordshire Road CC 25 (Slowest 90)

Winner :  Tim Davies in 00:55:54

Steffan For – 44 place in time of 01:04:54

What better than to spend good friday doing a 25 mile cycle TT. This year was another improvement and I managed to knock off another 3 mins off my PB in 2009. On the day, the weather was not as bad as forecast, with the only unexpected element being the presence of some tree surgeons on the course, dealing with a tree in danger of dropped a substantial piece of debris on to the road in Kings Walden Th course is a challenging time trial course and was windy. I managed to come the 3rd finisher from Team Trisports in a time of 1:15:35. What was good to see was so many Team Trisports members competing and having a chat at the end.

It was an interesting choice to race at Lea Valley 25m TT and I left my entry late but managed to sneak in. It was actually my first ever Time Trial and was my best to date.  When I actually turned my attention to the race I noticed that Olympic track star Rebecca Romero begins on the road and she expects to lead to her conversion from the track to the Olympic Time Trial in 2012. My problem was that I was starting at 9:39 and closely followed by Romero on 9:40.

Sunday was another special day for Del as it was Mothers Day. So before I left the house I got the Smoked Salmon and Creme Cheese Croissants ready with a Coffee delivered to the bedroom for Del by 7:30am. Not much of a lie in I know.  Beca also magically got her and Catrin dressed in their synchronised “I Love Mum” t-shirts.  I then left and took Del’s advice to drive down the a10. The only issue was I went in the wrong direction and ended up going on the M25 followed by M11 – Just a bit of a round trip.

The Race – As usual I got myself ready for the race and if anything may have been too relaxed. I then was pushed off and got on with racing. My thought was to keep relaxed and focussed. Then on around 7mins, Romerro catched me and passed, I looked down at her gear selection and was amazed to see her pushing a big gear with such ease. I continued my race and pushed in the 2nd half and thought the wind might help but that didn’t seem to be the case. I still managed to knock 5 mins of my previous best and get a time of 68:08 (still unconfirmed)