Anyway - luckily the old bicycling stuff doesn't seem to have too bad an effect on the shoulder or the back (unless cycling into a headwind for too long), so have been trying to keep that up. Now the weekend after the Team Coven Triathlon I did my first cyclosportive called Tour of the Roaches, I did the 75 mile route and Andy went for the 103mile route. I gave him a half hour headstart and just about managed to get home before him so was quite chuffed really - you can read more about that on his blog.Lately I've been getting whole lot of inspiration from watching the pro-cyclists on Eurosport - they are completely nails! Can't believe how fast people can ride a bike uphill, downhill, and the flat doesn't matter I can't even begin to ride so quickly. Maybe with about a million years of training ........... but I think I may have left it a bit late in life for that! Anyway Andy, Donald, Mac the dog and I went down to Stoke on Trent last week to catch a round of the Halfords Tour Series, a series of city centre circuit races - not the top flight pros but some big names of British cycling were riding and it was awesome to watch and all quite exciting......... Donald even enjoyed it and he's not a cyclist at all!
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| Olympic Gold Medal winner Ed Clancy rolling up to the start |
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| Early in the race, on the corner before the start/finish straight |
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| The leading team Rapha Condor Sharp riders wearing the orange jerseys - Dean Downing nearest, getting close to the end of the race. |
After seeing the flashing lycra in Stoke I decided to get involved in the Manchester Wheelers Club 10 (mile) time trial. I did my first one about 6 weeks before with Andy, and well, wasn't very good! Andy was predictably pretty good - despite not having ridden one for about 15 years he still ranked somewhere in the upper middle of the field - I came last! Only just last, but last all the same. I was hoping to show a bit of improvement on this outing.
Things didn't get off to the best start when we arrived and found hardly anyone there - we were early, it all kicked off half an hour later than the previous one! I had already warmed up a bit but not really enough, ready for a 7pm start so it was quite nice to have longer - only then my slow was watch and I missed my start slot at number 3 - ooops! Luckily it's a friendly affair and I was allowed to get shunted back and start at the end - nearly missed that start too after my cycle computer transmitter thingy fell off whilst I was up the road warming up and I had to ride back and find it!
Anyway I arrived at the start as the last person was leaving, had to leave my jacket with the starter and set off, no computer, so no idea how fast I was going, how fast my cadence was or anything useful - did have a clock (not telling the right time) on though so had a vague idea of how my ride was going.
Starting last did mean that I only got overtaken by 2 people - it being a 2 lap course, which wasn't as bad as being overtaken by the entire field which is what would have happened if I'd had my original slot. So I gave it my best shot and pedalled like a loon trying to get inside my previous time of 31min 31 sec. Andy was with me and rode slowly round the course in the opposite direction shouting encouragement when our paths crossed and making helpful comments like - "they're not far in front - go on!" Needless to say I didn't catch the person in front of me (you are set off a minute apart), but I did manage to post a better time than the last outing with a 30mins 27secs and most importantly I wasn't last - woo hoo!!!
Next time I want to get inside the half hour..............
