Kings Lynn CC 25 mile TT (B25/33), 6 April 2019

Due to an interrupted season in 2018 and bad weather earlier this year, this was actually my first open TT (and my first 25 mile TT) since last May. I felt more nervous than I remember feeling in a long time and couldn’t wait to get started and get the waiting over. As I was near the end of the start list it meant a longer wait and warmup while watching other people heading off to the start. Eventually it was time to go and after a good warmup I headed out onto the course. It was rather cold and very windy, and when I realised after 8-9 miles that my legs still felt cold this wasn’t a good sign – too late to decide that leg warmers would have been a good idea! I had a twinge of calf cramp after 7 miles which worried me, and then at around 14 miles a real cramp up that meant I had to stop pedalling to stretch. This meant I couldn’t really push as hard as I would have liked after this, so to be within 1W of my power target for the ride wasn’t too bad. The conditions were very different to last April when I rode this course – that time a southerly wind meant it was slow out but fast back. This time it just felt slow everywhere, but especially in the last few miles directly into a headwind which felt like they went on forever.

The good news came when I got back to HQ – a time around 30 seconds faster than last year, and placing of equal fourth, one place higher than last year! It feels like a promising start to the season, and hopefully a sign of better things to come.

Tim Phillips

(picture from last year)

(picture from last year)

Tim Phillips