West Pennine RC Open 10 TT, Saturday 11th May 2019

After horizontal rain and 40mph winds cancelled my first scheduled TT of the year on 27th April, the extra two weeks of quality training until 11th May certainly prepared me for the first race against the clock of 2019. As the drizzle began to coat the tarmac around the start time of rider number 50, I, as number 64, hoped it would blow over before my start (thankfully it did, courtesy of the headwind I had to endure for the first half of the course!) The TT started with a rapid downhill, fantastic to build the average speed before a couple of dragging ascents up to the second roundabout (just over halfway through). I noticed my speed didn’t drop as much as it used to going uphill so my average speed didn’t drop too much. Knowing that what goes up must come down, I looked forward to the second half of the course, which would primarily descend and boost the speed. Throughout the TT I had a great average heart rate and didn’t feel like I was flagging or wearing out like I did last season for similar heart rates. My time of 28:20 was over a minute quicker than the first run out last season on a course with more elevation gain; given the headwind uphill in the first half of the course I feel I can definitely go faster on the next run out and the perceived effort not being as high as usual, I can definitely push harder. I’m feeling quicker and stronger each week and am confident I will reach my target time for this season over the next few months.

Julia Wardley-Kershaw