Lovelo 50 mile TT F1B/50, 27 May 2019

After last year’s 50 miler, I wasn’t very keen to do another, as the pain for the last 10 miles was not something I wanted to repeat in a hurry! But when the advert for the same event this year came up, I decided to enter before I could think too much about it, and try and improve on last year’s performance. It was a different course this year, using the A1, so was theoretically faster despite some significant hills and quite a few roundabouts. Inevitably for this season, the morning was chilly (11C) with a stiff and gusty crosswind so less than ideal conditions. I started off with the same power target as last year, but with a nutrition plan I was determined to stick to (which I did this time!) and the allowance to let my average power drop if the sensations from my body dictated that (which they did!). So while I didn’t have the massive fall off in power and speed that happened last time, it still ended up being painfully slow (and extremely painful!). I came in with a time of 1:54 which was just over a minute faster than last time, but still way off my 1:50 target and also just missed the top 10, coming in 11th. 50 mile TTs are definitely not my strong point!

Tim Phillips

Photo: Davey Jones