RLSCC/Rugby Velo Club TT, 14 July 2020

On Tuesday 14th July my club held its first official time trial of the year, a moment we had all been waiting for! Myself and fellow Catenary-coached athlete Helene Wright (Hels) signed up straight away!

For many of us it was the first time getting the TT bike out this year. Although I'd done a few virtual duathlon attempts with my TT bike, I was feeling the pressure as it was my first time on this course with the bike. 

I waited at the start line for my countdown. I'd forgotten just how much adrenaline kicks in at this point! I set off and felt great, but immediately realised I'd left my zone 2 heart rate alerts on my Garmin! (Just in case I didn't know how much it was going to hurt!) I looked down to see my speed and couldn't believe it- there was a tailwind! I could see the rider in front of me and tried to catch them up, but then the hill crept in and sucked all my speed. I kept pushing as I knew that half way marked the top of the hill, with a downhill to finish.

I turned around for the second half only to be hit with a headwind! Not the speedy second half I was looking for. I kept pushing, although my speed was disappointingly slower than I'd wanted. By the end I was exhausted, which is just how a TT should feel! Even though it felt slower than I'd wanted, I knocked off 1 min 19 secs from my previous time on this course (thanks to a new bike and lots of TT training set by Tim). Afterwards it was so lovely to chat to other club riders who I hadn't seen in months! Hels and I both managed course PBs so we grabbed a post TT sweaty photo to capture the moment! 

Next week is one of our fastest courses, starting on a downhill! I'm really looking forward to seeing how much my training has helped, and hopefully get closer to a 24 minute 10 mile TT. It looks like I need to work on getting used to the aero position again as my head was a little high in some photos, especially by the end. Let's see what the TT season brings!

Frances Lamm