Kinetic-One Castle Combe 10 Mile TT, 29 July 2020

On Wednesday I competed in a 5 lap 10mile TT at Castle Combe Race circuit- a venue where I have done numerous duathlons before but not a solo bike race! I’d like to think of this as my first proper TT too having only done one before on a road bike around Richmond Park. I was really excited but nervous to see what I could do having had some awesome months of training with Catenary Coaching and some good virtual bike results! My main worry was navigating the chicanes and corners of the course at speed in reverse to the direction I usually ride in duathlons there. However, once I got going, the adrenaline gave me some confidence and I improved my cornering and racing line each lap! I went out hard and soon felt that lactate burn I was very familiar with in 5k running races. I was super happy with the speed and power I was putting out and I overtook a few men (always a confidence boost). The penultimate lap was mentally tough, I was really starting to feel the burn but was motivated to keep pushing as I knew I was way ahead of my target time and wanted to see what more I could do! On the last lap I gave it all the beans I had left, resulting in me very nearly vomiting in my mouth! I really enjoyed the sprint finish for the line knowing that I didn’t have to jump off my bike and do another run! I was super chuffed with my time of 23:35 and really gave it all I could.

Having always considered myself as an average duathlon cyclist I had a bit of imposter syndrome when I realised that I had come 3rd female and 44/106 overall in a solo bike event. A fellow competitor even said “well done, you were really fast!” - I was in shock! I really enjoyed the race and definitely have the itch to do some more TT racing - watch this space!

Megan Powell