Orwell Velo 20 Mile TT, 1 Aug 2020

On Saturday I competed in the Orwell Velo TT, which is a 20 mile rolling course. I had ridden around the course a few days before the race to refresh my memory on where to go and where the hills were which was beneficial on the day. Leading up to the event I was looking forward to trying to beat my time from last year, however the wind wasn't favourable so knew it may be a bit more of a challenge.

A few minutes before my start time, my chain dropped into my chain catcher and got stuck there, meaning I fell off and missed my start time because it was so stuck. I was then given another start time but was told I would have an additional 4 minutes added to my official time. Once I had started, I wasn't in the right mindset to race and almost just went back to the HQ, but I just decided to see how it went.

During the first quarter, I felt quite good and was doing better than last time on the course, however I soon started to slow down because of the wind. My tyre was also rubbing on the frame the whole race which was annoying too! Overall I paced it well and definitely worked hard, even if I didn't get the time I wanted. Hopefully this week’s TT will go better!

Izzie Johnson

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