ECCA TT E2/10 & Cambridge CC TT F2A/25, 12-13 Sep 2020

I had a double TT weekend, and in the few days leading up to it I was starting to regret this, as I hadn’t felt 100% all week. I swapped a mid-week threshold workout to an outdoor ride with a few hill efforts as it was a nice evening, thinking this would make me feel better. I was wrong!

So after a less-than-perfect lead-in, I arrived for the E2/10 event on a lovely afternoon but with a higher wind than ideal. Previous riders had commented on how hard the first 2-3 miles were, so I aimed to go out hard and then try and hold on - usually the way I prefer to ride TTs. I had a nice long and chilled warm-up, so no excuses on that front. This was a course that I’d been sub-20 on before, so I was imagining that a decent time would be forthcoming. I started off hard as planned, pushing well above target power and hoping not to pay too much for it later. Sadly I did! The great feelings I’d had on TTs only a few weeks ago were nowhere to be found, and my power just leaked and leaked away, leading to a very disappointing average power and an even more disappointing time of 21.23 - not even a PB for 2020! Seeing the official results later did cheer me up a bit, as there was only one time under 20 mins so it obviously was a slow day, and 26th out of 138 riders wasn’t a disaster.

Overnight I didn’t sleep much, and seriously considered sending my apologies for the 25 the next morning as the organiser had said there were still reserve riders waiting for last minute places. But go I did, and again it was a lovely morning with sunshine and a brisk wind. After a good warmup I made my way to the course, feeling much better than I had expected to. I planned to aim for a conservative power target this time, aiming just to get round and bearing in mind this was my first 25 of the season. The ride went pretty well - certainly much better than I feared! In fact at one point ¾ of the way through I thought I might even get a PB/sub 52, but this proved to be elusive, although it did mean I pushed on as much as I could, with my legs starting to give out in the last few miles. In the end I got 53.30 and mid-table in a hugely strong field!

Making it all worthwhile was seeing Maria, Izzie and Frances (who all rode and did a fantastic job), and Jennie (who came along to spectate and take pictures)!

Tim Phillips

Photo: Jennie Tillott (cover picture Mikey DF)