Entering at least one of the Classic Series rounds has been on my list for the last couple of years. They are a series of early season ‘sporting’ (i.e. hilly) TTs - not your usual dual carriageway 10! Two years ago I was all set to do a round in the Peak District when my TT bike gears self-destructed the day before. And of course last year …

Round 2 of the series - the first ‘realistically accessible’ (i.e. not in Scotland or the North) was a 39 mile hilly circuit around the Worcestershire countryside where I used to live. Not exactly a gentle start to race season, and a few weeks of not feeling myself and inconsistent training definitely wasn’t the ideal lead in to this race. I almost didn’t go, but a Friday turbo session went ok and on that basis I decided to go for it. Nutrition plan was a caffeine gel at the start, one at half way and a normal (non-aero) bottle of energy drink (oh and hot cross buns before and after!). Last thing the evening before we had a route change update - a burst water main meant a few extra miles and the main climb twice on a lap, cue last minute route checking.

It was a lovely morning, at least to drive over - actually quite chilly and windy outside but the sun was out. After a reasonable warmup spin (no turbos allowed) and a quick visit back to HQ to get some pins put in my arm numbers to hold them up, I was ‘ready’ to go. Starting with a brief climb at the start it was then a fast downhill section to the first junction. With the cold and the high speeds my eyes were watering like mad which made it hard to see - not ideal! A slightly hairy moment at the first junction and then it settled down a bit into more normal (albeit still undulating) TT parcours, and I could settle into a rhythm and manage my effort, conscious of the long (expected 2 hour duration) and heavily back-loaded course. I got to roughly halfway and got my gel in as the course started to drag up towards the first climb. That was ok, followed by an extremely rapid descent (by far the fastest I’ve been on a TT bike, not pedalling for several minutes at a time), and then onto the main climb of Stanford Bank, which we would do twice. When I found myself in my lowest gear near the bottom, and then out of the saddle for a significant fraction of the climb, I was glad of the 39-25 which my rear 808 gives me (only 23 on my disc) and wishing I had changed to a 28 - too late now though!

After a loop back around past the Shelsley Walsh hill climb (and an eventful moment with a verge/bush that cost me 30 seconds), it was back onto the same climb. It felt harder the second time but I was very pleased afterwards to find I had done it in an identical 9.04 to the first lap! Back down the other side and on down towards a final left turn up the first hill I had come down from the start - the only problem was I overshot the junction (brakes really not up to the job) and had to loop back around. My legs were really empty by now but I tried to push on, conscious that my 2 hour target was soon to fall. And then it did, my only consolation being that the original 39 miles came up in under 2 hours. The extra 3 miles to 42 meant I went over 2 hours by a couple of minutes, but eventually I got to the end and could roll back to the car. I was actually pretty happy with how it had gone, considering the lead up to the event and the mishaps during it (which could have been worse). I just missed the podium for my age group, coming in 4th.

Tim Phillips

Beacon RCC Little Mountain Classic Series TT, 25 Apr 2021

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