A tale of two club TTs, 21-22 Jun 2023

Getting nervous before a race can be useful - if you're lining up against some outrageously speedy competitors in front of a huge crowd then yes, some extra focus and adrenaline and a slightly elevated heartrate may help. The rest of the time it's much better to stay calm and focus on putting out the best performance you can. This golden nugget of wisdom clearly hadn't made its way into my brain as I lined up on the start line for a timetrial organised by my very own tri club against a terrifyingly large field of 37 competitors.

With more than a dash of competitive rivalry with some of the guys at the triathlon club, I chose a large gear, took a deep breath - and promptly fell off. It only took one pedal stroke and not only my chain came off but my rear wheel too! I'll say it was the sheer strength forged with many hours of intervals, not a daft choice of gear and slight misalignment of the levers. Yes my bike is a princess and deserves to be treated as such.

I picked myself up, stuffed the wheel back into the dropouts and rode off. I'm no sports psychologist but "grumpy" is unlikely to be a race-winning attitude, particularly when it morphed into "disheartened" as the rhythmical rubbing noise revealed that my wheel was on wonky, and was slowing me down with every pedal stroke. I came dead last.

The very next day I entered another TT. There were no rivalries, no times to beat and minimal expectations as this was the second session of the day - and my goal was to not fall off! A reasonable ride would have been a bonus. I was curious to see how my legs would respond and excited to get a proper outing and in the end I stayed upright (hooray!) and even set a personal best for 10 miles. It was a rolling course on tiny lanes and an even tinier start list (7, including me). The organiser admitted it was indeed a fraction over 10 miles, so all in all not the fastest or most exciting event. Even if it was just a local event which wasn't even serious enough to be published on the cycling time trials website, I'm proud of that ride. Sometimes the little things really do matter, after all.

Lizzie Fox