EDCA 10mile TT, 31 May 2025

Another local 10, on a course I did a few years back in 2020. It was a lovely warm afternoon and the pace strategy for the day suited me: I needed to go our hard on the first section into the headwind, recover a little on the second section with a tailwind, then push hard again on the third section to the finish. After a short spin on the rollers I did the rest of my warmup on the road (ending up slightly short of the time I had meant to spend) and then rolled out on the busy main road for the start. No opportunities for turning meant I spent a few more minutes than ideal waiting around, but on a warm day this wasn’t a big deal, and soon enough I was underway.

The first section was fairly sheltered to start with, but there was still plenty of wind and traffic to contend with, and the last mile of this section was exposed and really hard! Slightly under my power target for the first section but it would have to do. It was a relief to turn left onto a quieter road and a more favourable wind, and this section went by very quickly, leading to a sharp left turn onto the last section with a few more miles of rolling road and a cross/tail wind to the finish. I pushed as best I could and finished feeling like I had paced the race well, and done everything I could on the day. My time of 22.30 was a little disappointing, about 40 seconds slower than last time, but I was pleased to come away with 8th place.

Tim Phillips