I spotted a time trial near me and decided that it would be my first race of the year, good preparation for the upcoming duathlons I thought! I had raced on this course last summer so had an idea of what to expect, however, this was February so I was expecting it to be a bit challenging with the weather!

The day before the race, I could feel a cold coming on and I knew there had been something going around work, when I woke up in the morning, I felt a bit rubbish so took some flu capsules and off I went. The weather was forecast to be rainy but not too windy so could have been worse!

I got to race HQ at the village hall, got my number and cycled to the start, getting caught up in the local Sunday morning club ride on the way.

As I waited at the start, it was cold and wet and I wondered why I had thought a bike race was a good idea in February!

The count down came and I was off, I thought it would be good to aim for an average power output and try and maintain that, I didn’t have a power meter last year so I wasn’t sure what to aim for but I soon felt like I had got to something I could maintain and concentrated on that. The course is an out and back, winding through a valley sheltered by trees, there is some undulation but it’s very flat for Cornwall!

About half-way to the turnaround point, I started to overtake some ladies who had started before me, which gave me a bit of a boost. When I got to the roundabout at the turnaround point, from the corner of my eye, I could see someone coming up behind me, I pedalled on after that to try and drop her but unfortunately I couldn’t keep it up and she managed to overtake me. I passed a couple more on the way home as we wound back along the valley, one of which overtook me and then I overtook her again and managed to pull away.

There was a nice little crowd at a village hall near the end which helped to spur us on to get back to the finish. I cycled back to the car and checked out but decided not to wait around for the results as there were people still to start and I was feeling quite cold and damp!

Later, I saw the results and realised that I was second female on a road bike. I had completed the race 10 seconds faster than last year and got all-time highest average 5, 10 and 20 minute power outputs, so all round felt pretty good with how the race had gone. I find TTs difficult as I don’t know how I’m doing compared to others. However, this race was a bit more exciting as there were more people around me and I had my power meter to use as a gauge for how I was doing. Maybe I’ll look for more to enter throughout the year…

Sarah Hunter

Ladock IntoTri 10mile TT, 22 Feb 2026

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