I’m very driven, at least can be, just so
long as I’ve got a target to focus on. 2015’s “Project 19” proved that,
although I still have that nagging feeling it was gifted to me. Yes, yes, I
know the bike doesn’t pedal itself and a 19 is a 19 etc but I’d still like to
do another one in less freaky conditions.
The problem is though that I’m never going to be able to beat 19:36 so
the next 19:58 or whatever is going to feel a bit like my long run of 20:40’s
last year after my 20:18.- a bit flat.
2015 took a lot of out of me physically,
emotionally and logistically – do I really want to go through all that again
just so I can do my second fastest ride ever? Urrrmmm… Nope.
So, what to do?
Well, something has been bugging me for the
last couple of years and I’d like to understand it better. Since concentrating
solely on lying on the TT bike destroying myself flat out for 20 minutes
on the flat courses, I’ve (not surprisingly) got much, much better at, er,
lying on the TT bike smashing it for 20 minutes on the flat courses. The really interesting thing though is that on my
local hilly 10 course, I can’t get anywhere near the times I used to do a
couple of years ago when I was a bit more of an all rounder and nowhere near as
fit & healthy as I am now. In fact
I’m nowhere near the times I used to do on a lot of the more rolling courses
around here.
I don’t suppose I should be surprised really.
I used to wonder when pro winners of the big Grand Tours would say stuff like
“I’m going to start preparing for the Worlds TT next month….”
Eh? How much
bloody fitter can you get?? I now understand the importance of event specific
training and how powerful it can be so see what they meant. So I suppose a
bloke who has taken great pains to optimise himself for one specific discipline
shouldn’t be too surprised he gotten rubbish at everything else!
So, 2016?
Well, I’m done with the long distance PB chasing – I think I’d like to
enter just local races and take a slightly more relaxed approach. I’ll still
race sparingly as before and try to arrive at the start line in the best nick I
can be but not be so fussed about the time. I’ll perhaps pay more attention to
my finishing position for a change! Having said that, my 52:18 pb for 25 miles needs at least 19 seconds shaving off it... Hmmm... well see....
I’d like to sort out my poor hilly course
performance too. Knocking out a 19 minute 10 at the weekend and then struggling to crack
25mph in the Thursday night club TT is a bit demoralising. I might be being a
bit hard on myself though, I suspect part of the reason is my choice of
weaponry – the TT bike is as optimised for flat DC events as I am! The gear
ratios are bonkers (who rides sporting courses on a 60T chainring and a 21 – 11
cassette FFS!) and the geometry isn’t the best for hilly stuff I suspect. So,
I’ve put together a new ‘club TT’ bike based around an old road frame I had
knocking around in the shed.
Tada!
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| The 'Chinese Cheapy' decals on the Carbonzone rims finish the whole 'anti-bling' look perfectly... |
Continuing the Horsey theme (My TT bike is
called Trigger), I’ve named this one ‘Tornado’ (Zorro’s black stallion). Only trouble is, it looks horribly like one
of those bikes that triathletes use. Ah well….
New for next season is the 80mm deep section
wheel for the rear. If you look closely you might see that there’s a Powertap
in there. Yes, a power meter! I dabbled with PM’s a little last season, mainly
as an over-training avoidance / form testing device on the turbo but never
actually got to ride it on the road because I haven’t had a working road bike
for a few years! I never raced with it either as it was on an old banger of a
training wheel.
Getting the wheel built up was a saga in itself. I bought the rim from China, bought the Powertap secondhand and thought it would be dead easy to get them built up. A couple of bike shops had a go but couldn't get the right size spokes for love nor money and I was close to killing myself! Then I discovered Dan at www.handcraftedwheels.co.uk and he said, "No problem, I'll just make you some the right length!"
He did a fantastic job for a ridiculously good price. Thanks Dan!!
So, that’s sorted for next season – I hope to use the new black
bike as a fast training bike too so can get some data when out on the road.
It’s also a decent enough wheel to race on, especially the non-DC stuff. So
that should add an extra dimension to training / racing hopefully.
The faithful MTB (known as the ITB –
Indestructible Training Bike) has had a bit of a facelift too. Same components,
just a much lighter frame, with slightly more comfortable geometry (well, I am
getting on a bit you know…) I just hope it continues to be as indestructible!
So, all set for 2016! I’m going to do pretty
much as the last two years training wise although I still need to tweak the
rest cycles / tapering slightly as form still tends to be slightly random.
Pretty much got most of it right now though so no major changes.
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| Nudging 300W already, so things not going too badly so far.... |
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