Cycle 55km inc. 25 mile Trike TT

AM. Cycle 55km (trike), inc. Abertillery & District Wheelers 25mile TT. Course R25/7

9km w/u
25 miles: 1:02:36, new club record (23.962 mph, 38.562 km/h), HR163(171)
5km w/d

Nice and sunny when I left Oxford, and although Wales was a bit cloudier and greyer, it wasn’t a bad day at all. This was a new course to me, it seemed pretty quick apart from a slight nadgery bit around the turn.

I had Roger Iddles (a 65-year-old barrel-chested supervet) as my minute man today – I wasn’t going to see him again after queuing for the start. He can still ride a 25 in much less time than me, trike or no trike. After a fast downhill start, we were out onto the A449 and I settled into my stride. I’m still feeling my way a bit with the trike, so I was following my heart rate, rather than thinking “this is only a slight drag, I ought to try to keep my speed above XX km/h”. I got to the turn (13 miles) in a touch under 31 minutes, so I knew that I’d need to keep a good pace going for the return if I was going to clip under the existing club record (1:03:44).

There are a couple of back-lane miles to get back onto the south-bound carriageway. I found these quite hard going on my trike – I am especially bad at right-handers for some reason. I still caught and passed my 2-minute man here, although likewise, we were both caught by the rider who started a minute behind me.

My newish saddle was starting to give me jip over the last few miles back to the finish slip-road, so I was keen to press on. It’s the same model as I rode a 24-hour on a couple of years ago, and I can only think that perhaps it needs a little more breaking in yet! Off the main road, I got a good cheer from a passing club run as I hurtled down to the timekeeper at over 50km/h, and crossed the line having beaten the old record by just over a minute. Very happy with that.

Back in the HQ, Dave Keene (a good trike rider and currently the holder of the national 100-mile TT trike record) introduced himself to me. He’d done a good ride today (not on his trike) of 53 minutes something. No doubt our paths will cross again later in the season.

71.6kg