Anfield CC 100-mile TT

AM. Trike 171km, inc. Anfield CC 100-mile TT

6½km w/u
100 miles/4:34:57 (21.822mph/35.119km/h) HR 146(159)
3km w/d

[Result]

Exiting the last roundabout with about 4 miles to go. © Martin Purser:

I managed to drop off for a couple of hours sleep before my alarm woke me at 3am. After a quick toast-and-coffee, I was out the door and on the road by 3:25, ugh.

I was originally planning to do this event as a long training ride effort, just to get a trike time on the board for later in the season. The roads around this area are rough in places, I was thinking I’d fit my trike with last years spoked wheels for a bit more comfort, but when I saw Ralph Dadswell‘s name on the start sheet (likely to be my main rival for the longer-distance trike events), I packed my trispokes! On the rough sections here they banged about a bit, made quite a lot of noise , but held up OK. The same cannot be said for my back.

I managed a cursory warm up in the 6am cool at Shawbury before the off. I had an idea that the roads round here would be hard work after a few hours, so I took it as easily as I could for the first couple of hours. We were riding yet another modified Anfield 100 course, this time with 4 laps of a rough circuit to complete after the first 30 miles. My cautious start meant I was able to complete these, with increasing effort, in 48, 48, 49 and 49 minutes.

Towards the end, every lap I was getting a time-check on Ralph from trike friends of mine (Tom and Pauline Greystock – it was Tom I’d borrowed a trike from a couple of winters back when I was thinking of taking up trike racing). With one 17½-mile lap to go it was clear I was slowly closing on him, and although I never got close to catching him on the road, it was a good incentive to keep pushing. My back got very sore, getting quite a battering from the poor road surfaces around here, and although I took every opportunity to stretch it I was very happy to cross the finish line and get a chance to get off my trike for a bit a relieve the pressure on it. A new club record on the trike, beating Pete Launchbury’s 1954 time of 4:51:56.

After a bit of a chat in the race HQ, I drove steadily home, very tired. Spent most of the rest of the day comatose on the sofa, watching F1 highlights.