I entered this time trial with one goal; beat the course record set by former multiple World Champion Rob Hayles. The time to beat was 57 minutes and 11 seconds
On the 6th of June I competed in the Portsmouth
North End Sporting 25 Mile Time Trial. This Time Trial was organised to
celebrate the clubs 120th Anniversary last year, and this course has
a particularly rich heritage. This classic course which takes in 3 major climbs
– Chilgrove, Harting, and Short Harting (official peak gradient of 17%, but my
Wahoo regularly clocks over 20%!) and totals 207 meters total elevation for the
course. To conclude, it’s extremely tough!
I entered this time trial with one goal; beat the course
record set by former multiple World Champion Rob Hayles. The time to beat was
57 minutes and 11 seconds.
As soon as I set off I knew I did not have the legs I wanted
following a relatively tough week of racing and training. My legs felt very
heavy and I could not lift my power above early threshold. I think the stats
show I was far from my best performance with an average heart rate of only
164bpm (normally I can stay at 175~bpm for this kind of effort)! However, I
accepted my condition for the day and did the best performance I could manage,
and I took the win and set a new course record with a time of 57 minutes and 3
seconds. It was satisfying to take the course record from such a noted rider,
but frustrating to not show what I am capable of doing! I look forward to
having another go at riding this course with better preparation to try and set
a time which will stand the test of time.
Big shout out to four of our sponsors who helped me with
this effort: Parentini for the mega fast Tokio speedsuit, UpShift Nutrition for
the Sustain drink which fuelled my ride, Miche for the mega light SWR tubular
front wheel to help get me over the climbs whilst remaining aero on the flat,
and Squirt Bicycle Lubricant who’s wax made my chain ultra-efficient!
Race Results
