07/03/10 - East Surrey RC 29.9

[MattD]

The last few years ive concentrated on Crits at either Hillingdon , or Hog Hill, however , with the desire to improve the size of my engine to be fresher for the last few laps I have decided to concentrate on time trials as well this year .

So , yesterday was a baptism of fire . I’d entered the East Surrey 30 miles Hilly hardriders TT . My start time was 8.54 , just early enough for the ice on the course not to have melted ! . I went old school with my set-up , riding on my standard road bike , opting to leave a newly purchased clip on tt bar at home because of the icy conditions .

The event organisation at Leigh Hall was wonderfully efficient , with a great turn out of Marshalls talking you through the icy part of the course , a quick sign on, then off for a genuinely needed warm up .

At the start with a few minutes to spare, I was greeted with a warm welcome from the starters, which calmed the nerves slightly, and then with the adrenalin still flowing I was given the dramatic 10 sec countdown and released .

So what was my strategy? … Basically try and concentrate for the full distance, and ensure an even pace …and if I could last the distance at my set pace I was going to try to break the 20pmh barrier, and ride in under 90 mins .TT’ing is really not my forte … give me a wheel to catch and I’m there , ask me to dig deep on a short climb , and I can focus , but a TT is so different , requires an amazing level of concentration , and there’s no resting up ! . I’d spoken to Andy G about the course, and he’d mentioned that it’s a challenging course , with quite a few climbs , however “its all down hill for the last 20 mins ! . “

So how did I fare ? . Well the course had over 400m of climbing, so getting into any rhythm was very difficult - and I also found the wind always seemed to be head on (!), however I managed to keep my level of concentration up for most of the ride via a few convoluted mind games , even when being passed by tt set-ups that sounded more like juggernoughts than a road bike .

But was I going to make my self imposed cut-off …. Hit the 4 mile marker with 12 mins to go , which after some very slow mental arithmetic , I worked out I still needed to keep the 20mph speed to hit my target – I have to admit I was cursing a certain Mr Green every time I hit a slight incline , and saw my speed drop below the magic 20 , however with a final surge in the last mile , I managed to cross the line in 1 hour 29minutes ,and 49 secs ! .

I was very satisfied, and I have a to admit , a convert back to the sport of TT’ing .

It was challenging, exhilarating, and above all offered a level of satisfaction that at times is lacking in other events when you don’t have as many factors in your own control !

Right then …when do the evening 10’s start ?!

Footnote ; There were over 80 entrants yesterday ranging from mere whippersnapper of 25 years ( a Premier Calendar winning Road racer Wouter SYBRANDY) who managed to win the event in a 1.07 , to a 71 year old veteran who won the Vets meeting in 1.24.30 - certainly room for improvement !

[Jon H]

Whayhey, another convert to time trialling. Glad you enjoyed it Matt.

Wouter seems to be really flying so far this year; beating Pete Tadros by a minute and a half over a sporting course like that is no mean feat. I'm looking forward to see what happens when he and Ben Instone go head to head.

[Andrew G]

Well done Matt good race and glad you enjoyed it, I didn't fancy the ice dodging.

East Surrey run a great event for this and I like the course, even if it's a bit lumpier than my preference in places. It is all down hill from Rusper, more or less . I consider it all downhill after what's come before with the Deepdene drag and climb to Rusper being the nastiest.

Wouter has been flying, think he's won every one he's done so far. I guess the 71 year old was Woodburn who I saw warming up..in his car with the heater, sensible man. You can't take him as a typical 71 year old Matt, former end-to-end record holder.

[Toks]

Nice one Matt, well done. I'm really really really tempted

[tel]

Well done Matt, thats a tough baptism of fire. They should get easier after that.

Terry

[George]

Top write up Matt look forward to seeing you at a few local TT's

[MattD]

Maybe I'll stay with the Old Skool set-up ... looks like it might be back in vogue !

[url=http://issuu.com/planetx/docs/testing_times_june_final?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fdark%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&autoFlip=true&autoFlipTime=6000]link[/url]

[Andrew G]

Ah but is your set up old skool enough Matt? .

Testing Times is good and pretty funny, Ian Cammish launched it at the beginning of last year, it's a Planet X publication, and they ran an Old Skool series - Jon did a couple on his old fixie including spinning his legs to a blur down the Tonbridge ski slope . I think they're doing it again on a few races.

Have a shufty through issu and you'll be able to download the back issues if you want. It's very tongue in cheek and a certain ACC rider of distinction featured in one jokey article.