MADCC 20

[Jon H]

Started my TT season this morning with the Maldon & District CC hilly 20, first event in the Spoco SE competition.

A resonable morning for the first weekend in March. Damp roads but not actually raining, and warm enough not to have to worry about ice. Was fairly foggy as I was driving up to Essex, but by eight o'clock that was lifting.

This was my first time trying out my new lower position on my new tri-bars. Felt a bit strange at first, but soon got used to it. This was probably more to do with not having ridden on tri-bars for over four months rather than the lower position.

Started off OK and got up the first steep hill, then going over the crest I managed to un-ship my chain while changing onto the big ring. Luckily I got it back on while on the move, so only lost a few seconds.

After a couple of miles on the first straightish bit I could see a rider from API Metrow a hundred metres or so ahead. This was a bit odd because he hadn't started just ahead of me, so I assumed it must be someone warming up. When I realised I wasn't catching him I started to think I must be going badly if he was warming up, I was racing and I wasn't making any progress on him. Anyway, on the first fast descent he pulled away as he had a bit more bottle on the damp roads, and I forgot about him.

Soon afterwards I started catching people which is always encouraging. I started as 21, and I caught 19, 18, 17, 14, 12 & 8 if I remember rightly.

Managed to stay on the big chainring most of the way round on all the drags, but the course has a sting in the tail in the shape of a nasty steep climb a mile or so before the finish, with a photographer lurking on the crest to capture the grimaces. Had to use the little ring there and managed to keep the chain on this time when changing back up. All that was left was an extremely dodgy wet gravelly left turn and an all out effort for the last half mile to the finish.

Finished in 54:59, 9th place from a field of 55.
Seven seconds faster and two places better than last year, so I'm quite pleased with that. Bring on the rest of the season.

[Dominic]

Nice one Jon,

I see you are doing the Hainault Hilly next week aswell. Was there a specific reason for trying a lower position or did it just seem like a good idea, if you know what I mean.

[Toks]

[quote]This was probably more to do with not having ridden on tri-bars for over four months rather than the lower position.

[Andrew G]

Well done Jon, a good start to the defence of your title.

[Jon H]

Dominic,
After viewing some photos from last year vs previous years I realised the position I was using last year on my new bike was higher and less aero than my position previous seasons on my old bike. Although it didn't seem to do any harm as I had my best season ever. Still, I'm using the early season events to see whether getting more aero helps.

Toks,
I know I should really train in my TT position, but I don't want to get by TT bike either covered in crap from the winter roads or corroded by sweat on the turbo. Again, early season events are for getting back into the swing of things before the important races later in the year.

Andrew,
There's no way I can defend the handicap trophy, as my handicap is now substantially reduced. I'm just going for a higher finish in the scratch competition.

[tel]

Great ride Jon, I could see from when we rode last month that you were going well.

Keep up the good work.

Terry