[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3256/2529532762_323a024642_o.png[/img]
Okay, so while Andrew provides the art work, I'll provide the science... I know some of you will scoff at the thought of a graph of an evening 10, but then I know there are plenty more of you who will be interested to see. So here it goes.
As I said at the car park upon the horror of my official time of 24.01, I was a touch quicker, at 23.55 for 16.11km. But of course, I can't argue with the offical time, and 24.01 is a new PB. All be it for only my second flat(ish) 10TT. The usual speed stats, 40.35km/h, a shade over 25mph. Cadence average of 103, which is quite good, I tend to average between 70-80 in road races. Average HR of 187 and a max of 193, which is about 7bpm away from what I would expect if I was fresh and not coming off the back of a cold.
Now the business end, an average power of 326w, and a max of 999w. Which is at the lower end of what I expected, but higher than Toks' 310w prediction
I am fairly certain that I could add at least 15w the average, and soon, I should have some tri bars to play with that might knock off some more seconds for me. It is interesting to note that for the first 8km, I averaged 336w. Therfore had an average speed of 41.3km/h and a time of 11:32. So a possible estimation to make would be that given similar conditions, me and my standard road bike could do 23:04 if I could maintain this for the whole distance, which I reckon I could if I was really fresh/on form.
So on the return leg I lost about 50 seconds compared to the outward leg. This meant my average power had fallen to 318w, and my average speed was down to 39.45km/h. I kinda knew this, as I was saying to Mark and George that I perhaps hit the first leg a little too hard. I think in my short TT career to date I have found the opening minutes quite 'stessful', in that until I settle into my rythm I am a bit ragged. But I guess that comes with experience.
Technically I think I rode ok, fairly smooth, and my high cadence suggests that this was the case. Although I did kinda screw up the turn, running very wide, almost to the kirb and having to brake a touch more than I ought to have done. But then I was keen to catch Mr Munnery who was only just ahead of me by this stage, although with his diet of long hilly rides of late, it was still a solid ride by him. Similar to myself in fact that much longer road races and riding was hardly good prep for a short effort like a 10. It is quite rare that I push this hard for a comparably short time. So credit to the TT specialists, especially the likes of Mark McLaughlin who still had me by about 15 seconds (officially
). Don't worry, I'll get you next time!
Interesting that my heart rate was pretty much constant throughout the whole TT. 186bpm av for the first 8km and 188bpm for the second. Perhaps an indication of my body struggling to cope with the demands of the second half of the race. As the 186bpm av from the first half coincides with a much higher power output than the 188bpm of the second half.
Anyhow, was fairly enjoyable I suppose! So thanks to Jon, Joyce, Tim, Andrew and Snoop for their official duties. Next time I will crack 24! Must do soon as I would like to crack 23 before the end of the season!!