Was just me, myself, and I from Addiscombe in Handcross today for a 22.8 mile (nice round number) Sporting TT.
I'd had a shufty at a map beforehand and it looked like it would be a bit draggy rather than overly hilly, I was a bit wrong as it turned out to be a real roller-coaster of a course. It was a nice triangular(ish) loop of Staplefield though on mainly B roads with a bit of single carriageway A road on one side, so pretty good surfaces just the odd rough section.
Speaking to Richard (of the Anerley) at the start from his PBs it appeared that this circuit was about 3 to 4 minutes slower than a 25 on a DC (also bearing in mind that a 25 would be in much nicer weather).
I was out in TT gear today and what a difference it makes to riding the road bike. Obviously there are some aero benefits but I'm a firm believer that it is also psychologically lifting. The wheels just sound fast as they nip along the road, and whereas last week my mind was drifting all over the place once the pointy hat goes on it seems to focus my mind on the job in hand - I think it's the fact that it encases my head more and the bits over the ears help cut out the outside world. The car said 5 degrees at the start but once racing I soon warmed up and was fine in skinsuit with armwarmers and long finger gloves.
It starts in the middle of the triangle with about a 1.5 mile climb straight from the line. It's a bit steeper at the start and then eases off a bit to drag up to the first left-hander.
Next was a very nice blast down the B2110, nice smooth tarmac and a fast slightly downhill section with a bit of flat and the odd drag and dip and kick up. Unfortunately I couldn't get up quite enough speed to get over these on momentum alone but got about 2/3rds to 3/4 of the way up before having to drop the gears and roll over the brow so switching between blasting in 53/12 and 53/11 to shuffling up the cassette to 53/18 or 53/19 on the drags.
Swung left at Cowfold and rolled on to Cuckfield. There were a couple of nasty drags around Cuckfield Village, and then through the village bear left and...what's that hill doing there. Not very long though so a quick gear shuffle to the small ring and spun over the top on the tri-bars.
After Cuckfield it was on to Balcombe and a nice 30+mph run to a 40mph brief drop, and then a bit of a grovel up through Balcombe. There were a couple of climbs around here that were a bit longer than I'd thought so had stayed in the big ring and worked my up to my biggest sprocket, at which point it would have been jerky to drop to the small ring so just got out the saddle for a bit of a grind in 53/21. This was probably a blessing in disguise as I lost less time this way and it didn't involve too much honking out the saddle.
Now it was just a left back on to the B2110 and a pretty flat 4 mile blast to the finish. Really pushed along here and finished happy as I'd really enjoyed the race, albeit a lonely one as I hadn't caught or been caught by anyone (I was off at 3 so not much to chase and it turned out after that the seed a couple behind me was a DNS which would explain it).
Back in HQ and a 1:06:08 which is about 2mins20secs off my 25 PB so not bad and a lot more encouraging than the debacle of last week. Ben Instone (one of the best testers around) won with a ridiculous 53:42.
Part 3 of the programme next week with the East Surrey Hardriders.
Footnote: The other Andrew Green (Old Ports) didn't enjoy his day and had a bad ride so 1-0 to me for the season so far
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