First race on new Cervelo P3, got a pb and won a £10 prize - result!

Winner was 22:13, 2nd place was 22:35, 3rd was 22:38 and I as 4th equal at 22:47. Me and the 4th place chap shared the prize money for first in category B (Category B for riders with a previous pb of more than 23:30). It'll be Category A next time!

All times were a minute down on the last results I saw for this course, due to the wind.

Aimed to set out at 28mph into the wind, and 30mph back - which was way too fast a target. This would have resulted in a 20:43 which would have been 1:30 in front of the winner... However, 30mph in the tailwind felt easy in the warm up, and 28mph was maybe, do-able.

Started hard, very hard (that was the coffee), and initially I could hold the 28mph, but not for long. I caught my minute man after just 4 minutes! My 2 minute man was missing so I had no-one to chase after that. Speed dropped down to 23mph at some points as I lost concentration. Time seemed to really drag up to the Kippen roundabout turn, but as I turned at 12 minutes I could see my 3 minute man. Averaged just 25mph by the turn.

With the tailwind I cranked it up to 30mph, but found it hard to hold it there. Concentration much better now, as I had my 3 minute man in sight. I tried really hard to hurt myself, but legs just wouldn't go any faster.

I caught my 3 minute man quite quick, and had my 4 minute man in the sights, but he was maybe 20 seconds ahead by the finish - which came up quicker than I thought. Came back in 10:47 - a shade under 28mph.

I picked the 53x14 on the way out, which was fine for 28mph (would have been a cadence of 92rpm), however at 25mph the cadence was just 82rpm. Similarly coming back in the 53x12 cadence was 79rpm (would have been 85rpm at the targer 30mph).

So I need to pick lighter gears - this should help me to turn the legs over faster rather than grinding away at 80rpm.

Also I need to go out and do intervals at 30mph in the 53x13 (92rpm). I shouldn't need the 53x12 until I get to 32mph at 90rpm.

If I can do 3 minute intervals at 30pmh on training wheels then I should be good to go at that speed with the disc wheel on!

Light spinning for all of 2 minutes... Legs felt ok straight away (should have gone harder!), but lungs were burning for 5 minutes.


Practice, practice, practice. Need to be able to really hurt myself!


1st 10 mile TT in 4 years - and 1st race on new bike - loved it. Loads of people came up to ask me about the new bike, even the race starter commented on it! People very friendly, need to do some more of these wee mid week races.