A Journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step
Chippenham Wheeler Sporting Time Trial
The Journey
HomeClimbing
Travel
Accident
Hospital
Recovery
Running
Headway
Fund Raising
3 Peaks, 2 Legs and a Bike
Recovery
Work AssistanceInitial Problems
Ongoing Problems
Recovery Diary
Fund Raising
Just GivingMedia and Press
Running
Event ResultsShort Events
Ultra Distance Events
Neolithic Marathon
High Peak Marathon
Pembroke Coast Path
Headway UK
Headway Swindon
Further Reading /
Inspirational books
Touching the Void
Joe Simpson
It's not about the Bike
Lance Armstrong
The Lore of Running
Tim Noakes
First ever Time Trial – Sporting 10 mile 4 April. 'Sporting' means it's not flat.
This would be my first ever time trial and I had no idea what to expect, would I see a constant stream of people whizzing past me, or would I be able to hold my own and post a reasonable time?Perhaps I did not prepare in the best way for this evening event, having cycled into Swindon for work from Whitley (26 miles) and gone for a short run at lunchtime (3 miles) and then cycled the 16 miles back to Sutton Benger for 18:00. At least I was ‘warmed up’!
I spoke with John Lewis at the start area and we had a discussion about who would be slowest, both of us convinced that we would be slower than the other. I left my rucksack I had cycled from work with in his car to collect when we finished.
I then spoke to Mark Hanby about how his training was going for the UK Duathlon team and saw that he was to start 3 minutes after me, so I knew I would see him pass me later on.
I rode slowly up to then start on the rise up to the motorway bridge; somehow John has missed his starting slot so he passed me his car keys for when I got back.
There were quite a few people out possibly because it was a nice evening, but standing around on the bridge my starting slot I got a bit cool in my short sleeve tee shirt.
I remembered to change into a higher gear than I would normally start off in, after all this was a Time Trial and speed was the key, and launched off across the bridge.
This was quite new for me, racing on my own. I have only raced in running races before when even on the long ones there is normally someone in sight. The only people I saw initially were the marshals, pointing in the direction to go in, always a reassuring sight.
At a few points I did find myself grinding up some rises, but they were all mercifully short. I was even freewheeling at one point, not uphill! And maybe next time I should just change up and keep pushing on, I’m sure this would make a difference to my time.
It must have been around the 8 mile mark when the first rider passed me, it was Mark, he cannot have been trying all that hard because he said ‘hello Colin’! Then not long after that I was passed by number 18, who must have started 5 minutes after me. Luckily I crossed the finish line before the rush of more people passing, there were a couple of people close behind who would have passed me very soon.
I rode back to Queens Field with Mark and got my rucksack from John’s car, then headed off to the club. I really should have looked at the most direct way there.
I had checked the best way to get to the start and where the route went, but had omitted check the route from Sutton Benger to the club. In consequence I rode about 1.5 miles further than I needed to, not far but it was getting darker.
All in all though, I was pleased with my performance. In my 52 mile ride to work and back I had managed to incorporate a 10 mile TT with and average of 18.7 mph, which is faster that I have ridden 10 miles before.