For a brief moment last week I thought spring had sprung in Macclesfield after a couple of days where I almost put my three quarter tights on. The Squirrels outside the apartment were getting frisky and there was a pleasant birdsong to accompany the evening sun.
That all went to pot as the squalls rolled in for our first 25 mile time trial of the year on Saturday. It was cold, real cold 7 degrees and blustery. Prior to the start I gave my usual coach's knowledge based advice to some riders on clothing choice for the conditions to bring about optimal performance, and then promptly forgot to apply those sound methods to myself.
With just an under vest, a long sleeve skin suit and a light application of foul smelling warm up embrocation for protection against the wind chill I headed for the start line. In the 2 miles to the start I applied my final high intensity effort to get the oxygen delivery up to race pace and allow the tired synovial fluid in my joints to reach the desired viscosity. Even with these high intensity efforts the cold wind was very obvious. I watched Jenn set off 2 minutes in front of me in a short sleeve skin suit and wondered how her Antipodean blood would cope in these conditions.
My start was good and I ran through my mental drills checking pacing and keeping my new aerodynamic position as tight as possible. It was tough to get the pacing spot on as my SRM power control display is missing a couple of lines of LCD after loaning it to a local youth superstar to cure a bout of over training, which I did to great effect. The lad won 3 elite races back to back off my advice before returning the knackered power meter.
I felt OK for the first third of the race, I had negotiated the infamous Chelford roundabout without being cut up by a horse box or a Cheshire wives 4x4 and was homing in on Jenn. As I passed Jenn with a cheerful and pehaps a little smug Ay Up I pushed on a little harder to make the most of a brief tail wind. It was then I started to notice the lack of force being produced during each pedal stroke. It was as though I was loosing the feeling in my thighs, as though I couldnt contract the muscle as forcefully as my brain was telling it to. When I looked down at my thighs thumping away on the 180 cranks as us cyclists do as if to say "come on what are you playing at " as if we are talking to a training buddy who isn't keeping up, I noticed the tell take blue shade around my knees, shins and quads. As I cursed myself for not following my own good advice (Not for the first time I might add) I was caught for 4 minutes by a strong looking fellow in leg warmers.
Not being over familiar with the J29 course I was surprised how quick the finish line came and crossed it with the time of 1 hour 56 seconds. I was (as all my clients are after a performance test) disappointed that I had not pushed harder. I had without much stress averaged 350 watts for just short of 50 minutes in training and on analysis of the SRM data was surprised that I had only managed 301 watts for the hour during the race. Ill put it down to the cold in my knees and stick to the 20 degree rule in future, which will more than likely see me in leg warmers all year as 20 degrees is something special in Macclesfield.
Jenn riding athlete style in the drops with nothing more than a skin suit and some super light wheels clocked 1 hour 5 minutes 57 seconds, a good time in those conditions. She survived the conditions well during the race but was chilled to the bone after the 6 mile ride from the finish line to the race HQ. I can't wait to see Jenn go round the Buxton hilly in a couple of weeks time as a few more races in her legs and that super light Cannondale Synapse should be good competition for any other female entrants.
Here is my power data from the race, things can only get better.
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