I had made 2 aero changes; firstly, a new longer set of fluorescent lime green Velotoze shoe covers and secondly an excellent leg wax from Wendy. On the negative side, I’d had a dodgy stomach all afternoon, but I told myself to ignore this and not assume it would impact me.
Adam and I set off on our warmup and Adam headed down some small lanes where the surface rattled my fillings somewhat – not sure we’ll go that way in the future.
I carried on north westerly up the B4100 (the route) and noted that the wind was a bit different than the forecast. It seemed to be blowing to the South rather than East. This was confirmed when I turned round and headed South westerly to the start and my pace really picked up.
After a bit of a chat with a couple of the Banbury Star guys, I headed off to the start. I was 28th off. As usual, I went off a bit quick and looking down at my Garmin I could see over 300 Watts which is not sustainable (for me anyway). I dialled it back a bit but did want to work a bit harder on the first uphill, against the wind section.
I reached the first turn which took me South West and saw my average was quite low but my body told me I’d worked hard. This section along Camp Lane has a couple of painful rises where pace really drops but I was able to stay on the aero bars.
The next left turns towards the village of Edgehill and heads South East and the course stays roughly in that direction to the end. Luckily, there was nothing coming at the top of Edge Hill and I made the turn at full pace. The next risk is as you pass the Castle Pub. Cars park on the road outside and only leave one carriageway. I was following a large van and I could see it braking as it approached the parked cars. It pulled out and passed them and I rushed to try and get to the cars before anything came the other way.
The final junction was also clear and most of the rest of the route is slightly downhill. The wind was now favourable and my pace really picked up. I watched the average speed click up; 21.3, .4, .6, 22. I was now at a slightly lower power than the first half, and I only raised it for the short inclines or accidentally when I passed marshals / spectators clapping us.
My average speed hit 23.8 mph as I approached the last mile which is a sharp dip, left hander at the bottom and then 0.6 of a mile uphill to the finish. I’d saved a little bit and as I exited the lefthander at the bottom of the dip on my aero bars I gave it what I had left. I got a PB up that section and was gasping for air as I passed the finish line.
After a short recovery I returned to the finish to hand my number in. Keri looked at his sheet and said “winner on the road”, which to be fair each rider should be really as the start numbers are usually aligned to expected finish times.
I was pleased with the outcome, knocking 25 seconds off my previous best. I’d done 31:55 for the 12.63 miles at an average of 23.7 mph. I’d come 26th of the 56 starters which I’m reasonably pleased with and it had been good fun.
Next week is a 5 mile TT on Wednesday – so that will be fun!