BUCS TTT

Last Sunday I met up with my team mates from Giant CC Halo Cycles to compete in the supporting event for the BUCS TTT on a tough rolling course near Castle Combe. It was around 22 miles and not a quick course either.

Driving there the fog was heavy, but luckily the sun came out and cleared this away, and when we rode the conditions were good, with less wind than before when I had ridden this course solo. As not everyone had a working TT bike we did it on the road bikes with junior gearing to replicate riding a break away in a road race.

We set off well and were shifting big time down the A420, with each of us working hard together, doing 3 minute turns as I found this was good in the last TTT I did. On the big climb I lead up and then did a double turn over the top as the other two were flagging a little bit, so i gave them more rest and recovery in the wheels.

We were on for a very good time, and although we were caught by the team that set off behind us, who ended up winning the event, we were still working well as a collective unit and managing everyone’s levels. the back straight was good as it wasn’t too windy and we were ramping up to finish strongly.

However with around 4 miles to go i pushed down on the pedals on my turn on the front and when i lifted up i found that the pedal was on my shoe! So i ended up doing the last few miles one legged with help from team mates giving me a push on some of the climbs, although 20% wasn’t fun with one leg!

We lost time, i think we’d have done a 54/55 minute time, but we ended up doing 59, which was disappointing because we were going so well, and no prize money! Grateful for the help from team, I’ll just make sure that pedals are tight when we next ride!