It’s been a whole year since my first ever time trial, the 9 mile circuit hosted by both Rhyl Cycling Club and VC Melyd. Today I rode the same course, on the same bike. How did I do?
It was part of a New Years resolution, I suppose, to get more involved in this sort of thing. After declaring an interest in joining a club and then doing my first TT on New Years Day, it seemed like the quickest and easiest resolution ever. That first time, on the brink of turning 41 (OK I’m a late developer), and still feeling very much the newbie, I was delighted to get around in less than 30 minutes. 29:36 to be precise.
Here’s the course as defined on Strava. (Click the map to open Strava)
One whole year, and 5,000 miles later, I was hoping to see some improvement. I’ve averaged over 100 miles per week for the last 52 weeks – surely this will have had an effect on my aerobic capacity, the efficiency of my circulation and of course, muscular strength and power?
I’m very pleased that I got around the course in 25:56 (or 25:46 if you go with the Strava version, which may use slightly different start/stop points).
That’s 3 minutes and 40 seconds quicker than the same time last year, which by my maths, equates to 13% quicker. That’ll do. Happy bunny.
When I got home and removed my helmet, my 6 year old took great delight in taking a picture of Daddy’s funny helmet hair.
Were your 100 miles per week flat out or slow aerobic enhancing miles? Strava encourages me to race (not pace) myself on every ride which might not lead to aerobic gains.
It would have been a mixture, occasionally going for it on Strava, and other times just taking it easy.