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First '10'

by notfastenough
Thu, Aug 09, 2012 13:28
5

I went out on the mid-week club run last night, and we ended up going along to someone else's club 10 to have a go. We rode for an hour to get there, and West Mead CC were very welcoming and let about 15 of us pay our £4 each and sign on. We stood there eating gels, chocolate bars etc, watching superbikes and carbon discs get extracted from vans and skinsuited riders warm up on rollers in the car park; all very serious. We went round the block a few times to keep the legs warm though.

It was a reasonably flat course that goes from Monks Heath towards Knutsford if anyone knows it. Anyway, I had decided that just getting inside 30mins was a reasonable first target. I don't use a computer or anything so I had no idea how I was doing, so the resulting 29:31 was about right. As a bonus, no-one passed me either, which would have been depressing.

Some of our guys (also without any aero knobbling) got 25 mins, don't know how I'm going to get closer to that, but my fitness is still improving so it's all going in the right direction. Then of course, we had to ride another hour to go home while the serious ones just packed everything away again and drove off.

Lovely evening! Anyone else had a go this summer?

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
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Cheers Simon, it was about 48 miles in all that evening, but weirdly I didn't seem to find the pacing for the TT a problem. That said, I'm no good sprinting over short distances anyway, so perhaps it's an offshoot of that, or maybe I didn't empty the tank enough, but we did have to ride 18 miles home again afterwards.

The fastest time on the night was 22:something, which when compared to our faster-than-me-but-non-aero guys at 25:something, we reckoned probably cost £2-3k per minute! There was one guy who had a van that we reckoned was just for his cycling stuff - add that to his rollers and the aero gear that gave him the look of a b*stard lovechild of Wiggo and Mork from Ork (younger readers need not ask who Mork is!) and you're right about the bottomless pit.

As for Raleigh, I expect you're training like a pro over the school holidays, I expect you to be in a junior rainbow jersey in Autumn!

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Raleigh | 11 years ago
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Hilly Suffolk is B10/9.

Windy as well, its near Tunstall.

I'd better describe it as very lumpy.

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Simon E | 11 years ago
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well done notfastenough, good on you for riding out too. Aero gear does help but it can be a never-ending quest for extra speed and a painful wallet-emptying exercise. We have all ages and abilities at our evening 10s and it's always very sociable (it helps that the HQ is at a friendly pub with lovely food).

I've been time trialling for nearly 5 years now (eek!), it doesn't get any easier! My times improved and became more consistent once I learnt to pace myself reasonably; you don't much room to dawdle in a '10' but equally, go off too hard and there's no chance to recover. Get into the groove ASAP, start winding the pressure up after a mile or so and soon you should be just below the red zone, then 'get it all out' towards the finish. Simple 3

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mathewshotbolt | 11 years ago
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which course is the hilly in suffolk?

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Raleigh | 11 years ago
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Yep, been doing it every Thursday.

I've found the Hilliest course in suffolk, which is apparently a minute and a half slower than normal flat ones.

I really want to go sub 25 by the end of the School Holidays, the best I've done so far is 26:23.

I hate the wind when cycling, in Time Trialling especially.

I also do 5's in Suffolk, with the weekly goal of sub 13.

Its weird because the 5 course is the bottom half of the 10, and I usually go faster over it during the 10 than the 5, which I put down to less accelerating and decelerating, and better pacing over 10 miles. There's not much thought in 5's, just all out for 13 minutes.

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