BotD/TDF: Prologue

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BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby Jack Hughes » 07 Sep 2013 20:30

Battle of the Dinosaurs or the Tour de Fifty

A race over numerous stages. There can only be one winner. Except there might be two, as it is for both General Classification (GC), and Points. And possibly also KoM. What it won't have is a white jersey. Raced over multiple disciplines, with a stage per month(ish), the start got under way with the opening prologue.

This was a battle on bikes over a 10 Mile Time Trial. Previous form would suggest that Jon.e would romp away with it. However, Jack Hughes had a secret weapon - "Heart of Gold" (formerly "Black Bomber 2"), a TT steed of uncertain pedigree, replacing the old road bike. This was to be its first Solo TT outing; it's first race in anger. A bit of a wild card.

Fittingly, the opening skirmish of this year long battle, was the VTTA (Veteran Time Trials Association) Yorkshire 10 mile TT. Held on a rolling bit of the old A1, running alongside the new A1(M) motorway. A nice quiet stretch of road, but rolling enough to almost be a sporting course. Not fast by any means.

Over to our Athletes, colour coded as above



Prologue. (adventure before Dementia)


And so the Battle begins, today's battle site would be along the A168, a nice quietish road that parallels the A1, starting a nice reasonable time of 2pm.

Run by Otley Cycling Club, this Veterans TT event would see riders of all ages competing, from the early twenties to the two 80 year old riders, who would both post sub 29 minute ten mile, age truly is no barrier. Jack and myself mere youngsters amongst them.

The race HQ was in the quiet village of Marton cum Grafton, parking available in the pub car park, which was where I met Jack, although he looked slightly confused as he recognised the car but not the number plate. So we strolled into the village to sign on, having to ask a rider where the village hall was, to which he replied by pointing over his shoulder and saying it ' was in the brick building', well as most of the houses where built of brick, we just wander in the direction he pointed.

Signing on is easy, you walk to a table, find a piece of paper with your name on it, sign next to it and pick up your race number, no one tells you what to do, it is as simple as that.
Number collected and back to get ready.
Got one of the other racers to take the nominal pre race photo, and off to warm up.


I have to admit to being a bit apprehensive. The first outing on the TT steed. I'm always a bit alarmed by the handling characteristics of these bikes. And, after obsessing over the 3cm rule, adjusting the TT arms, decided my position was both legal and as streamlined as I could get. Re-cleaned and re-greased the bike, stuck an LED back light to the saddle (this was an earlier pre-race nervous occupation). And it was ready to go. Surprisingly, the torrential rain that had been forecast had changed to a bright and breezy day. Things were looking up. My good lady wife had made a load of cakes. And I had been carb-loading on these - up 2lbs from Friday's weight. Not to worry, as I am a sylph compared with jon.e

I had wondered about removing some of my facial hair before the start. But couldn't be bothered.

I have done this course twice before (but can only remember it once, but I believe Strava over my age addled mind), and new it wasn't easy - it's rolling, mainly downhill to the the turn, then mainly uphill back again. I had managed a 29 minute and a 30 minute effort on the road bike. Admittedly, the latter was during an experiment with recovery, having done a hard 25 mile TT the day before. I know I cannot race more than once in a weekend (it might have been on the bank holiday monday, after the race on the saturday). Anyway, a course PB of 29 minutes to beat.



The warm up.


Never, ever arrive late for a TT, as the start is usually some distance away from the race HQ, the notes said it could be reached easily in 15 mins, so if you like to cut it fine, you could be racing for longer than you think. Checking out the start and finish, before taking a side road to warm up. Jacks idea of a warm up is Hill reps, living in the flat lands, I don't do hill reps, I don't do hills, but I did two before heading off to the start, whilst Jack did some more, as he was starting 10 mins after me.



I was riding without any spares or kit at all. First solo outing for the skin suit. Which has no pockets (except one in the neck at the back for keys). Riding on the course would be low risk, but you can't warm up on the course once the race has started, so this meant doing the ride down some country roads. Fortunately, the was a nice gentle slope - enough to do some repeats on to get the HR up, without going to far and running too much risk of getting a puncture. A few of these which I bullied jon.e into doing.

My strategy was to race with only HR, the distance covered, and the elapsed time on the Garmin display. But because I couldn't be bothered to fork out 20 or 30 quid for a mount to go on the bar extensions, I couldn't actually see the garmin during the race, not while on the drops. My TT hr is usually in the 150s. The plan was to do the first bit at the low 150s, then the return at the mid 150s (allowing for HR drift), gradually reaching a crescendo of HR max (about 160 for me) at the finish.


The start.


This was in a small cutting, the last TT I raced you actually started on the road, but here, you start in the cutting then on the off, perform a hairpin turn onto the A168, swing too far and you end up in the middle of the carriageway. Jack turns up, and we chat with the others, and watch Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee cycle past on a training ride, the indignity is being passed by them whilst you are racing and they are training (it has happened to me, not today, but did it make me feel insignificant ).


The Race.


I pull up to the start, the timekeeper says 60 secs, I start my Garmin, then 30, The Holder grabs the frame, I clip in, 10 seconds, 5,4,3,2,1,go.
The holder lets go, I gingerly swing onto the carriageway, waiting for a large articulated lorry to wipe me out, stay in the shoulder and gradually accelerate.


I gave the tyres a least clean. Clip in. The time keeper just said "Get Ready".. I wasn't sure whether this was 30 secs, 20 or 10. Turned out it was 20. I pressed the start button on the garmin... and we off. Except we aren't. One pedal turn and straight into a track stand while a car goes past. Safety first! This lost a bit of time - but not so much.

Accelerate and we are away. After I bit I could see my minute man. A few bends later though, I lost sight of him.

Go to about half way to the turn. My HR and levelled out. My legs were burning. I can remember thinking "I want to get off". HR was up at 152 - bang on, so it was just about settling down and getting on with it. Keeping cadence up, gear as high as possible, and keeping on that tricky knife edge between "I can do this comfortably (too slow), I can't do this (too fast)" , where lies "I don't know if I can keep this up".

Minute man passed my at probably about 7 mins something. But I couldn't see. I was blowing around all over the place. But when he went past (he came second in the end), he was blowing around even more than me!



As with any cycle race there is a wind, today would be a noticeable headwind and a not very discernable tailwind.
The route is undulating, I would see my speed drop on the inclines, and hardly rise on the declines, thighs burning after just a few minutes, and hit by my minute man after just nine minutes, things are not looking good.

The turnaround comes at 4:75 miles, and just before the race I had done a quick calculation on when I would expect to see Jack as I continued on the return leg, there he goes, about twenty seconds faster than I envisaged, we both waved before diving back into our own world of pain.
The finish cannot come soon enough, I have nothing else to give, no extra speed for a sprint at the end, just a constant effort. Across the line and I start my stopwatch, Jaxk started 10 minutes after me, so even with my maths providing my watch says more than 10minutes, then victory is mine.

5 minutes passes, I wait, by the side of the road, 7,8 minutes go by, the tension mounts, at the turnaround we must have been within a few seconds of each other, 9 minutes, I look down the road, no sign, the seconds go by, 9:30, and the skin suited figure of Jack appears, moving rapidly, 9:40, this will be close, 9:50, he passes me, I watch as he hits the finish and stop my watch. This will be close, definitely going to the time keepers results to check, so back to HQ, eager to find the times, Jack wants a PB, and with the wind and course, it will be a well deserved one.


I vaguely recognised jon.e on his return leg. Tried to look nonchalant. It probably worked.

Took it easy round the turn. Waved a thank-you at the marshal. Then off again. Soon overtaken by my 2 minute man. Not too worry. Another fast boy. And the speed that he overtook was that much faster than me. I think I got to the turn in about 13 mins. I was up on where I expected to be. Although my expectations were a bit soft. A lot less fitter than in 2010, but on a new bike.

Relief from the wind was great. I much prefer thinking about how hard to pedal, rather than fighting the wind. It isn't any easier, just more satisfying. The plan was to push the HR up. Now it was about 154, 2 beats up, for the next section.

I soon caught sight of my minute man again. I was definitely closing, but only slowly.

It is an undulating course. With a lot of adjusting of gears. I had gone for a block of close rations - running from 12 to 23. But the course needed a few changes to maximise speed. There were a few times when I should have changed up, but enjoyed the sneaky relief.

I had completely forgotten that I had distance covered on the garmin - a peer at this (requires moving back) and I was already at 11km. Of course, now I started watching, the increase in KM started slowing down. At some point I was almost sick - probably pressing a bit too hard - ease up slightly, and keep the HR under control. Up to 156 at this point.

The TT position is remarkably comfortable. Although the relatively tight tuck ought to mine that you are uncomfortably rotated on the saddle, because your are pressing the life out of the pedals, you are hardly in the seat at all - only about 10% of your weight ever touches it.

Finally, 2km to go! Time to wind it up... up to the finish... HR reaching the HR max of 160... dimly aware of jon.e taking a photograph. And finish.


Back at HQ


A quick change, bikes in cars, and off to swap race numbers for tea and cake, well, the other riders had eaten all cake, good job we had bought a stash of cake ourselves.

The times were projected on the wall, quickly scanning to find our own and compare notes, who can read the quickest, and try and decipher the times, handicap times, best+ times, and so, by a gnats whisker of 9 seconds, Jack is the victor of the prologue, nine seconds over a ten mile course, shows how evenly matched we are, this will not be a short war. The battles may be quick and no quarter given, but like fire and ice, each one trying to cancel each other out.



My 10 mile PB is 25:56. I was vaguely hopeful that I might have beaten it. I had stopped the clock at 26:15 - but had started about 20 seconds before. And had thought I had pressed it a fair bit after crossing the line.

But no. 26:00. 5 seconds off. Maybe I should have had that shave. Or pressed on on those weaker bits.

Still, a vast improvement over previous outings. Reflected in a moving up towards the middle of the finishing board, rather than being last!

So, with my pretty crap position on the road bike, I can comfortably say that the TT bike saved me a good 3 minutes. If you make an allowance for fitness, it could be as much as 4. Worth bearing in mind if you are still on a road bike.

Impressed how close the result was.
26:00 vs 26:09

Just 9 seconds in it. Balanced on a knife edge.




The Battle of The Dinosaurs has begun.

On another note, One member of the BCTTT did win some prize money, the amount yet to be decided as on a handicap race he was either second or third, once the results are finalised.



At least jon.e did well on handicap. We both did. But for some reason they had given him 30 seconds more than me!

In true TDF style, rather than having a cuddly lion, we have a cuddly dinosaur, which the stage winner gets to keep.

So, I am in yellow, and one dinosaur up


The prologue winner, rubbing it in with a cuddly dinosaur (supplied by Mrs .e), holding up 9 fingers - 1 for each second of victory.
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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby Big_Show » 07 Sep 2013 21:26

Great report. Well done both of you! I can this going to be a truly epic battle.
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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby scibby » 07 Sep 2013 21:31

Awesome. A great read and a great idea.
15/06. Windsor Sprint
2-7/07. Les Stables
03/08. Guildford Sportive. 100km
06/09. Sundowner Sprint. Needs BAT approval
28/09. Hever Olympic
12/10. Malta Champs? Needs BAT approval.
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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby Bendy Ben » 07 Sep 2013 21:37

Love this

Well done chaps. Awesome efforts

What's the next stage ?
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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby jonathon.e » 07 Sep 2013 21:43

Bendy Ben wrote:Love this

Well done chaps. Awesome efforts

What's the next stage ?


Hopefully The next round Stage 1 ( as today was the prologue. In true TdF style), will be in October, about the 20th, this stage should be composed of two races, both Hill Climbs, a short lung busting 3/4 mile one, and a hill climb TT up the longest continuous ascent in England (Cragg Vale), which is about 4.5 miles .

Me, a hill climb with my reputation, is some one taking the proverbial. Well the idea is to go outside our comfort zone.
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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby IanM » 07 Sep 2013 22:00

Fantastic performances and report gents, very possibly my favourite of the year. Although that's with my new found interest in TTs in mind, and the fact that I've spent most of the afternoon and evening refreshing facebook, strava and even occasional forays to the CTT site just in case they were first.

Very very well done Jack. Just think - a face and leg shave and a wizards hat would probably have seen you with a comfortable PB. And as far as I'm concerned, you can knock another 30s off your time for calling your bike "Heart of Gold". I hope you will be applying Bistromathics to some of the future BotD stages.
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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby King Sad » 08 Sep 2013 07:33

Well done gentlemen :D I salute you.

A worthy tale of competition, effort and skill carried out in true style; an inspiration for all those young pups that the dinosaurs (probably destined to outlive homo sapiens) are to be treated with respect.

At last I get to put a face to the name Jack, the progress of the Dino trophy is one that will be watched keenly.
It seemed like a good idea at the time :? .



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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby Jimba » 08 Sep 2013 08:03

Very well done to you both for great times and a great read. Particular well done to Jack for pipping Jon who I suspect will be smarting.

Six weeks to the first stage........it's too long the massive need another episode.
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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby jonathon.e » 08 Sep 2013 08:16

Jimba wrote:Very well done to you both for great times and a great read. Particular well done to Jack for pipping Jon who I suspect will be smarting.

Six weeks to the first stage........it's too long the massive need another episode.


Smarting isn't quite the right word for it,

As for the next episode, I have my final two triathlons before the HC stage in October, if you hear a loud snap, it will probably be my bones :roll:
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Re: BotD/TDF: Prologue

Postby Jack Hughes » 08 Sep 2013 08:19

jonathon.e wrote:
Jimba wrote:if you hear a loud snap, it will probably be my bones :roll:



Or the gastric band ;)


9 seconds? It's as close to a draw as possible.
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