UCI UWCT World Amateur Championships - Time Trial in Hobro

 

In pursuit of rainbow stripes...

The much anticipated 'adventure' to deepest Denmark was finally upon us. Courtesy of Priory Rentals, Northwich, who responded to our last minute plight and juggled their fleet to provide our home and mode of transport for the Championships - a lovely motorhome - complete with massive 'garage' for the bikes. Some 1,200 miles later, having travelled over the water at Dover and up through France, Belgium, Germany and finally into Denmark, camp was set up at Hobro - the location for the Time Trial.

Having left beautiful sunshine in Germany, we had a more traditional Danish greeting on arrival at the campsite - heavy rain and strong winds! It was almost like the unofficial race HQ as within an hour we'd met the NZ National TT Champ in the laundry, the Norwegian National TT Champ had pitched his caravan next to us and countless other cyclists of all nationalities had started to arrive. Unsurprisingly, conversations in broken English focussed around the weather (how windy??!) and the course (how technical??!!)



It was that windy that the banners were literally taking off!

It goes without saying that preparation was a key priority, so off I went to recce the course (numerous times) - it was certainly challenging and definitely made all the more interesting by the heavy rain and 30mph winds. It was an 18.6km out and back course up a steep incline with a technical loop with a few short sharp climbs and a left and right turn to be negotiated when travelling at over 60kph. Add onto this a strong headwind on the way out, a crosswind on the only flat section and a tailwind on the final fast descent where you somehow needed to make a 90 degree turn towards the finish and you have a Championship course!

The plan? Play the weather at its own game and ride like the wind up the hill and into the headwind sections and try to remain aero on the downhill... not forgetting braking in time to make the final bend! As Paul is often reminding me, 'in order to finish first, first you have to finish'. Never has this phrase seemed more appropriate than it did for this course.

Having taken the opportunity of attending the pre-bike check the day before racing started, I was safely in the knowledge that 'Lucy' as my TT bike is affectionately known was UCI legal. I was surprised by the number of people who were having to make alterations - some looked rather more terminal than others (think hacksaw!)


'Lucy' in the UCI jig, weighing in at 9.2kg

My start time was 12:21, so after my usual warm-up, which had the unwelcome addition of fighting off the local wasp population, I was headed for the final bike check, before taking my place on the start ramp.

1 minute to go...

The digital clock was counting us down at 30 second intervals, with the Start Commissaire giving us the final 5 second finger countdown. A quick press of the start button on the Garmin (I like constant in-ride feedback) and we're off!




The final countdown!

Panic set in after the first 800m - where have my race legs gone?! I didn't have an answer to this, so just had to dig in and try my best. Having safely (and perhaps rather too pedestrian) made the turn to climb the first incline, I spotted my parents half way up the hill - cue dig in a bit more. I was rapidly going into the red but the summit was in sight, just a few more pedal turns... then it was onto the flat and straight into the full force of the cross headwinds. My legs were screaming at me but I knew I just had to dig in, thankfully being closed roads, it was far easier to hold a line than it had been when riding the course on open roads earlier in the week. The rain had started again and my visor was starting to get covered with raindrops - at least they masked the next looming incline!


The left hand turn which marked the start of the loop - my favourite part of the course - was soon upon me, this also meant that I was a third of the way around already. Approaching the rolling section I could see my 'minute man' in the distance - a target! I was gaining but only slowly until we came to the descent which saw us come off the loop with a couple of technical bends - she hesitated, I reached a crazy speed of 65kph, swept around the bend and overtook. I just had to keep my head down now in case my manoeuvre spurred her into a counter attack. Thankfully there was no sign of this and I powered on up the last climb with what little I had left in my legs.

In a whole world of pain!

 

The crossing over the motorway marked the point at which the road started to flatten out, time to dig in once more. I could see a French rider in front of me - another target. I passed her and sunk into my best aero position to enhance my speed at the start of the descent, knowing full well that I had to start braking early enough to make the final turn. The marshal was frantically waving his arms at me to slow down. Was I really still carrying too much speed? Perhaps I was, so more feathering of the brakes... speed reducing and reducing! I knew that I had to maximise my power out of the corner and into the final kilometre to the finish to regain some of it. It was quite technical to sweep around the barriers and into the finish straight but I was determined to finish in style and stop the clock as soon as possible!

Eager to stop the Garmin as soon as possible!

In a strong field of experienced riders I finished sixth and third fastest Brit in a time of 30:03. Despite initial disappointment on missing out on a medal by less than 30 seconds I guess it marks a solid performance in my first year of racing at this level. I outperformed a couple of Brits who I had finished behind at the qualifiers and put just shy of three minutes into the Kiwi National age-group TT Champion. Although it wasn't one of those magical days on the bike for me, I could have done a lot worse!

Thank you to Paul who looked after my every need in the run up to the race (and was probably more nervous than I was!), Harry Walker for the revolver disc wheel, Paul Swinnerton of Swinnerton Cycles for the countless bike fits and last but not least my parents for sitting on a train for 8 hours to catch a glimpse of me out on the road.

Well travelled parents!

Championships part II (road race) to follow...