Numbers

More contemplation from me this weekend. I like numbers – yes, I know, that sounds weird! In my youth, when I was seriously into running and athletics, I used to love scouring the record books and noting the fantastic times that mega talented athletes had clocked. Without realising, I began to memorise these times. Back in the early 80s I was able to recall every running world and Olympic record there was! I figured this weekend that my youthful infatuation was still with me! This is why I like searching results and analysing time splits within a triathlon. More recently, my interest has focussed on the time the cyclists do in a time trial competition. Could my strange interest in numbers be the reason that I like time trials? I love striving to amend my PB and searching through the results.

This year, due to my Achilles injury, I have competed at far more TTs than normal. As in my youth, I am drawn to the focus on times. True, there are many factors to consider when riding a time trial – conditions, terrain, road surface. But when it comes down to the basics, it is about numbers! It is a race against yourself, in an effort to beat your best time over a set distance. Of course, there are specific ‘course’ PBs to be categorised within an overall PB. This just makes things even more interesting!

There we have it; I like numbers. Here are my latest numbers from the 10 mile TT I did on Saturday on the F1/B 10 course:

Time - 21:23
Average speed – 28:05 mph

A massive overall PB and a guaranteed course PB because I had never ridden that course! It was still but steady drizzle made the road slippy at the roundabouts. No excuses! Happy enough with that!