Overall, I’m very happy with my ride. I felt strong and hit some decent wattage for me. The weather was great too, which felt unusual!
I tried to pace the effort on the first out section as the Sandon climb is significant and very easy to blow a gasket. I’d reccy’d the route last week, riding it hard and was aiming for a sub-26 min time. As I hit the outward Sandon climb I felt strong and was pushing 320W. I eased back as I knew this was not sustainable. On the road bike my focus was to try and get as aero as possible. I felt like I was but looking at the photos I don’t think I am at all! But I feel like that’s about as aero as I’m going to get.
Creating the hill I caught my minute man.
This is always nice but equally I was soo caught number 22, the guy a minute behind me in a speedy TT bike. On the decent he flew by me, making use of his far superior aero position - I told myself!
I did get held up at the roundabout turn but what feels like an age is probably more like a few seconds. Onto the return leg and of course the hill has to be negotiated again in the opposite direction. I still felt strong and safe in the knowledge that once crested it was a fast last few miles to the finish line.
I began to fade in the last stretch but was still over 40kph. A finish time of 24:56 was really pleasing. I didn’t think I’d get any where near 25 min. It was a decent day for conditions I think.
So that’s the prep for the Darly Moor Duathlon complete. Just a taper week to tick over. I still have a faint ache in my right foot arch. Hope this doesn’t turn into a sustained injury.
On a more personal note - to self as nobody else reads this blog anymore - I have turmoil at home. I’m not going into details but things are pretty stressful. After 9 months of preparing there is a risk that I’ll get ill or some other ‘occurrence’ prevents or impacts the race next Sunday. Who knows but I’ve done the best I can with what’s possible.
Later me . . .
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