Now coming towards the end of her second year of open time trialling with Team Bottrill, (2nd claim) member Jenn Clegg has had some great success. Congratualtions Jen and thank you for this super report.
A mixed year. Covid made me miss some early races, scary cross-winds on the A1 made me DNS another, and the hottest day of the year made me wish I had DNS’d a 3pm start for 25m on the A46. Weekly training remains pretty much the same: 2 strength sessions in the gym, 2 yoga sessions that ensure I can still wriggle into a very tight skinsuit, & riding about 100 miles over 6 days with one rest day. I join WVCC’s Sunday Brisk group when not racing or recovering, which has been good fun – many thanks to the group & its leader Chris Dainty for a warm welcome. Since my average TT pace is 23.8mph for up to 30 miles I also hoped to live with chain-gang 3 that claims to go at 21mph but puzzlingly am dropped by Slawston every time.
Most of the open TTs I do are near Cambridge (flat) and on dual carriageways. An urban myth says that we choose dual carriageways in order to draft behind lorries, but they stay well away from us in the fast lane. The real reasons are few corners and junctions, the fast rolling surface, and absence of potholes. These make it easier to go eyeballs-out which is my idea of fun especially when there’s a taillie. It is much less frightening than it sounds, and the fellowship in the car park is just as warm as at our club TTs – even for the recent Dunchurch 10, which unexpectedly featured international riders waiting for the Commie games cycling around Wolverhampton to start.
I’ve had 3 prizes this season so far, with 2 events to go: a 3rd & 4th woman, & 4th ‘counter’ towards Team Bottrill getting the vets team prize. The cash is miniscule but a prize is a prize. I am delighted to hold the following VTTA national age-group records (though a country mile off beating the records for 10 & 25!).
I go at virtually the same pace for 10 & 30 miles which surprises me but not Matt Bottrill, my coach. Apparently, it’s hard to build fast-twitch muscle past 60, though my Kibworth 10 PB dropping by a minute to 25’45 this year gives me grounds for hope. My 2022 plan was to get the 30m age-group record, and to beat last year’s all course 10m PB of 24.42. There’s only 1 more chance at the 10, on 3/9 at 6 Mile Bottom, so hoping for 16 degrees and no wind. Matt’s plan is for me to do a 50, as he thinks I’m a one-speed pony (not his insulting term) & going at exactly the same pace might score fairly well. I’ll target that next year. However, to survive 50 you need to stuff a camelback containing 1 litre of race mix down your front. I’ll have to lose ½ stone before I can do that & zip up my skinsuit.
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