That's all you're getting from me.
Sae thayr.
Really, I don't think I can do any better. The TT this morning was technically as close to perfect as I've ever done it. I've nailed the descent into Strathblane a little better, and I dozed off on the approach to the mini-roundabout, costing me a few seconds. Overall, though, it felt fantastic. I was floating up hills at 20mph that were cramping me up months ago. There was barely a climb that I wasn't 3kph faster than just a few weeks ago, though the flats and descents weren't quite the fliers I'd have hoped for. I rode to my heart rate, and never came close to blowing up.
Perhaps that was the problem.
Overall average heart rate was 165 - the only time I've been higher on the road was on that first dash past 20mph. But I wasn't hurting. I wasn't thrashing. I wasn't eking out every last ounce of force from my legs. I was just riding to a computer.
Is it worth one last go, then? Maybe, if I get time, but I might have to let this target slip. I have a week remaining to go 35k in an hour, but I don't think unbridled aggression is going to better what I put in this morning, and I need to focus on training. Overall intensity needs to be high now, which means I can't take sessions off to prepare for TTs, and good weather needs to be matched with rides out to the long climbs to get me ready for Wales, which takes time.
If you're thinking I'm sounding remarkably upbeat about potentially missing this target, you'd be right. Not wanting to blow my own trumpet too much, but what I've achieved so far has been huge. In two months I've gone from 111.5s per kilometre over my TT to 104.7 - a saving of 6.8s per kilometre, or almost 11 seconds per mile. People use £2000+ TT bikes to make improvements of that sort of magnitude, and all I've done is just ride more!
Pictures speak a thousand words, though, so check out the graph below. It's heavily averaged, and includes all the time I'm stuck at lights or checking maps, but the trend is so obvious it could take your eye out. So, for now, I'm focusing on training, and then - who knows? Come Wales, miracles might happen...
Good trails!
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