North Lancs Road Club. Open 10 mile TT on L101. 08/04/2023.
Course and Conditions
A classic out-and-back 10 mile time trial, L101, on the A6 north of Garstang is a good course to test the rider. Pan-flat it isn’t; the gentle rises and falls are enough to require and adapive strategy to maximise performance. Being close to the shore, wind often plays a major role: with a stiff westerly coming in off the sea, the event can be transoformed into a battle just to keep the bike on a good race line.
For this event, an modest easterly wind coupled with a mild temperature of around 8°C made for conditions that were certainly not the fastest but not presenting and pressing handling concerns.
Results – Men
| Position | Time | Name | Club | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20:13 | David Parkin | Velotik RT | Senior |
| 2 | 20:38 | David Thompson | Rock to Roll CC | V44 |
| 3 | 20:50 | Kamil Waligóra | East Lancs RC | Senior |
Results – Women
| Position | Time | Name | Club | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24:01 | Deborah Moss | Springfield Financial RT | V52 |
| 2 | 24:02 | Louise Scupham | Jadan Vive Le Velo | Senior |
| 3 | 24:51 | Joanna Cebrat | 360Cycling | V43 |
Results – Team
Pendle Forest continued their streak of team wins, this week with Darren Harvey, Paul Braithwaite and Luke Greenwood.
| Position | Time | Name | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 22:30 | Darren Harvey | V49 |
| 16 | 22:58 | Paul Braithwaite | V47 |
| 18 | 23:11 | Luke Greenwood | Senior |
Race Report
By Darren Harvey
I have fond memories of the L101 or Brock as it’s known to some, around 50 minutes drive from my home town of Burnley and the first CTT open event I ever entered in the Summer of 2021 on a lovely day.
The location is on the A6 just north of Garstang, a rural setting on what was once England’s longest road and most likely originally built by the Romans according to the 1st edition OS maps, not the most technical of courses with steady rises and falls, a meandering road with the occasional long straight, more interesting than some and virtually impossible to get wrong, unlike my previous race the week before, again with the NLRC, on the Circuit of the Dales, where I missed a turn and upon looking back must have cost me a valuable 20 seconds, wasted energy, focus, and more troubling was the distraction of negativity and cursing which only slowly ebbed away with the upcoming effort and thoughts of the climb out of Hawes, anyway I digress, still not over that one, I’ll say with a hint of embarrassment…
I’ve also found it beneficial on L101 to look out for the lumps and bumps on this road, as there are a few awaiting an unsuspecting victim, more so on the return, of which are becoming increasingly more common on British roads of late. The temperature was around 8°C for my off time yet slowly rising all morning, slightly up on the typical static 4/5°C for the last month’s racing and today with a 9mph Easterly cross wind.
I like to arrive 1.5 hours before my start time, usually enough sign on, chat, prep and warm-up etc., although on this occasion the start was around 2.5 miles away and unfamiliar to me, I don’t like to be waiting around for too long to get off, so my plan was to warm up on the turbo 35mins beforehand which should give me 15mins to get to the start-line. “Time stands still for no man”, and it’s usually a panic stations for me, to get my head and backside in gear and to the start. My usual forgetting to switch on my lights was on point, of which the starter was only to kind to point out, but unlike the previous week, at least I remembered to put my visor in place, a quick look at my Garmin, my heart rate was up already, I start deep breathing to saturate my body with oxygen which will be required in the coming minutes, the anticipation of a race is a distraction from normality, yet as soon as I hear the countdown, I’m ready, a moment of clarity and calm ensues, nothing more I can do now but monitor and regulate my upcoming performance on the fly.
I’m off, the legs are fresh, my mind and body is doing a balancing act to get up to speed and to get on the skis asap, but not too hard as to blow the legs up, a bloody horrible and worrying sensation, 30 seconds in, I look down, 450W, Doh, time to pull it back. My recollection to the turn was somewhat vague, my focus was mainly holding the position, and pushing within myself, I received my 5 mile autolap around about the roundabout surprising enough ? , my average wattage displayed 25 watts up on my usual, have I gone out too hard I thought, I felt surprisingly reasonable and there was no turning back, well yeah but not in that respect. The psychology behind the return is far different to going out, which is most welcomed when the fatigue and discomfort is starting to set in. I anticipated a drop off a little on the way back, but pushed hard, giving myself mental encouragements along the way, giving it my all for the final mile.
Timekeeper Peter Briscoe, an old work colleague, was there with encouragement and a smile on the finish line. It wasn’t a PB time but it was my best average 20 minute power and best 10 mile Average power to date. I waited for Luke and Paul, fellow Pendle Forest compatriots at the finish, before we headed back to HQ to validate our finish times, mine being 22:30s, a whole 2 minutes 17 seconds down on 1st place David Parkin, How?…..
A Consolation was we got the Best team prize and not by default of being the only three man club turnout, but on a collective performance. How?…. in reality is a compounding list of quantifiable reasons, not puffing on a tab for 25 years, age/weight difference, genetics, knocking out an extra 50 watts of average power and more so an aerodynamic advantage but that’s not going to stop me trying and working on some of these ?.
Links
Official CTT results.
Credits
Main image: Darren Harvey, Circuit of the Dales 2023, courtesy of Raymond Bracewell.