Summer Valley Cycle Club U303 Hardriders

After a successful race at Thursdays Inter-club I was feeling optimistic about this race. I did well the last time as the course is in my favor... only 19 miles but a long drag up for the first 17 miles and then a sharp drop at the end. Sufficiently hilly enough to suit the feather weights!

On the morning of the race though I wasn't feeling so optimistic... a head full of hayfever made breathing far more difficult... I had to race though as a result of forgetting to enter a few of the earlier races... I need this race to count towards the series.

Doping myself up on allergy relief I went on my way... nearly crashing a multiple of times on the journey there as a result of sneezing.

Up until the plague hitting me I was hoping for a 300+W average but I didn't know how my blocked nose was going to impact this. I decided to just go off on target and see what happens.

Hitting target on the first half wasn't too bad but it pretty much went down hill from there. Struggling to breathe I kept having to sit up more to get the necessary oxygen in. The second half also included the downhill section which I always struggle to keep power high on. Despite this I still managed to knock 75 seconds off my PB from earlier in the year and finished 5th overall.

First Half

Power - 297W

Speed - 23.9mph

Cadence - 87rpm

Second Half

Power - 270W

Speed - 23.8mph

Cadence - 89rpm

Just goes to show what difference a wheelset makes. Average power last time was 300W but I was running standard wheels. With the DT Swiss 65mm front and disk rear I managed to save over a minute despite being 17W lower in power (and 11lb over weight).

Maybe it had something to do with the lucky number...