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| Kew TT Elevation Profile - Just as brutal as it looks. |
The A Grade start list contained the usual suspects and a few new names: Tom "Thoroughbred" Leaper on his shiny new Cervelo P4, Martin "The real Lama" Lama, Big John Cain, Mal "Good Cop/Bad Cop" Sawford, Reece Emerson Van Beek just back from his Gold medal ride at the Asia-Pacific Deaf Olympics, Nick "Everyone knows @Tinea_Pedis" Squillari, just to name a few.
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| As seen anywhere on a weekly basis - My standard warm up set up from the back of the Subie. |
The event also draws a pretty big crowd for a bike race. With people there to support 'their rider' or just passers by standing on the roadside captured by the spectacle and elegance of riders swooping past.... with big long spit dribbles hanging off their chins and their eyeballs hanging out of their heads. Wayne "The Gerbil" Gebert, Bridie O'Donnell's #1 fan, was spotted on the sidelines taking happy snaps along with the Australian editor of cyclingnews.com, Jane Aubrey. I was hoping Jane was there to cover the event, but no, she was there supporting her 'worse half', Nick Squillari.
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| Big John Cain |
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| Black Caviar's bother, Tom Leaper. |
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| Me not watching Tom ride away from the start. |
The road was still a little damp from the overnight rain so the corners were still a little tricky. I was off last and chasing Tom Leaper, who looked like a race horse riding a jockey on his super slick TT bike. I had Tom within sight at the 5km turn around and was able to slowly reel him in while completing the first lap. Into lap 2 I'd over taken Tom and was committed to keeping ahead of him so I could pick the fastest line on the course without getting in his way. Ripping into the Kew TT course at speed does involve picking lines that you just don't do without a number on your back and marshals on the corners warning cars of the race that is under way. My legs were getting pretty heavy after the handicap on Saturday so I stated trying to save as much energy as I could. Coasting and tucking in on the fast sections, then jamming the hills. That pacing worked pretty well, I stopped the Garmin with a 29:46. Enough for the win, and under the golden 30 minute barrier for only the second time!
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| Tom and I going head to head into lap 2.... |
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| Shiv'ving it to the finish line. |
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| Post race catch-up with the guys. |
After the usual post race catch-up we'd all been done by a +11 second discrepancy on the official results sheet. Thankfully this still put me under the 30min mark. As we all had the same penalty the placings were all accurate. Rule #1 of a TT: Time yourself! Something to note for those chasing PBs based on time too. $105 for the win was well worth the 30 minutes of pain. I'm more motivated than ever to rip this course apart on a dry day when we can light up the corners at full speed!
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| Very generous prize pool from BBN! I'll be eating well this week. |
Links:
Official Results
Blackburn CC website / Twitter / Facebook group.
Linky to my Strava ride of this event
Photos of the race were by Wayne Gebert. More here: Facebook Linky
3 comments:
Funniest comment of the day was the person who I overheard say "that's not what he looks like on Twitter" as I collected my booty for 4th.
If I mysteriously disappear, you guys know where to start looking for suspects....!
I did today's Blackburn CC Kew ITT. From time to time I ride this course but I've never tried before to do it as fast as I can. It was really hard to pace it properly! Just tried to see if you posted any information on what's the best way to pace it.
By the looks of it, 'trying to make the course as short as possible' is quite important, sure I lost a few seconds on the windy road. That's not exactly the pacing strategy I was looking for but it teaches me to focus more on the road instead of keep looking at the power meter all the time (I must confess I was also a bit scared of cars as well).
Thanks for the post, your blog is cool and you have a great sense of humor.
cheers
I'll never give away too many secrets.... as there really are none! haha! Kew is a unique TT, knowing the course helps a lot. The best training for it is 10km one-lap efforts..... but they're harder than two laps as you can't hold anything back.
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