My first 50 mile TT
This event was on 24 July 2016 but I’m actually writing this 4 months later.
I always try to write notes in Training Peaks particularly after a race, particularly if I was really pleased with the result or if I felt it really sucked. It’s like writing a little diary, and it’s useful to look back on it later and help with planning for similar events. So some of this post is from memory and some is from my notes.
So this was my first 50. I’d done about six 25 mile TTs before, but the thought of spending around two hours on my TT bike riding hard was quite daunting.
The course
The event was on the P901/50 course, organised by Southdown Velo.
It’s mostly dual-carriageway, with the start in the same place as the 10 mile variant I’d done a month previously. The 10 mile course is pretty flat but has about 5 roundabouts to cross. On the 50 mile version, you then carry on past the finish and ride to the east for a while before a long descent into Arundel where you turn near the bottom of the hill and ride back up.
I hadn’t been on this part of the course before, but from the elevation profile it looked like a pretty big hill.
Pacing
I’d had several chats with fellow Sotonia CC rider and long distance TT man Dan Edwards about the 50, both about nutrition and pacing.
Dan recommended a target power of around 90% FTP. I did a good ride in the Sotonia 25 mile Club Championships in which I was the fastest in the club. My power for this was 270w for around 57 minutes, so that served as a pretty perfect FTP test. The profile of the P128 course used for that event was also similar to the P901 that I was doing the 50 on (rolling but quite fast).
I didn’t taper at all for the club champs, and I was planning an easy week before the 50 so I added 5w to my FTP to give 275w. At Dan’s recommendation of 90% that gave about 250w.
My plan was to try and ride at or just under 250w for the first 90 minutes, and then just nail the last section with whatever I had left.
In a 10 or 25 mile TT I don’t eat or drink anything. My endurance is pretty shocking over an hour, so I knew eating would be key.
I decided on three gels, one of which contained caffeine, stuffed up the legs of my skinsuit. Two regular gels on one leg, and the caffeine one on the other. I had a full water bottle with electrolytes in.
My plan was to space the gels evenly at about 30 minute intervals, with the caffeine one saved for last.
Goals
I’m not a massively quick tester, although I do ok at club level. Having had my TT bike for about 9 months I was going quite comfortably under the hour in a 25, but as I mentioned above my endurance is pretty shocking. I always have struggled in road races lasting longer than about 1.5 hours and I put this largely down to the type of riding I do. I’ve got two young kids, so my training rides tend to be quite short.
So I decided to just aim to go under 2 hours, which would be quite respectable for a first 50 and give me something to improve upon in my next event.
On the day
5am start. Ouch. I’ve done quite a few early morning TTs this season so I had my routine of coffee, porridge and banana in the car pretty sorted.
I arrived at the start bang on time, but then spent about 15 minutes queuing to use the one available toilet to make my traditional pre-race bowel movement. I decided to skip warming up on the turbo as I was a bit tight on time, and just get on the road to warm up. I did about 15 mins of easy riding before going to the start.
It was a pretty still day, with a bit of a breeze from the south west. Not too cold, not too warm.
Starting a TT at 90% of my FTP was a weird experience. It’s just so easy especially with all the adrenaline flowing.
Despite this, after about 5 minutes I noticed realised I was already slipping under my target power and had a really heavy feeling in my quads. I was doing a good average speed though on the initially flat part of the course, so I decided just to keep going and not try to push too much.
After about 15 minutes my minute man came past me. This really took me by surprise as I wasn’t expecting anyone to be catching me yet, and he wasn’t anyone I knew to be particularly fast.
This was a bit of a wakeup call so I decided to keep him in sight and using him as a bit of a carrot to chase. I know this isn’t a good idea in theory — if someone has gained a minute on you in 15 minutes they must be a good deal quicker and trying to match their speed will probably cause you to blow up.
However, he just didn’t seem to be going that fast, and it was more like I was going slowly. Often in an open event where there are some proper fast guys, when you get passed it’s like a train going by and you just think “bloody hell they are motoring”. This wasn’t like that, and I felt that if I just got myself together a bit then I could match his pace.
This worked brilliantly, and almost straight away that heavy feeling in my legs was gone and was able to put down a bit more power and keep him in sight.
The descent down to Arundel was longer than I’d imagined, with a good minute of easy pedalling / coasting. I’m quite a light rider (64kg ish) so I generally like a good hill in a TT, however since I was just aiming to put in a respectable time I was a bit worried about coming back up, especially as the course comes back here for a second lap.
The climb felt good though, and I was suddenly catching my minute man and passed him before the top. “Right, let’s go” I thought and decided maybe he wasn’t actually that quick and had just gone out too hard. I didn’t see him again.
At one hour in I was still feeling great. Average power was at 252w and I felt I could sustain this for another hour without too much of a problem. My average speed was 26.6mph, so I knew I was going to be well inside my 2 hour target. I started trying to do the maths as to what time I might be on for. Maybe sub 1:55?
This good feeling continued until the second trip down the hill to Arundel when suddenly the good weather turned to a torrential downpour. This couldn’t have come at a worse time, as instead of being in a nice aero tuck flying down the hill I was sitting up and feathering the brakes as my visor had completely steamed up with the humidity. It didn’t last long though, and by the time I was on the climb back up it had passed.
With about 10 miles to go I knew I was on for a great ride, much better than I’d ever hoped. I saw another rider in the distance, and I was gradually gaining on him so used that as motivation to keep pushing. Down went the caffeine gel.
4 miles to go and I passed him. I was hurting now, but my power had crept up to 254w and I was determined to absolutely nail the last 10 minutes.
I was trying to remember what Dan said his fastest 50 was this season, and wondering if I might be able to overhaul him. My legs were burning, and I started alternating pushing hard with one leg for a few strokes then the other.
Seeing that checkered finish board was incredible. I think I made some sort of high pitch help along the lines of “come on” when I went over the line, knowing I’d just done when of the best races of my life.
Result
1:52:33 — BOOM! What a time, especially on a not particularly fast course and my first time at the distance. I was over the moon.
I also finished 7th which is my best position in an open event. The winner was Stephen Williamson from a3crg who did 1:49:34.
I later learned that this was the fastest 50 of the year in my club, and that there was a trophy for this! Even better.
I’ll definately be doing a couple of 50s next season, hopefully on a faster course.
The club record of 1:48:27 would be an amazing target, and might be doable on a faster course, although I’d need a bit more power and for everything to go absolutely perfectly on the day to achieve this.
