Banbury Star Hardriders 2015

Today was the Banbury Star Hardriders 23 mile time trial from Wroxton to Ettington going down and then back up Sun Rising hill. For the first race of the season two weeks ago, I was relaxed to the point of seeing it as another training ride. But, now I’m getting more accustomed to the idea of racing. I’ve done 2,400 miles since the start of the year. It’s an unprecedented amount of training for me, and I’m interested to see if it makes any difference to speed in short distance time trials.

Although I remember many Banbury Hard-rider events which are a lot colder (snow, ice and sub zero), I was still very cold warming up. I went for 3 pairs of gloves, 3 pairs of socks  Once I got racing, it didn’t feel that cold. There was a strong Westerly wind which made the first leg into the wind quite hard. My pacing strategy was to go as hard as I could into the wind and then try and benefit from tailwind on way back.

Descending Sunrising hill was a bit tricky. It’s a sharp left hander, but the main difficulty was strong head/cross wind. Coming off the climb was hard-work because gaps in the hedge caused strong gusts of winds into the side. I was holding on very tight to the side of the tribars, looking ahead for the gaps in the hedge. It took a long time before it was safe to get back on to the tribars. Going through the village of Ettingham is also a bit tricky because of parked cars and road furniture. There were a few minor hold-ups here, but not as bad as the last race I di. On the way back it was a big relief, to turn away from the difficult headwind. You can start to pick up a good speed without as much effort. I took an opportunity to hold back a little, trying to save something for the big climb of the race.

Photo

(Note to self: Wooly socks cost 4 seconds. Tape coming off visor 3 seconds.)

Sunrising hill is a challenging hill (16%) at the best of times, but doing a steep hill in the middle of a race, where you’re already on the limit is another difficulty. Fortunately, I felt quite strong and with a helpful tailwind was able to climb most of the hill seated down. Only towards the end, did I stand up to squeeze the last bit of power out. The new TT bike felt quite good, but it’s not so great for climbing on the hoods up 16% gradients, it felt hard work handling it. After the top of the hill, there is another 3-4 quick miles, where I held a good average speed to finish in a time of 52.26. This was good enough for first place, with Dan Bigham (Beeline Cycles) in 2nd and Danny Axford (Arctic Tacx RT) 3rd. 1st lady was Philippa Schubert (High Wycombe CC. Philippa is the sister of 24 hour TT champion Jonathan Shubert (currently out in Oman) and was rider her brother’s bike. 1st Junior was – Ryan Kenworthy LeisureLakesBikes.com – 58.49.

As usual the event was well organised by Luke Souter and Banbury CC, with one of most impressive collections of post-race cakes. I also had a good chat to my minute man Dave Preece, who is in training for an epic Land’s End to John ‘O Groats on a Penny Farthing.

Results Banbury Star 2015

 Banbury Star results

• 2015 – 52.26 –  1st – 297 watts
  
• 2014 – 53.27 – 2nd – 281 watts
• 2013 – 53:32 – 1st
• 2012 – 56:15 – 2nd (very cold)
• 2010 – 54.31 – 2nd

Results 2015

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On Saturday I had a bit of good luck. I went into Beeline Bicycles who had Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on the TV. I turned up just in time to see the last 4-5 km. At that point, Ian Stannard (Team Sky) was with 3 Etiix Quick Step Riders. Usually in that situation, you expect the team of 3 to walk away with the win, I was just hoping Stannard would get on the podium. But, somehow Stannard managed to play his cards right and sneak a win. A great result after his difficult year (with broken back) last year. Procycling is back on telly. Perhaps my great winter training will go out of the window now?