Hard to believe but, barring any disasters, we should hopefully be time trialling again in a few weeks. Bank holiday Monday in early April is traditionally the start point of the TT season for many of us in the UK, and so it hopefully will be in 2021.
If all goes to plan, Monday April 5th will see the first run on the 'new' H25/1a 25-mile course near Reading. I say 'new' because really the tarmac is all the same as the H25/1 course, just a different start and end point. The debate is currently raging as to whether it will be faster or slower than the course it replaces!
Luckily for me, I was reunited with my Giant Trinity TT/tri bike about three weeks ago, when it was returned from having a carbon repair to the top tube at Target Composites. I have to say it looks like they've done a very good job. You have to look twice to see where the repair is and the bike rides exactly like it did before.
I was actually hoping that the rebuild at Marlborough Bike Company would include fitting the newer-style Drag2Zero tri bars, but it turns out they are quite a different shape to the old ones, so really I need to do a proper fit. Hopefully that can be arranged after the easing of the UK lockdown on April 12th (fingers crossed the 'third wave' on the Continent doesn't push that back).
I've enjoyed being back on the TT bike after training all winter on the road bikes; not that riding Giant TCRs and Propels is exactly a hardship. But I was very conscious that I wasn't getting any training in the proper TT position, which is an acquired skill and does engage your leg muscles in a slightly different way to the normal road position (even on the drops).
So far, the signs are promising. While the lack of gym or swim work means I'm a little heavier than I was this time in 2020, the power meter suggests that the Watts are up. So it will be interesting to see what I can do on April 5th.
With just under two weeks to go, it won't be a long wait and I think it's going to take a little self-discipline to measure my training efforts in the coming days and avoid the temptation to go too hard in training in an effort to psychologically prove to myself that I can hit the numbers on race day!
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