The Hour

Preparation wasn't ideal (dehydration from a weekend's camping and drinking) and the conditions weren't perfect with a headwind all the way up to Richmond Gate, but I whizzed off to Richmond Park yesterday evening to try and beat the 60 minute mark for the 3 lap time trial.

The first lap went well with a 19:41, but I encountered a fair bit of traffic on the second lap and recorded a 20:15, leaving me needing a sub-20:04 to beat the magic mark.

Felt dizzy going up the final climb at Kingston Gate, and gunned it as best I could to the finish but the best I could do was a 20:09 for a total time of 1 hr 5 secs.

Real feeling that I was losing time on the short, punchy climbs as riders that I had cruised by on the 'flat' would in turn effortlessly pass me again as soon as the road ramped up. Need to look at increasing my power for attacking climbing.