Lance Is Wrong - It IS About The Bike

The Burgess Hill Springtime Classic today, and as mentioned previously, the target was a gold-medal time of sub 4hrs 20mins.

The weather was perfect as we rolled out, although I had to spend about 5 minutes trying to get my Garmin to work. Spent the first 30km riding with Jon at a strong pace, jumping between groups and going after the early climbs.

We tacked onto a good group for a while, and were motoring along nicely. However, when I moved to the front Jon, who cannot stand being led by a Welshman, decided it was time for a breakaway and whistled past me - a quick roll of the eyes and then I went after him. I finally caught up with him at some traffic lights but then he went away from me for the day on Kidd's Hill, as I decided to rein in my pace a bit and try to manage my heartrate.

From about the halfway mark, I knew that a gold time was possible, although there were a number of steep climbs between me and home. Late starting my Garmin meant that I never quite knew, despite my best GCSE maths, of exactly where I stood. So I figured the best thing to do was get my head down and pedal as hard as I could.

Cob Lane didn't seem as bad this year, and I was able to do my best Contador impression up it. With that and a few more ramps done, it was the final sprint into Burgess Hill. Only it was stopped by roadworks where I had to wait nearly 2 minutes for a green light. After that I hammered the pedals for the final km and eventually crossed the line for a time of....... 4hrs 21mins.

DAMN

It's easy to point out that without the roadworks, that would've been a gold medal, but in reality that doesn't change the ride. And the ride went well - I felt strong and able to put the power down all the way to the finish. But changing my bike to the Scott made a huge difference - it accelerates effortlessly, and the Wheelsmith wheels are so precise, meaning I can corner and descend with much more confidence.

So we'll call that a step forward.

Ride stats:

Distance: 116km
Time: 4hrs 21mins
Average Speed: 26.6km/h (moving speed 27.3km/h)
Total Climbing: 1,800m

Stats For March:

Time on bike: 35 hrs 37 mins (31 hrs 25 mins)
Distance: 898km (753km on the road)
Total climbing: 9,125m