Brief report from my 10 on the V718 at the weekend, which was my first time on there and second time on a quick course. Conditions were tough apparently with a lot of people going a minute or so slower than their ride there on Good Friday, but it's still prodigiously fast compared to most other courses in the country.
TTs aren't that interesting compared to road races, but still, flew off down the entry slip road and joined the main carriageway trying to keep my effort steady. I thought coming back would be easier than going out so looked to hold about 290w with a view to averaging about 280w overall. Started tapping out a steady rhythm but immediately this felt faster than I was expecting so I knew coming back could be hard going. Nevertheless, I kept the pace up and pushed on. The turn slip road comes early on this course, around mile 4 so mentally it's tough knowing you have the longer leg coming back, but on the right day the back leg can be really fast.
I came up, round the roundabouts and immediately kicked myself for coming up off my aerobars as these were definitely wide enough to take in tribars on a day when the roads weren't greasy. I tried to pick up my momentum back down the slip road and rejoined the road, dodging a couple of large looking potholes. I knew pretty much immediately this leg would not be easy going - I was going quicker than the out leg but not by much and my legs and throat were already burning.
At about the 7 mile mark, you pass Welton and the road drags upward almost imperceptibly but it really starts to bite. I tried to pick up my effort and get through this section, having it in the back of my head that the final mile or two would be much quicker. I was beginning to have my doubts about whether I could hold the effort so I just focused on keeping my cadence high and holding my head in the right position out of the wind as much as possible. I knew I wouldn't be capable of a strong finish, but I guess that means I had paced my effort well.
Ordinarily that final mile and a bit is very, very quick on the right day as it's the most exposed part of the course and usually benefits from the prevailing wind. On Saturday however I lost nearly 40 seconds here alone compared to the Strava KOM. I reckon better wind would have saved me 15-20 of those seconds although my legs were gone by that point so I couldn't have pushed any harder.
I crossed the line for an official time of 20:56 (PB +59 seconds) and a power PB of 286w (+8w).
https://www.strava.com/activities/533834510 There is no doubt this is a fast course but I worked bloody hard for that time!
Won two of the five sprints in a race that averaged just over 27mph, which is about the same average as the 25 lap race I won a couple of weeks back so really happy with that.
Appreciate the regular TTers aren't very local but this is a great course, probably my favourite to race. Shame it only gets used once a year.
