Nice to meet you @
ColinJ and thanks for coming along!
That weather was amazing, lol! The headwind not so nice, but the rain, just wow! It felt like hail and I could barely see anything (very glad I took my glasses off, you might have noticed my panic just before setting off, quickly taking them off and pocketing them with only a few seconds to spare) so pretty much just relied on road markings and my ears! Just emptied my shoes out, all my kit is completely water logged
The climb was quite fun, I saw the dragon part way up, which I had forgotten was there, which gave me a bit of a laugh. For my ride I pretty much just tried to remain as aero as possible for the whole climb on account of the headwind so sat in a crouched psudeo-TT position. I was off second last and expected to be last one to finish as pro rider Richard Handley of Rapha
Condor JTL was last man off, 1 minute behind me, he caught me even quicker than expected which was not good for morale, he absolutely flew past, I could hear his aero wheels rumbling along and he was riding on aero bars, I could see him get out of the saddle and honk up some of the steeper bits briefly before he disappeared into the distance. But I slowly reeled in number 71, 69 and another rider.
At one point I could see someone going slowly up the hill, it looked (remember I had taken off my glasses) like they had a cigarette held down by their side as some people do but as I approached, I realised it was a friend who had ridden earlier and last I knew was the current race leader and what he was holding was not a cigarette but a small video camera, he was riding along filming me approaching from the rear and then passed him. Hopefully he will send me the footage.
When it was all over I turned round and descended back down with an East Lancs RC rider chatting. Got to the foot of the descent and went to collect the drink I had stashed, only to find the guy who's garden I stashed it in was holding it and chatting to a couple, I approached them and he asked is this yours? He then laughed and said, "oops, I've just emptied it out and was about to put it in the bin, I thought everyone had gone", I told him it was fine and thanked him for handing it back and carried on back to HQ where Dr Pink shouted that my time was good, I proceeded indoors and treat everyone to the guns show (stripped off my wet clothes).
Not sure what to make of it tbh, position is good (esp considering at least 2 of the riders above me were pro's and I beat a local rider that would normally put a fair chunk of time into me on a long climb like that, I didn't look at the result board so not sure who else was up there), looking at my data, looks like I rode reasonably well, pretty much a constant 380W from the bottom to the top. But I didn't feel like I got it all out tbh, could have and should have ramped it up for the last mile or so, I am certain I could have gone harder, especially if I had known for certain where the finish was. I was almost immediately able to speak to another rider up the top (very nice guy from East Lancs RC) as we descended back down to HQ, usually takes me 5+ mins after an effort of that length to be able to speak properly.
BTW, did I mention, I got stung on the forehead while warming up, lol! Never been stung in my life until this year and then twice in 1 year I get stung while racing.
Also met a team mate (Alice, who placed 3rd in the women's competition) for the 1st time, didn't realise she was riding since she was down as a Macc wheeler... she kindly gave me a lift home too, which saved the hassle of the train and finite bike space.
The winner did a phenomenal ride in the conditions - 16:xx. where xx was pretty low, 14 was it?
Yup, he is a beast, he won the Rake last week too, he is a pro rider for Hope.
