Oh, Riber! Matt and I recce'd the course and parked at the top, in the pi55ing rain and howling winds, and, rather than riding down (because at very low speeds my brakes judder a little), I decided to take my shoes off and walk down. Got a bit freaked out by seeing riders losing traction and crashing going uphill... I didn't really warm up properly and was shivering on the start line. I was quite careful not to push too hard early on, because it gets super-steep in the second half. I really struggled with wheelspin, being reduced to a standstill four times, and was really just relieved to get up - my time of 5:04 (25th/43) was 40s slower than my Spindata predicted time. Matt's only just got over a bout of Covid so wasn't expecting anything more from the weekend than a good time with my family, so he was quite phlegmatic about his 5:02 (22nd).
We went to my boss's house in Matlock afterwards for a cup of coffee and ham sandwiches, because the afternoon race didn't start until 2pm. Steve and his wife, Collette, were fantastically hospitable and came out to cheer us on in the afternoon. Bank Road is a much shorter climb - much more my scene! The sun had come out, and I got a decent warmup, including riding the climb a couple of times. I spotted my colleague Ben at the pub, three-quarters of the way up, just where the road pitches up a bit more. Because I'm an idiot, I forgot to reset my Garmin until I was under the starter's orders, then freaked out a bit when it said that it needed to run an update, so I rode the event without a Garmin trace (so although I put it onto Strava as a manual activity, it didn't really happen). I was able to get the bit between my teeth, and feel that I managed my effort really well, and got up in 2:16 for 18th place (3rd vet) in a strong field. Matt did 2:28 for 31st, at an average of 483W, which suggests that my power was about 545W - a massive best for this interval. The Nationals next year are on a slightly extended version of this course - the crowds are going to be spectacular!
