Fionn Sheridan (photo thanks to Sean Rowe)
SERC TT League Round 1: The Beehive 13km
To the background of political uncertainty, thirty two of us lined out for the race of truth. Unlike Emily and Raffaele, this is not a Cinderella story.
Barry Mooney first drew my attention to the South-East Road Club’s (SERC) Time Trial League on our spin last Sunday. He gave me more info at the Leisure Night on Monday. It’s a four round league happening over the next four Saturdays. I’ll miss the latter half, as warmer climes beckon this Ginger. After our epic duels in the Club League and the CycloCross season, I could not turn down the chance to cross swords with Barry. Plus, I had been watching Conor McGregor press conferences again. The cycling media would deem the upcoming bouts “Luke v Barry 3: The Aero Gloves Are Off”.
Dave Mc sent an e-mail to the A4 Group detailing the weekend’s races. He highlighted the doing the TT might be beneficial for riders looking to do a stage race. This would give an early season chance to get the mistakes out of our TT games.
Donning the latest in Orwell skinsuit technology, I took to Corkagh Park, with a torque wrench in the pocket, to get comfortable with the position on the Wednesday. Thursday, I went to the Blue Gardenia and up Mt. Seskin. Not exactly mammoth trips, from my starting point in Citywest. Then again, it’s dangerous to go marauding off into the wilderness with a position you have not ridden in since the 25TT in early July. You’d be plotting a course to Snap City. The return journey would make The Revenant look like The Wizard of Oz.
Sure enough, on Friday I had a shooting pain in my quadricep. It disappeared after some rest and stretching. I planned out my morning working backwards from the start time. I put in the research on the course profile and wind direction. Ensured my bag was packed and my tyres were at a good pressure of 90psi.
Naoise Sheridan (photo thanks to Sean Rowe)
As I arrived, there was already two Strata3 Velo Revolution lads going through their warmup. They had claimed the flattest section in the carpark for their Turbo Trainers. Sean Rowe was getting his trigger finger warmed up. Youngsters Dylan and Lara were already there, eager to test their Corkagh Park legs. After I returned from sign-on, Jen Sheridan had arrived with Fionn, Naoise and Uisneach. Barry had also made his appearance. We exchanged pleasantries. It wasn't exactly a standoff out of The Quick and the Dead (the Leo DiCaprio movie references end here).
The sign on fee was €7 for one race, or €5 if you promised to do more than one race. I have a very honest face and I am really good at making promises. Making promises at will, requires a delicate balance of brutal honesty and peppy, yet understated, enthusiasm.
Luke GJ Potter with mullet in full flow (photo thanks to Sean Rowe)
On the short cycle to the sign-on, my hands almost froze. I had already made my first mistake of the day (I actually made it the previous day). The rule for TT warm ups is that they should be tailored to the race. Short TT requires a longer warm up, and vice-versa. This should've been factored into my backwards start-time planning.
My second mistake of the day (also made the previous day) was, I had my road wheel’s skewer on my bike. I needed to use the turbo to warm up. I should've had the Turbo’s skewer on the bike initially. This would've avoided the second QR skewer switch. I did a quick twelve minute warm up on the turbo. A spin up, into a long steady state effort and finishing with some leg speed work.
Locked in another battle with Luke GJ Potter, Barry Mooney (photo thanks to Sean Rowe)
I’ve been having problems with my power meter, it is working when it wants to work. Basically, it’s currently a very nice paper weight. I have a sentimental loyalty to that inanimate object though. It decided that it did not want to work today, so I was riding without power nor cadence.
Scott-Orwell Wheelers had eight riders in the competition. We were well represented across the categories. I cycled over to the start line, this time with gloves on. The first guy off was called “Luke”, I had a minor panic. But it was a different, faster Luke. The order of being sent off was based on the sign on order. I would be released directly after Fionn and Naoise, with Barry and Ciara Kinch further back in the order. The Youth riders were set off after the Elite riders, with Lara, Uisneach and Dylan competing against CycloCross season’s main attraction Brendan Conroy.
Ciara Kinch (photo thanks to Sean Rowe)
There was a little commotion on the line as Naoise had disappeared just ahead of her start time. This reminded me of the Hill Climb TT, where Ann Horan missed her allotted start time. In that case, there was an issue with the start watch, delaying everything. But Naoise appeared and was set off chasing her brother.
I was up next. I had the bike in the 50-21. I was less than a minute from getting my season underway. Despite not having stick on numbers, SERC had one thing better than the Orwell TTs. The guy, sporting road shoes with cleats, holding me, was very sturdy. 5, 4, “Maybe Robbie Dolan should be the designated Orwell TT holding person, that would be good”, 2, 1.
Lara Gillespie (photo thanks to Sean Rowe)
I was in the drops and sprinting away. There was a slight descent from the line, enabling me to swiftly get up to 42kph. I positioned myself on the aerobars, where my left hand stayed for the next 21 minutes and 48 seconds.
I watched Naoise climb the incline and disappear round the corner. I looked down at the road just in time. The nice hard shoulder was about to devolve into a gravel pit. I dodged it, swallowing the urge to shout “Surface”. The incline weaved into a forested descent.
Dylan Bakker (photo thanks to Sean Rowe)
It took four and a half kilometres, but I once again caught sight of Naoise. She was on another climb, I could just about make out her cadence. It was pretty low, which indicated that the road was getting steeper, or she had a bigger chainring than me. I dropped two gears and fired up my leg speed to compensate. I caught sight of my Heart Rate Zone, 4.9. I wasn't worried, as I was making massive gains here. The climb levelled out into a perfectly flat section. Sean Rowe was snapping here. I moved out to line up a pass. Then I caught sight of a shadow on my right. Bang on five kilometres, I was the recipient of “The Smack Down”. A guy on a TT bike, with a loose fitting Bray Jersey zipped past me. He was a Vet, who narrowly missed out on second place overall.
I eventually dispatched Naoise. Although I could see her remaining close as I checked for traffic. I reached the roundabout. I bravely stayed in the aero bars throughout the tight 180 degree turn. On the exit, which lead to a downhill. I spun really hard to pick up the speed. The nose of my saddle fell. I moved back and yanked it up, left arm still in the aero bar. I moved forward, spun fast and it slipped down again. I repeated the upward yanking. As the road levelled out, it stopped slipping.
Uisneach Sheridan (photo thanks to Sean Rowe)
I passed Sean Rowe again. His photos enabled me to see two glaring aerodynamic problems with my position. Firstly, my head angle was too tipped forward. I wasn't “squeezing myself into a tube”. Secondly, my mullet was flapping all over the place. I’ll tie it up next week. I should also tweet The Win Tunnel and ask them to do a video on Mullet Aerodynamics.
I thought that the course was 13.8km, I was ready to drill it on the last kilometre, only to crest the last climb and be confronted with a downhill that lead to the Beehive. The course was 12.8km long. I should've known that the distance they quoted was incorrect from the weird elevation profile of the Strava Course. I now only trust Strava Course from Greg and Jules. I crossed the line and shouted out my name to the time keeper.
Upon reflection, at no point was I in any pain. I crossed the road to the start line, I could've easily ridden it again and gone faster. My final mistake of the day was that I didn’t go hard enough, splitting the ride into three parts of increasing lactic acid build up.
Once I get this rookie mistakes ironed out (and get fitter, stronger, slimmer, more aero), I can then start to call myself Luke GJ Blennerhasset-O’Brien-McArdle-Potter. I’ll probably need to commission South Dublin Co. Co. for a new postcode to support my quadruple barrelled surname.
Elite Results
1 David Walsh A1 18:18
12 Fionn Sheridan A2 20:28
14 Barry Mooney LC 21:10
17 Luke Potter A4 21:48
21 Ciara Kinch A3 22:45
25 Naoise Sheridan A3 23:52
Youth Results
1 Liam Curley U16 20:26
4 Lara Gillespie U16 26:11
6 Dylan Baker U14 30:16
7 Uisneach Sheridan U16 33:43
Many Thanks to Sean Rowe for once again covering this event with excellent photography.
