13.20 and 13.52 saw both John O'Sullivan and myself ride the Mersey Roads 24hr tt.We both had a Paris Brest Paris qualifying series under the belt and an exceptionally hot Welsh 12hr completed.The seventh hour of the 12hr saw me fade badly for about 3 hours but I managed to pull myself back together and pick it up for the final 3 hours.This was a novelty for me as I don't normally benefit from the Lazarus effect.Despite prickly feet, a toilet stop neither of which I had experienced since the E2E in 2006, drinking from tepid bottles all day and nearly 20 minutes off the bike I actuallly felt that I rode well and enjoyed the day.After a quick sleep on the side of the road where space was at a premium with overcooked riders collapsed around the timekeeper I picked myself up to find 233 on the clock.Hmmm 2008 234 miles, 2010 234 miles what does it all mean?This was to be my 10th 12hr in Wales and while they're primarly dry I had never seen heat like this one.
Ably assisted by Clare and Susan we found ourselves on the 24hr start line on a cooler but very windy day.The field was made up of 65 riders including 3 trikes and 2 tandems and consisted of a mix of time triallist and PBP aspirants (with myself firmly in the latter camp).The eldest particpant was 73 and Scottish cycling legend, George Berwick, was completing possibly his fifthieth consecutive 24hr.
It was hard to figure out what effect the wind would have but on starting I could feel a stiff wind on my back and knew that this would in our faces at some point.The girls had travelled upto Prees roundabout straight from the hotel to ensure they got a parking spot there.The event is made up of 3 circuits and the vast bulk of the mileage is completed on two circuits which pass this roundabout after 14 miles and 40 miles.
After being blown uphill for 16 miles to Prees I picked up a musette and headed onto the 40 mile circuit.Speeds were high with the wind and I kept rolling over good gear as I knew we would pay the price on the way back and would have to make the most of the outward leg.The menu for the day was to be 6 miles tailwind - roundabout - 3 miles crosswind - 11 miles slight tailwind.I made a mental note of all the potholes as I didn't want to be bouncing into them later on that night.This last stretch is very featureless and has some fairly rough surfaces and I knew that if I was going to start falling asleep this is where it was going to happen.
After two of these laps everyone is sent onto the shorter circuit where you hit the hundred mile point.I have always made good time on this circuit despite it's hilly nature.The roads are very rural and you pass several little villages which breaks up the journey unlike the longer main road section which is mindnumbingly dull.This is for me these types of roads.Passed the 100 miler at about 4hrs 45 and kept motoring to ensure that I spent as much time as possible on these roads.Feeding was going great and Clare was handling the pre arranged feeding schedule like a dream.As the circuit is only 14 miles long it was very easy to relay info as I would be stopping to kit up for the night soon.Took on arm warmers before this but kept slightly under dressed to allow body to cool down naturally before night fall.Squeezed in another lap before first scheduled stop at 21.00hrs.This was to put on lights and clothing and I ahd slotted in 10 minutes for this and we managed to keep this pit stop to that.One lesson learnt here was that I spent 5 minutes putting on my front light.It was the best light I could buy when I purchased it 10 years ago but the mounting system is antiquated as is the output now.The stop was a Formula One Pit Stop dream with Clare and Susan dressing me as I ate.Susan was counting down the 10 minutes but I left of my own accord after being informed that John was riding well.
Thankfully the wind had dropped with darkness and the field was grouped onto the longer circuit for safety.I normally keep riding through the night until breakfast time but decided that a stop after 2 laps around 02.30 with a cup of coffee might serve well to break up the night and go someway towards averting the dreaded noddies at dawn. The night was fairly uneventful and thankfully there weren't too many boy rcers around this year to abuse participants.
Although I wasn't actually feeling tired I was working on the pre emptive strike theory of avoiding the noddies so pulled in for a cup of coffee around 04.00hrs.I had avoided caffeine for the previous two weeks hoping to get a boost when needed.Managed to keep stop nice and short as I sauntered out onto an eerily quiet circuit.Freezing fog had fallen and it was spooky seeing the car lights appearing over the hills.it's one thing being abducted by aliens at the start but no fun 14hrs into event.No sooner was I back on the road than I started falling asleep.The first chinks of light were appearing which should have the same effect as hearing the angles sing but from experience I knew that the
next few hours were going to be the witching hours . Nothing for it but to alternate between sitting and standing with a little bit of singing thrown.The road was now awash with rabbits and trying to avoid these also provided a distraction.It was too early to stop for breakfast as I still had another 8 hours to go.At this point there was alot of suffering going around for everyone.
As the day warmed up I started to slowly come out of the comatose state and kept chugging away all the time waiting to see a stop to the flow of riders on the other side of the road which would signify a return to the more inspiring shorter circuit.By now the headwind had returned since early morning and at this stage it was energy sapping to have to ride into it.It was now getting towards 09.00hrs as I neared Prees and I was guessing that this might be the cut off point to turn people onto the shorter circuit.OH YEAAH I got tha tone right and wasn't sent back down the soul destroying windswept circuit again.John also benefitted from this and was the first man onto circuit.
I called in my breakfast order before doing one lap sunny side up.The wind was back up to full strenght and by now I couldn't ride without a hand on the bars so had to return to yesterdays formula of gripping the musette in my teeth and wobbly emptying it.Once I changed circuits I could feel my body and soul lifting.
After breakfast,stripping the lights , applying sun screen etc I kept moseying around trying to get as many circuits completed as possible before being sent onto the finishing circuit ( a fairly nasty palce to finish up).Oh well at least the return is downhill.Managed to do one more lap than I would have expected before summoning alot of energy to ride downhill into the teeth of the wind at about 15m.p.h. That sure was a soul destroying experience as I was anking on getting a breather befroe the finishing circuit.
This circuit is about 12 miles long and dotted with time keepers who can give an accurate tiem to the second.It also contains some terrible surfaces,a horrible stretch of A road and seems to go uphill all the time without ever going down.From experience I have always had a torrid time on the section as does everyone else.Once around, twice around and I knew I was going to finish next to nowhere near hq.If you arrive at a timekeeper with a minute to spare you keep going and your time is worked backwards. Obviously you can stop here
if you want and lose a minute or two.I had no intention of doi ng this but calculated that I would finish right at the back of the circuit on the A road which is exactly where I ran out of time.Bummer there was nowhere to collapse in comfort as there's no hard shoulder or comfy grass verge. The millionth of a millisecond of shouting my number I got into my lowest gear and twiddeld the 7 or 8 miles back to HQ.Recovery for PBP started that second.
What did I learn? I didn't learn why the font changed half way through but I'll figure the rest out for later and let you know soon
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