Circuit of Bassenthwaite SpoCo - Saturday 29th February.

The SpoCo series “aims to encourage the use of “Sporting” courses for cycle Time Trials as an alternative to the use of traffic-laden dual-carriageway courses. It does this by means of collating and publishing league tables for selected events, mainly in Cumbria and Lancashire, but also including neighbouring areas.” More information and a list of the 2020 events can be found at https://nltta.org.uk/about-spoco/ They are brilliant!

In order to qualify for a category you must complete 8 rides (fewer for women/juniors). You are welcome to enter a one-off event, you just won't qualify for an overall category. Now that our kids are getting older and doing more activities, entering weekend events is becoming more difficult. It became clear I’d need to enter Bassenthwaite if I were to stand a chance of entering the full quota of events, especially after the first SpoCo was cancelled owing to flooding.

I’ve not done the training I’d hoped to do this winter. With the weather we’ve had, and the month-long triple whammy of Storm Ciara, Storm Dennis and Storm Jorge, I know I’m not alone! It was tempting to say “I’m not ready” but I’ve done enough time trials now to know that I’m never “ready” and I’ve just got to bite the bullet. I’d not ridden any of the circuit and thought it would be useful to ride the section on the A66 anyway as I’d like to do a 25 or a 50 on that road at some point. But the course is 31 miles which would make it the longest time trial I’d done, the first of the season, on the back of a fairly unproductive winter. Plus it had the psychological barrier of being two laps rather than one long circuit. I wasn’t sure I’d have the discipline to ride past the HQ and complete a second lap! “What the heck?” I thought and clicked “enter”.

The race itself: I knew that this should be a pretty picturesque route and it did not disappoint. Bassenthwaite is an awesome lake, bordered by Skiddaw and Lord’s Seat, with Dodd and Barf peeking out respectively, the giants of the Coledale/Helvellyn ranges and the Newlands valley in the distance. The A66 runs right alongside the western shore of the lake. There are some grinds of climbs on the A591, along the eastern side (certainly vomit inducing on the way up to the left turn by the Castle Inn), some winding descents and a narrow bridge to negotiate. All so much more interesting than a flat out-and-back dual carriageway.

I had no idea how to pace a 31 mile time trial. To be fair, I’m not sure I know how to pace 10 or 25 miles either, even when I’ve been going well. Right now I am definitely not going well so I tried hard to treat this as a nice bike ride. That is the beauty of the SpoCo series, they are ALL nice bike rides, no soulless runway slogs.

Photo credit: Carlos Reina Photo

The forecast was pretty clear-cut. We were set for pre-Storm Jorge high winds and hail. The forecast was right! There was a definite sense of admiration when signing on for all the other brave riders, marshalls and timekeepers who had turned out, despite the weather. My race slot included three separate hail showers and a proper wind tunnel heading back down the A66 to Braithwaite. But it was so bad it was actually enjoyable. I’d wondered whether to use the visor on my helmet as it’s not great in heavy rain but my goodness it is good in hail! Pacing-wise, I got it pretty much right for the 30 mile course that I thought I was riding. Unfortunately I'd rounded the distance down and the extra 1.3 miles into the wind on the slight incline of the A66 seemed to take an eternity. I had a comedy moment where, in an end-of-time-trial-hallucinogenic state, I shouted my number out at a photographer wearing a high viz jacket, thinking he was the finish timekeeper. "Keep going" he shouted. Gutted!

Photo credit: Kenneth Andrew Brown Velo Club Cumbria

The event was really friendly, despite boasting some top, inspirational, riders. The winners were Liam Beaty and Christina Wiejiak who both had immense rides. It was brilliant to see fellow KVRC Andrew Barlow had also braved the weather, although this was never in doubt, he's hard! Braithwaite Institute was a great (warm!) venue and the whole thing reminded me how much mutual respect there is among time trial-ers, no matter what their eventual time, simply for turning out and putting themselves on the line.

Bizarrely, I feel a lot less competitive with other competitors at a time trial than I would at another type of event. I think that is because ultimately it is ME that I am racing, not anyone else. And I love that about time trialling. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a time trial and not felt amazing afterwards, absolutely buzzing. Even if I’ve had a complete shocker (often!) I’m still chuffed that I won the battle with myself and (i) turned up and (ii) finished.

The biography of Beryl Burton (“The Greatest”) by William Fotheringham mentions the appeal of time trialling:

Time trialling is such a head game. Annemiek van Vleuten says “No, the truth is I hate to suffer but I am good at it. That is also maybe the reason why I hate to suffer, because I know I can push myself over the limit so it hurts even more. I don’t especially like time-trialling either. It is so hard. But I am quite good at it. Everything in your body is screaming at you to stop,” she says. “That is the fight you have got to survive. A voice says, “Stop pedalling!” And you say, “No, I have to push harder.” There’s a lot of talk going on in my head.”

There is no reason that time trialling cannot be the parkrun of cycling. Indeed, William Fotheringham mentions this:

I think the key is accepting that your time only matters to you. Once you’ve done one, it is just about beating yourself. There are even veteran times so that you can compare your times as you get old(er) and (more) past it. Kent Valley Road Club have a set of club standards which include times for veterans (over 40):

https://www.kentvalley.co.uk/application/files/8014/6557/8994/club_standard_awards.pdf

It is such a shame that more people don’t enter the events, both open and club, especially women. Time trials are such good training for anyone trying to go faster on a bike. I am always surprised that more triathletes, in particular, don’t enter them. Club events (usually £5) are completely accessible and you will be made to feel welcome. Even open events rarely cost much more than about £10. I totally understand that space age bikes and helmets are intimidating, and they do make a difference, but there are plenty of people who go very fast on a normal road bike with a normal helmet (and plenty of people who go quite slowly with all the gear...!) Some of the SpoCos, and most local club time trials, have a road bike category. Anyone who has done any time trialling knows that a TT bike is an advantage and recognises the achievement of turning up on a road bike.

Another extract from “The Greatest”:

Kent Valley Road Club is hosting a “Try Time Trialling” event at the start of April. The aim is to give an idea of what to expect at a time trial without the pressure of timings. It is free. Wednesday 1^st April, 7pm, meeting in the car park of the Gilpin Bridge Inn near Levens. More details will follow soon.

Club time trials resume on Wednesdays from Wednesday 8th April, sign on before 6.50pm, first rider off at 7.10pm. The first event is on Milnthorpe - see www.kentvalley.co.uk for more details!

Claire Rushton

Links to more SpoCo blogs: My First SpoCo and More SpoCos