pembs tri camp

Wouldn’t have taken much to talk me out of racing today.weather is bad. The last 25m tt was hard this will b even harder. Text fabulous looking for absolution. No dice.as keen as mustard. Heather is umming and rrrring. But moving.so off I go.

Lift up in New polo. Dirty oily bike in the back. Banging and scrapped it in. Bang and scrap out. Left them with a car reeking of deep heat. Flap jack crumps everywhere and full of those daft little black washers for changing the visor on the aero helmet. Ridiculous design. Going rose visor today. they didnt seem too phased that my recovery drink had spilt and gone everywhere. its milk based. give it a few days to warm up and they will be apoplectic.

Absolutely Pissing down.windy.should be a good ride. Stay upright at all times will b the main focus today.wonder how many DNS there will b.Heather phoned. She has bailed. Tough week for her plus recovering from a nasty cold. Tough decision but the right one i think.

Try to sleep on way up.got the bike back last night from bierspool cycle shop.almost forgot to pick it up. New carbon tri bars. New cables etc. Completely untested. New position .straight to race.SMART MOVE.first problem is where to fit the operations console (computer) .can work around that today. Still haven’t sorted out that zipp 808 rear wheel from Escobar. In this wind might b for the best.

Get dropped off, even the dog isn’t keen to get out of the car.Pile all my gear into the HQ,start getting sorted. Changed and ready and fabulous rocks up resplendent in his NBCC speed suit. I’ve already got dressed up so won’t be in club colours today. Commender ollies turbo and have a warm up under cover out the rain. I mean rain. the tri bars feel a bit weird but not horrific and the indexing on the gears actually works. You click it once and it changes gear once…how novel

With much relunctance i step out into the wet . Soaked in milliseconds. Nice. Off to the start. Its not too bad and the first 25 miles were definitely the worst. My minute man hasn’t turned up,neither has 100 (im number 99) Get ready, 5,4,3,2,1 GO!

Within seconds i can’t see a damn thing in the visor. Ollie threw his visor in the hedge. When you consider he has a kask bambino (visor £60 ) i thought that was a tad rash. He didnt waste too much time going to look for it after and he found it. Second roundabout went around it twice, clueless (de rum ta tum, de rum ta tum, de-de -de tum, de de de tum.) Down the bank. Decided to abandom all visual references altogether and carry on using the force. First leg is into the wind and am fighting the bike all over the place. The turn cant come quick enough. The turn is at 15.5 miles .No idea of time but havent been caught or caught anyone.Take the wrong turn at the exit roundabout.Up on the kerb ,back around and to the right exit. (we’ve now been downgraded from laurel and hardy now its a carry on movie or the muppet show and im beaker). Even though rinsing the same power life seems so much more easier with the wind behind you. Only 9 miles to the finish. Could just make out my 2 min man and cross the line. 57mins 32secs. Bit gutted about the time lost foraging .But a very difficult day. With 15 miles into that wind.hmmmn.

Soaked, changed ,cup of tea. In walks fabulous like he’s the landlord. He’s not got his happy NBCC camper face on. With a face of fury he strides, yes strides into the room to command all before him. Like a prize fighting matador. He’s just about to launch into a , i would imagine, prepared speech when John Sheehan tells him how good he looks in his NBCC speed suit.John wants one too it would seem. Quite the people handler John. As any tension has been instantly dissapated because now fabulous is talking about his favourite subject.

kieron Won again 49 mins something. Ollie did a 54 and Fabulous a 1hr 2.

Had a lift home with Fabulous. He wasn’t stoked with his time but it was the worst conditions for the bank. Any wind from the east and he’ll be under the hour now. Its still early April.

Somehow managed to buy a disc wheel on ebay on the way home.