Coward of the County

I'm exhausted, that was my best, and hardest TT ever. The Southern Counties Cycling Union’s centenary 100 mile time trial. I rode this event last year in five hours, thirty minutes and forty three seconds. It took me several days to recover.

This year, A crocked shoulder (hadn’t ridden the bikes since a 50 mile TT one month ago) and a bad cold meant I'd set a target finish time of 5 hours 15 minutes. Mrs Snoop and others had advised me against racing. I wasn't going to miss the start of the 100th SCCU 100, no sirree.

Music tends to worm its way into my head on the longer TTs - some kind of weird way of concentrating on something... Today's offering was "The Coward of the County" Couldn't shift the bloody thing all race.

Started riding on my TT bike. Forgot to pin number to arse - timekeeper not happy. Luckily I had the shoulder number on so they let me ride (failure to start due to complete rider stupidity could have been very embarrassing).

“Evryone considered him the coward of the county.
He’d only stood one single time to prove the county wrong.
His teammates named him Snoopy, he raced in black and yeller,
But something always told me they were reading Snoopy wrong.”

Sections of the course are familiar as the local 25, 50 and 100 follow some of the same roads. As I set off I quickly remembered how hellish the 100 course is though. The first ten miles is lumpy, and me no like. No rhythm, gear changes all the time. I pushed through this section and settled into a good pace. I managed to hang onto a 20mph average for the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth ten miles. I knew I couldn't keep it up but it was good (for me) to clock 60 miles at that speed.

I got held up at the lights on the A24/A272 junction. Must've lost a few minutes there easily (it was 37 seconds when I checked later).

Mrs Snoop met me at Bolney on 67 miles and I swapped bikes. I didn't think my shoulder would hold out for the remainder so I wanted more position options. I don't think I'd do that again mind. I started getting some really (and I mean really) painful muscle twinges as my body tried to adjust. Thought they would force me to stop but I ironed them out after a few miles.

Sure enough I began to fade as the roads got worse, more undulating, my speed slowly ebbed away. It was piggin hot by now too and like others I was feeling it. At the 75 mile mark I reckoned I could just squeeze my target time and so I ground on as best I could. The last ten miles are a complete kick in the teeth. A rotten undulating country lane nightmare. Country - don't talk to me about it.......

“Promise me, son, not to do the things I’ve done.
Walk away from trouble if you can.
It won’t mean you’re weak if you turn the other cheek.
I hope you’re old enough to understand:
Son, you don’t have to fight to be a man.”

I ain't quittin’ pa... My feet were on fire, needles of pain blasting out of every nerve. In the intense heat my head was spinning and I just grit my teeth and tried to push as hard as I could. Two miles to go and I hit the final stretch of dual carriageway. Knowing the end was in sight I dug deep and floored it. I had just enough left to sprint for the (county) line.

So pleased to be off the damn bike, seeing some of my teammates quickly lifted my spirits and we had a few laughs about how bloody hard things were today.

I was keen to know how I did so went into HQ and there - on the board.... 5.10.43. So - I PB'd by 20 minutes dead and I beat my target time.

For the last time, I let Kenny Rogers back in….

“I promised you, dad, not to do the things you done.
I walk away from trouble when I can.
Now please don’t think I’m weak, I didn’t turn the other cheek,
And papa, I sure hope you understand:
Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man.”

As I left HQ I saw many folk hobbling away. It had been a mega effort to finish in the gruelling conditions today, there were no cowards in this county.

Easing Back into a World of Pain...

...but this time most of it was self inflicted. Crikey, work, life, fun and everything else have kept me waaaay too busy to write. Camping, fire side sing songs, too much to drink and some belated hard core veg planting have all been achieved. More later......maybe.

So - after a nightmare on the ESCA 50, how would I fare on the Southern Counties 50 at the end of June? Well I'd been to see the Doc after my shoulder pains refused to sort themselves out. A thoroughly unpleasant cocktail of valium and diclofenac didn't agree with me. So I stopped the former and used the latter when it became necessary.

Shortly after the ESCA 50 I attempted some interval training which went disastrously wrong, I was getting over a cold and just.....crap. In the build up to the SCCU race all I did was a few short twiddles on the bike to make sure everything still worked (me and it) and a 45 min easy session the day before. I've been feeling too tight to train, worried that too much exertion might mean I had to miss the race.

Race day comes and off I go in breezy conditions. I felt much better than on the previous race, got my drinking regime into better shape and with a good knowledge of the course I knew when to push and when to save a bit. I began to feel some pain in my knee after about 30 miles. This was due to some adjustments I'd made to the saddle which had cured some other discomforts, one door shuts, another opens.

The final four miles I had the wind behind me so gave it everything (well everything I had left anyway) and blasted over the line with my heart rate well into the red, and a time of 2.22.38. That's a PB by 3 min and 14 sec. Happy with that, oh yes indee.....ppppsssssssssssssss. My tyre blew about 15 metres after I crossed the line, boy that could have been a real bummer.

A plus for the day - I managed to stick my tongue out for the camera, well you've just gotta do it.

Two days after the race and I've made the shoulder a bunch worse straining to take the pedals off my daughter's bike :( Back to the Doc again this Friday. Got the SCCU 100 at the end of July, worried how I'm going to fare with so little training these past few weeks....we'll see.

Snoop