The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

This summer series event wasn't one that was actually organised by the tri club.  We were encouraged to take part in the weekly time trial run by the Calder Clarion cycling club.  This involved a 10 mile cycle ride with everybody being set off to complete it at 1 minute intervals.  I'd never done anything like this before and was quite apprehensive about what it would be like.  On the other hand I thought some more race pace riding would do me some good.  It took me a while to find the place on Heath Common, mainly because I don't know the area very well, then suddenly I spotted a load of people with bikes.  I parked up at the side of a very pot holed road with everybody else and went off to investigate.  It seems that all I needed to do was sign up, pay £2 and collect my number.  This I did, then went to get the bike down from the car and generally get myself prepared.

The part I was most nervous about was the start.  You have to begin by being clipped in to the pedals, somebody stands and holds your bike upright, they count you down to your start time and then gently give you a push as you begin to pedal away.  I was worried I'd mess it up and fall off in as public a fashion as possible!  Thankfully, I didn't.  It was a strange sensation though, to sit there relying on somebody else for my safety.

Anyway, I got started fine and set on the ten mile loop.  the route was easy to follow, just a case of keeping track of how many roundabouts I'd gone through.  The course was quite up and down, although mostly not too steep.  The roads were pretty busy, a half six start meant that there were still a lot of cars and trucks around, but the roads were wide enough for this not to be much of a problem, especially not if you are used to cycling with traffic around you.  I pushed myself pretty hard and was breathing heavily and getting suitably sweaty.  I was number 21 so knew that I'd probably be fininshing last as the few that were behind me would probably catch up with me eventually.  That is exactly what happened, but I was quite happy just to keep pushing and to do the best I could.  There was a different cycling race going on in the area too and I got nigh on swamped by them all as they zoomed past at one point.  It was quite intimidating and some of them were yelling at me to stay out of the way - huh!  I reckon I have a right to be out there too. 

However, that slight scare aside, I enjoyed the experience and would certainly like to do another one later on in the year and see if I could beat my time.  And what was that time?  I completed the 10 miles in just over 35 minutes.  I was pleased with that.  The organisers were friendly, chatty and encouraging, quite a few tri club members had turned up and it was a good experience.  I'll be back for another go.