Earlier this week was my second time trial of the year, again on the K11/10B. I rode 22:30 for 12th place, nine seconds quicker than a couple of weeks ago and two seconds quicker than my all time best set way back in 2011!

Interestingly, my average power of 298W was five watts lower than a couple of weeks ago. My legs felt good but the cross winds were so strong it was a fight just to keep in a straight line. I suspect this is why my power was down a bit. Despite this, I went faster! This was likely a combination of weather - there was no head wind this time! - and being more aero.

As with my last time trial, I’m pretty pleased with my power profile for the race. Aside from the climbs and descents - it’s faster overall to push a bit harder going up and grab some recovery going down - I kept a very steady power output pretty close to Best Bike Split’s recommendation.

As time trialling has been going well I entered the Midlands 10 mile TT championships, run by Aerocoach. This has been my tentative second A-race for the year, but, like the first, it has been cancelled!

So, what now? Well, for the rest of August I’ll focus on racing. I have a four more ten milers planned - three midweek local club TTs, including a roadmans (road bike only), and an open run by Leamington Cycling and Athletics Club. A couple of these are on fairly fast courses with a reasonable road surface so I’m hoping to break, or at least get close to 22 minutes.

Once I’m done with time trials, September and October will be focused on short-duration power as that’s always been my limiter. I’ll do an eight week block focused on improving my one- to five-minute power, probably with a few hill climbs and KOM attempts thrown in. Finally, I’ll have a couple of super easy weeks before kicking off base training for next year. Bring it on!