Star rider Rich Collier made a long trip over to Norfolk at the weekend to compete in East District Cycle Association’s 100 mile time trial. Something which required an overnight stay and a 6am Sunday start. Rich had attempted a 100 miler last year, but that ended in a DNF due to horrendous wind and rain. He was aiming for a sub 5 hour time, but secretly hoping for a 4:45 or 4:50, and would have been happy with that.
The B100/4 multi-lap course, south of Norwich, near Wymondham, is known for being a fast course with not much elevation (compared to Oxfordshire) and thankfully the wind held off until the last couple of laps.
Rich started strong and maintained a good pace for the first 25 miles, feeling his pacing was absolutely spot on, managing to maintain an average of 22.2 mph. At mile 70 the wind started to pick up, but his legs worked well against the wind, showing a well-managed pace up to this point. This allowed him to push on a little more for the last lap, eventually coming over the 100 mile line with a time of 4-27-47, which he was incredibly happy with. Winner of the event, Marcin Bialoblocki, broke the National 100 mile record with a time of 3-13-37.
Previous to this event Rich rode both a 25 and 50 mile TT in the same weekend a few weeks back.
The first on the Saturday was a 25 mile TT just outside Sleaford in Lincolnshire, held in 30 degree energy sapping heat. The first part of the race was into a noticeable headwind and then just before the 11 mile mark his cycle computer lost its speed setting, making pacing somewhat of a challenge for the remainder of the ride. Turning at the halfway point the energy had gone out of his legs, even with the wind now helping. It was difficult to maintain a good pace in the heat, especially now not knowing exactly what the pace was and the distance was left. In the end it was just keep riding, eventually finishing in a time of 1-12-44.
Then just 16 hours later he was off to Leicestershire for a 50 mile TT at Sixhills, a course along the A46. Lee Heron joined him for this and they left Banbury early in a cool morning, but with a fresh breeze of 15-16mph waiting to help them on the outbound leg towards Newark on Trent. Together with a downhill gradient this resulted in turning at the halfway mark in 1 hour 3 minutes for Rich, and 59 minutes for Lee. The return leg however was challenging, with both gradient and wind now against them it was difficult to maintain both pace and rhythm, with the aim of staying as small as possible to try and cut through the wind. Rich eventually came in at 2 hours 23 minutes, and Lee in 2 hours, 13 minutes.