PVC and a powerful pair of thighs…..

“Bring out the Gimp” was one phrase heard prior to the start of Thursday evening’s open TT over at St Keverne…. followed shortly thereafter by “hey Mike, where’s your matching mask and thong?” and a bunch of sniggers… Nope, it wasn’t a novelty fetish edition, though that would have been fun, but rather reference to my new Pearl Izumi aero shoe covers…. I already had a perfectly good pair of Adidas lycra ones but when I saw these Pearls I was smitten by the shiny, stretchy, clingy and BLACK quality of the material, so much so that I simply had to have ‘em. Not sure what that reveals about my character but I shall be resisting the urge to turn up to the next race in a stretchy PVC skinsuit and mask, that would be just a bit too sweaty I think and the mask would hinder my breathing… nope, I shall stick to lycra and a funny shaped crash hat.

Thursday’s event was a good one, I dragged myself wearily along to HQ after a long day at work by force of coffee and habit rather than on a wave of enthusiasm and adrenalin in anticipation of a good event. I’m never very good at 7pm starts, my body clock is calibrated to being slumped at home with a glass of red wine by then… The weariness lifted to a degree after catching up with all the other riders, mostly familiar faces and a few new ones. One bonus was the presence of Wendy Houvenaghel, noted professional and world class track cyclist with a raft of medals to her name. I’ve met Wendy before and she’s a lovely person without any of the arrogance that often comes along with a successful professional career and it’s nice to see that when she’s not out beating the world she still finds it worthwhile to come along and support (and usually win…) our local events. Of course she set a new course record just ahead of Cyclelogic’s Martin Bawden but with smiles all-round I think everyone was happy to see her in top spot. I must admit I spent much of the evening, when not actually on my bike, trying to figure out just where all that power comes from – to look at she’s a very slight build, not the kind of thing you’d normally associate with a track and TT specialist…. took me a while to realise that her off-the bike wear baggy knee length shorts were in reality completely filled by, and barely disguising the most fantastically sculpted, powerful thighs I think I’ve ever seen on a girl. wow! (I’d better be careful, hubby was present and he’s bigger than me….). Her bike was only slightly less fascinating(!) (apologies while I indulge my bicycle fetish..) a beautiful black Cervelo P3 Carbon, dressed in all-black carbon bling-ware componentry with a very tasteful contrast brought by the addition of an all white Campagnolo Ghibli rear disc. Don’t see many of those around… probably a good £6K worth of machinery. yum.

As for my ride… well, yes it was OK…. I’ve had a couple of days to work on my excuses at time of writing so.. I was tired and couldn’t quite force the kind of effort I normally do in a TT, and it wasn’t a particularly fixed-gear friendly course with plenty of climbing, descending, twisty bends and an exposed headwind section. I managed 9th on the night. I knew I wouldn’t be particularly competitive on the fixed gear, but that’s not the point – these days it’s the taking part and social side I can’t resist… that and have everyone marvelling at my bike set-up :o) I was slightly over-geared too on 55×15 for the conditions, 53×15 would have been more sensible though I doubt it would helped with the stomach-inside-out feeling on the climb back from the turn…

OK, enough for now, I’ve just come back from the Saturday chain gang (got a double helping of fruit cake, gratuit, at the cafe today, she must think I look thin or something) and le Tour is on le Telly.

Have fun out there.