Well, I've been neglecting this blog again. Since the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up 25 in early March, I've only ridden one time trial before this evening's opening club event in the 2026 NBRC time trial series. That event was the N&DCA '10' on the Brogborough course, and was on pretty nice warm afternoon. Sadly, I underperformed spectacularly, finishing in 24:42 after I found I couldn't ride comfortably in the aero extensions and had to ride on the base bars pretty much all the way round. For this evening's time trial I rode my backup TT bike, the venerable Cervelo P3.
I selected the P3 because it's fitted with front and rear trispokes, a wheelset more suitable for the strong wind forecast for this evening than the wheels I have in my main TT bike. This was my first ride using the new Favero Assioma Pro RL power meter pedals. There have been a number of reviews online of the Assioma Pro pedals (available with Shimano MTB, Shimano Road and now Look Keo pedal bodies), all of which point to excellent performance. On the basis of a single ride, it would be presumptuous to offer an opinion other than to say they performed apparently faultlessly.
The course is only a short ride from home, and conditions at the start were reasonably warm for the time of year. At least when one was out of the wind! The wind direction was likely to make things tough for the return leg, but with a pretty clean tailwind out to the turn, the outward leg was really quite fast. You can see this in the wind diagram below (based on forecast).
I took the start descent quite cautiously, as there's often a blustery crosswing near the bottom, which isn't too great if you're riding on the bar extensions. Once on the flatter part of the course I found it pretty quick, with the strong tailwind, and I seemed to be ticking along at about 31 mph. I got through the two Marston Moretaine RABs without incident. I didn't even notice the newly installed (but not yet operational) traffic lights at the Stewartby turn - of which more later.
The return leg was indeed quite tough and I tried my best to keep the power up without worrying too much about speed. I think I was in the low 20s. Unfortunately, as I approached the main Marston Moretaine roundabout, the wind increased, became more blustery and brought in some really quite heavy (and cold) rain. I also had to severely slow as a car came roaring across the roundabout. The last couple of miles were really horrible. I could feel my feet squelching in my shoes, and it was fortunate that the effort was keeping my body temperature up! I finished in 24:05, significantly better than the N&DCA event despite this evening's conditions and good enough for second place.
By the time I got back to the meeting point, I was pretty wet and cold, and it was good to get my jacket back on and ride home.
Reviewing my ride, I was pretty satisfied. I've been feeling a bit jaded over the last couple of weeks, maybe due to the continual training. I found that actually getting our there and racing has gee'd me up a bit. While by overall power was a bit lower than I'd have hoped for, I was pleased with the bike fit and handling, particularly on the return leg with a stiff headwind.
Future of the Brogborough course...this may well be the last time the course is used. This is due to the upcoming works associated with the development of the Universal Studios theme parke that will be located somewhere near the turn. Somebody mentioned that there will be an expected 600 lorry trips a day to the development site. On the day before the event, traffic lights were installed at the Stewartby - to be activated on 20th April, they'll make the course unusable, and the longer term building work will similarly impact. It's a shame, this was a nice course.