A little over a year ago Stuart Birnie became the 24hr TT National Champion. I was a little bemused when he missed the event this year but it turns out that he had bigger fish to fry.. He has been out in California this week for the World Champs and stormed to the title with a 493mile effort.. Chapeau! I hope to catch up with Stuart on his return but for now here’s a reblog of our first interview..
Imagine, if you will, climbing onto your bike early on a summery Saturday afternoon and going for a 60 minute solo ride at a pacy 21.5 mph. Sounds good, nice even.. Now imagine staying on your bike, needing to maintain that speed, for another 23 hours straight. Doesn’t sound so good anymore, does it? Imagine how you might be feeling by 10pm on Saturday evening; with darkness falling, knowing that you will still be going hard at 10am the following day, having ridden right through the night with only burning muscles and an exhausted mind for company. And when 10am finally rolls around you still have four more hours to do. At the same viciously relentless pace.
Welcome to the very singular pain-cave that is the 24 hour Time Trial.
On 22nd July, whilst most of the cycling world was focused on the casual Parisien denouement of the Tour de France…
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