Report: Bottrill wins A5 Rangers hilly 31 mile time trial in style!

Matthew Bottrill made a return to racing this weekend in the A5 Rangers 31 mile hilly time trial with a new bike and streamlined position. 

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After a visit to the www.drag2zero.com windtunnel during the week, Bottrill applied his new postion and new Giant Trinity time trial machine to full use. With light gust of winds expected during the race, Bottrill selected Enve 8.9 wheels for the task in hand.

Riders would complete two laps of a 15 mile very demanding circuit. Early leader of the course was Luke Clarke from team Milton Keynes who was first to hit the leader board with a opening lap of 36.48. Next time to challenge was brother Ross, just a few seconds behind. Then came the turn of Bottrill who has won the event for the last four years. Question was, would he make this year’s event number five?

Soon into his stride and hitting 47 mph at one stage, Matt was pacing the course well and the opening lap slipped by very quickly; his 34.29 putting him over two minutes clear of the rest of the field. All that had to be done now was to hold the same pace! Which Bottrill did perfectly with a finishing time of 1.9.00. Luke Clarke took the 2nd step on the podium at 5 minutes 18 (1.14.18) followed close by his brother Ross Clarke at 5.28 (1.14.28) for 3rd.

Asked about his winning performance and how he paced the ride so well, Bottrill replied “I’m quite happy with that, my pacing was perfect, just proving how good riding with a power meter is. Bob Tobin my coach www.cyclingpowermeters.com set me a plan and I rode it perfectly! What I’ve learnt over the years is not too start to fast! The other important thing was to fuel properly. Today I had work at 4am, finished then came straight to the race which I started at 1.40pm, so had no time to put my feet up.

Being a postman means I’m on my feet from the time I get up, so for today I made sure I had plenty of protein and carb’s and to get the balance right I used Zip-Vit protein and recovery drink and bars, Carbohydrate drink and gels and once I was finished, I used a rapid recovery drink. You just need to make sure you dont have any sugar highs.”

We also noted Bottrill’s new time trial machine. The Giant Trinity, equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace and the new Smart Enve 8.9 wheels. “Yes, this is a very special bike” he says. “I can no longer use the excuse that somebody has a better bike than me. The frame and wheels are something else, I just cant get over how stiff they both where. Normally, in conditions like today, if you were riding a 85-90mm rim, you would be blown all over the places, but with the 8.9, its like your riding a standard 50mm rim, very impressive!”

Next week Matt, will be taking part in the first round of the National time trail series.

Result

1 Matthew Bottrill www drag2zero.co.uk 1.09.00
2 Luke Clarke Team Milton Keynes 1.14.18 1st Team
3 Ross Clarke Team Milton Keynes 1.14.28 1st Team
4 Scott Walker M.G.Decor 1.14.45
5 Stewart Wilson Baines Racing 1.17.03
6 Stuart Wright Planet X 1.17.53
7 Cameron Foster Team Zappi C.C. 1.18.06
8 Andy Convery Wyre Forest C.R.C. 1.19.19
9 Kev Hardwick 45 Road Club 1.19.30
10 Shane Norval Cambridge C.C. 1.20.00
11 Steve Batsford I.ride.co.uk 1.20.09
12 Steve Clarke Team Milton Keynes 1.20.23
13 Tom Kruger 45 Road Club 1.20.51
14 John Dowling Hemel Hempstead C.C. 1.21.01
15 John Herring Leamington C & A.C. 1.21.05
16 Tony May North Road C.C. 1.21.13
17 Adrian Tayles Rugby R.C.C. 1.21.44
18 Martin Millington Stratford C.C. 1.22.14
19 Neil Barford 45 Road Club 1.22.32
20 Richard Low C.C.Ashwell 1.25.32
21 Simon Baker Oxford City R.C. 1.25.42
22 Cath Weiss Baines Racing 1.27.38
23 Russell Green Rugby R.C.C. 1.27.50
24 Lucy Dossage Cambridge Tri Club 1.28.14
25 Amy Forshaw Hemel Hempstead C.C. 1.28.39
26 Roger Foster Banbury Star C.C. 1.31.00
27 Richard Gamble Hinckley C.R.C. 1.32.05
28 Marina Bloom Born to Bike 1.33.44
29 David Meakin Team Milton Keynes 1.34.18
30 Jonathan Ellis Royal Sutton C.C. 1.34.28
31 Trevor Parrish A5 Rangers C.C. 1.37.41
32 Alex Laycock The Cycle Studio 1.42.38
33 Mike Bloom Rugby R.C.C. 1.52.46

 

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