Another brutal TTT tonight.
Course was Greatest London Flat. We were down to 6 riders tonight from our normal 8 so it was going to be full on for nearly 32km.
Got my start right again and was 2nd out of the pen. Unfortunately, one of our riders, who is new to the team and a strong rider, had a terrible start and was quickly 10 seconds behind us, so we had to slow with one of the team dropping back to pace him back on. That was along the lumpy starting section past Blackfriars, and through the underpass. By the time we were on Embankment we were all back together and it felt like we were hammering it.
Not much to report after that as we rode in a tight group through London, down through the Underground station and out on to Richmond Park. We got slightly stretched on the 8% section but kept it together and were soon heading back down the Underground section and back into London. The inevitable split happened on the horrible ramp up the escalator. One of our guys was dropped as we hit the escalator. I got to the top with the group but then went pop as we hit the entrance hall. Silly place to hit a wall!
Shouted to the front 4 to go, and off they went to the line while the two of us tapped our way home. Team finished 89th out of 175 teams in Frappe class with a time of 45.16.
Checked my time and power on Zwiftpower after the ride and could see why I blew up after the escalator climb. Best ever 20 minute power at 271w at 3.7w/kg. Didn't get an FTP upgrade so it must have been a marginal improvement on last week but my legs feel like they've had a real workout tonight.
