RTTC National 24 Hour TT // 2025

Background

Having ridden the National 24 in 2024 off of a basis of the absolute bare minimum of training miles, I had resolved to make another attempt at this longest of Time Trials, this time round with some proper training in my legs and some experience of the event to take forwards. When I started training in September 2024 it was with the 2025 event firmly fixed in the distance.

Opportunity

There was a very real possibility that the race would not run in 2025 due to the Mersey Roads Club organisers stepping down from running the event, but fortunately Manchester District’s CTT Director Tim Smith, came forward to organise the 2025 RTTC National 24 Hour Championship. I had joined the 24 Hour Fellowship in 2024 and had also volunteered myself to help Tim with the 2025 event wherever I could. I thought that it was important to do so as without the efforts of volunteers this kind of event would simply not take place. I wrote a piece about the precarious situation of the National 24 earlier in the year.

Motivation

I was so encouraged by my 403.31 miles in 2024 that I just had to make another attempt. If things went well who knows what distance I may be able to make? Significantly bettering my 2024 result was my main motivation to undertake another attempt as I knew that I had more miles in me. Vigorously using my body to cycle was also something that I felt grateful to be able to do, and whilst I can do that and “enjoy” it then I should.

Support

My mate Roffey, now an experienced hand from my 2024 support crew was happy to help me again which was fantastic. It’s quite the ask really… a couple of days off work, a long weekend away from family, staying awake through all or most of a Saturday night camping out in the back of an estate car next to the A49! It doesn’t sound that appealing when you write it down does it…

My good friend Chris Turner also answered the call for support. Chris lives local to the race area and has an undeniable enthusiasm and kindness to him. Chris and I cycled LEJOG together in 2005 and I credit him with helping to inspire me to cycle. I knew that Chris would be an absolute asset in my support crew.

A key component of my 2024 crew, Jim Churton had been keen to volunteer to help make the event run, so he would be marshaling up at Prees Heath roundabout on the Saturday evening. This ruled him out of supporting me directly, but regardless I knew he’d be willing me onwards.

Training

This was an area rich with opportunities to improve. For years I had gotten myself in good enough shape to ride long rides and do the kind of riding I’d wanted to do, but I hadn’t really ever sought out any significant external help in getting myself physically readied for the start line.

Training can be a myriad of decisions when the brain is already tired with a full day of work and life dealt with…

• “Should I just do an hour in Zone 2?”
• “I haven’t done any hard intervals in a while, perhaps I should do some intervals?”
• “I wonder what session will give me the most benefit towards the 24Hr TT (which doesn’t take place for another 8 months)?”
• “Should I get up early on Sunday and ride out with the boys, or should I just turbo later on?”

There is always a new training method which is being hailed as the “must-do” session or style and it can be a guessing game as to what one should do at what time for the best preparation.

I decided that I needed help with my training to help me get the most out of myself for the 2025 event. I found out who the coach of the 2024 24Hr winner was and got in touch with him – Conrad Moss of Velopower Performance Coaching. A couple of messages, mails and calls later and we were in business. I had figured that a year’s worth of training would work out to be approximately equal in monetary terms to a decent carbon wheel set. Could coaching deliver more gains than a carbon wheel set? Surely it would? We would find out!

Starting in September 2024 the first thing which was obvious was that my volume of cycling lifted up very quickly. I was mostly riding on the turbo trainer with a weekly outside ride with the boys thrown in (all my choice). Training intensity was on the lower side to begin with (a fair bit of Zone 2) but I was riding nearly every day with a self declared available time to train per week of ~7-8hrs. Conrad had said to me that consistency trumps everything else, and I could see that in my weekly training plans. I did some power testing to set my training zones (FTP of 287W), continued to ride very regularly and also had some leg weight work woven into my training plan. Within a few weeks I could already notice the difference in my stamina on the road. Things were feeling positive.

I had to work around a 2-week holiday in October 2024 and also 2 week-long work trips to the US in February and March 2025, but throughout these I continued to excercise and keep active as much as was allowable. I’d been so consistent with my riding that any drop in fitness through these enforced breaks was quickly mitigated upon return to training. My turbo riding had progressed to include a lot of tempo and sweet-spot sessions and I could physically see a difference in my leg muscles. In January 2025 I was at an FTP of 300W and I had also begun to drop weight without making any dietary changes. Sunday rides with the boys had increased in duration to ~3hours to help build my endurance.

In February 2025 Conrad and I determined my target races for the upcoming season. My goals for the season were to go sub 4-hour in a 100 mile TT, and to significantly improve my 24 Hour TT distance, anything else would be a bonus. The tempo and sweet-spot sessions continued on the turbo through the week and I also got some longer rides in back to Norfolk to see family, which were a chance to try out fuelling strategies – carb drinks and gels along with some solid food options. I was gaining a good picture of what I needed to consume to fuel a decent performance and I was training my body to accommodate that kind of fuel.

In April, I started racing and my times fell! In my first 25 I improved my King’s Lynn B25/33 course PB by nearly 3 minutes, followed up by a new FTP of 305W. I increased my outdoor time on my TT bike to become more familiar with my position on the road and I started riding my local cycling club’s weekly TTs, placing well and setting multiple PBs on familiar courses. At the end of April I rode the VTTA 10 mile TT on the A10/3 and set a new distance PB of 20:34. I was amazed at how much strength I had gained. It was a great feeling. I continued with my training directed by Conrad, consistently riding on the turbo and on the road – all on my TT bike. I rode the Melton Olympic 25 on the A25/33 in mid-May and set another distance PB, this time at 53:36. My FTP went up from 305 to 320W and I kept on with the training… spending more and more time on my TT bike outside, increasing ride durations and building resistance to fatigue.

At the end of May I rode my first 100 mile TT, The Anfield 100. By all accounts it’s a tough hundred and Conrad felt I’d likely not break 4 hours for it, but I’d give it my all. I passed the chequered board with 04:02:56, which netted me 16th/79 finishers and gave me a big helping of confidence. My target 100 was to be the ECCA 100 on the E2/100 course and this was on familiar roads for me – the A11/A14. It was a very early start and a very tough ride in windy conditions, but I made my season goal for the 100 and rode a 03:51:59 finishing 22nd/61 finishers. I couldn’t believe I’d ridden in excess of 25 mph for 100 miles. A prospect that seemed impossible to me a year previous.

I was brimming with confidence, the feeling of strength I had in my legs and my newly learnt knowledge of how I could fuel and perform were just great. From the E2/100 up to a week before the National 24, I just concentrated on building miles on the road and really stretching the time on the TT bike. I raced the weekly TT’s too and then throttled off the week before the event, resting in the knowledge that I had done the necessary work.

So, did coaching make a positive difference? Absolutely it did. I felt a lot of accountability to myself and the weekly plans that Conrad had set for me to execute. I was very compliant to the plans and hence very consistent and it made a mental difference knowing that Conrad was watching what I was doing. I had never felt the kind of strength on the bike that I had at this time and I was positioned very well heading into the 24 Hour. I know I paid him, but Conrad was excellent and really helped me achieve in racing.

Bikes

I was for sure going to ride my TT bike for the event. I had intended to ride it in 2024, but just a short test ride on it back then had shown me that I was nowhere near adapted enough to the position – I was barely able to be on the bike for an hour without neck, shoulders and arse complaining. This year was different though, I’d put in significant time on the TT bike and had gotten to a place where I could handle being on it for very long periods of time without falling apart. So, TT bike it was and I would also take my steel Kalavinka as a back-up.

Targets

I honestly did not have a target distance in mind. All I wanted was to significantly increase my distance over what I was able to do in 2024 (403.31 miles). I was confident I could do that but going to the upper ends of the 400s was probably unlikely. I was 12th in 2024, so with going further maybe I would be able to sneak into the Top 10 as well? Clearly that would depend on who else showed up for the race.

Preparing to Go

The last long ride before the race was on the Sunday, so I had a week of very little riding before the race. However, the week was busy at work and we had my nephews staying with us in the house, so life was full and I didn’t have a great deal of free time for preparations. I did fit a new rear tubeless tyre to my rear TT wheel and all seemed to go successfully with that job.

I had the Friday off work to concentrate on getting finally ready and packed up. I fitted a new waxed chain to my TT bike after cleaning the chain rings, cassettes and jockey wheels, I got all possible clothing kit together and sorted, I got all of my drinks bottles organised and my sports nutrition (carb mix, gels, chews) into boxes. I had food packed in a box and also bike tools and spares in another. Meanwhile, Roffey came over to help get stuff sorted. He gave my bike a light clean and fitted some new bar tape for me whilst I nervously hovered about thinking about what I had where and what I could tick off the lists that I’d made. Once we were double checked and packed up in the car we headed off to a supermarket to get a few remaining pieces of fresh food and a bite to eat.

We left my home town around 15:00 and had a 3hr drive up to Chris’s house. Once arrived we had a massive carb loaded dinner of spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread before walking it off in the town and then heading for an early night.

Saturday the 26th July 2025 was upon us and it was race day! A reasonable nights sleep was had ahead of consuming a large bowl of porridge and sultanas. We talked “stop” strategies for a while with the final aim of just planning to stop twice, once in the late evening to put on night gear and another stop on the Sunday morning to remove the night kit. It would be a tough ask of me, but I had to plan to minimise stopped time. I made up another load of porridge to take with me and eat before the start of the race and shortly afterwards we were on the road in 2 cars. We called in at a supermarket to get more fresh food and some snacking food for the support crew – couldn’t have the boys going hungry. On the way over to the race HQ we drove the course from Battlefield up to Prees Heath, just scouting for options to base support from. We decided to leave Chris’s car at Prees Heath and all get in my car for onward travel to the HQ. It was likely the boys would be around Prees Heath as opposed to last year’s chosen long stay at Hadnall.

At the HQ

Arriving at the HQ I was excited to meet Tim Smith, the organiser of the race and also Rob Bailey and Bob Norton, the other key sub-group members that I had been working with since February on steering the organisation of the race. It was very obvious how to find them as they were all wearing the fluorescent t-shirts we had made up for “officials” of the race. It was a pleasure to put faces to the names of these folk and with meeting Tim, I handed over the event badges that we had had made up for finishers and volunteers.

As seems to be typical for a 24Hr race there was a last minute alteration to the course. The dog leg up to Wem and down to Albrighton would no longer be used on the Saturday afternoon. This was due to a dug up road (the day before the race) and temporary traffic lights impeding the planned route. The alternative was more legs of the Battlefield circuit (the night circuit).

I got myself signed on, collected my numbers and proceeded to take a seat near the car whilst Chris and Roffey got my TT bike and spare bike readied for action. I ate my pre-prepared porridge whilst I sat and watched them swarm around the car and sort out bits of kit in their own way. One last toilet stop before getting into my skin suit, day lights on, snacks and gels loaded into the frame bag and stuffed up the legs of my suit, tyre pressures checked and then I was off to take the start. I was calm, I’d certainly put in the training and I was eager to get myself moving.

The Race

Arriving at the start line with a few minutes to spare I watched the riders in front of me get counted down for their off times. I wasn’t nervous, I knew what lay ahead and I knew what I had to do… well at least for the first half or so of the race. “Keep it light, it HAS to feel easy”. These were the words of my coach Conrad, and I kept them very much in the front of my mind. A few minutes later I was on the start line saying hello to chief timekeeper, Edwin Hargraves again. “Good luck Andy…. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!”

I was off and just keeping a lid on it, making progress and staying in position, when the road went up I tended to come out of my TT position and use the base bar which would delay the inevitable fatigue of the neck and shoulders. This was essentially what I did for the first 7 hours of the race, just focusing on keeping it light. I overtook several riders and I also had a few overtake me too. The weather was warm and slightly overcast, which was perfect for what I was doing. Around 18:30, as I was turning at Prees Heath I caught sight of Jim in his volunteering position on the north side of the roundabout. It was great to see him and he gave me a big shout out and a wave.

After around 7 hours, I had completed the ride out from the HQ, 4x laps of Prees Heath to Battlefield, plus the lion’s share of 2x Quina Brook circuits and it was then that I took my first stop with my crew. They had positioned themselves a few miles before Prees Heath roundabout on a small incline at the southern tip of the village of Prees on the A49 – a perfect location. There were a few other support teams there too. We’d planned for me to stop for ~5-6 minutes to don night lights and Gilet and to take on some solid food (a jam sandwich). I did run over on this first stop to around 12 minutes, mostly due to such a long pee when I first stopped! I also had Deep Heat rubbed into my knees, neck and shoulders. The boys were great at getting me dealt with as quickly as they could and after what felt like no time at all I was being hassled back onto my bike with Chris running alongside me to encourage me onwards.

The Night Shift

I was on the road for another 2x circuits of Quina Brook with my night lights on flash with the sun getting lower in the sky. Going past my crew again later I could see they were both tucking into a nice bag of Fish & Chips! I must admit I would happily have eaten some with them, but I had to keep moving. As the sky darkened I steeled myself for a long night on the road with only my own thoughts and the odd shoutout for company. I was finding the oncoming lights of the traffic a little bothersome and as I didn’t have my prescription glasses on it was difficult to see anything with any clean definition. After 11 hours I was again in need of a pee so I decided to stop at the southern end of the Battlefield circuit for another long pee.

The traffic died down to only a handful of cars per circuit which was good from a quietness point of view but the next thing that gradually grew on me as an annoyance and a difficulty for my eyes was other riders’ rear radar lights. These were the kind of rear light that appear to have a normal level of flash until you get to within a distance of ~20 metres, at which point the radar senses you behind the rider and amplifies the intensity and flash frequency of the rear light – to aid in the visibility of the rider ahead. When all else around is dark these radar lights were quite a challenge to look away from. I was struggling to see my crew each time around and I asked them to flick on a lantern for visibility, which helped but there were some times when I passed them and they they didn’t have anything to hand up to me, probably due to knowing I had enough food on me already. However, I needed them to be in position to be able to run next to me and chat to me as I climbed up next to their position. It was motivating for me to speak to someone, even if just for 20 seconds.

The night continued on and with it my feeling was deteriorating. The night can do strange things to you and inevitably a rider is nearly always slower at night, this is down to being colder and needing to pee more (the body wants to get rid of fluid when it is cold), the natural caution you have with reduced visibility and then the fact that you are seriously out of your typical rhythms of sleep, not only that, but you are shoving carbs and sugary foods into your mouth to keep your energy up for riding. I was feeling a little nauseous but it was a familiar feeling and I knew it would pass eventually. The latter half of the night and through into the sunrise were the hardest miles so far. I had stopped twice between 13 hours and 15 hours into the race and for what reason? I just can’t recall exactly but I would have taken an opportunity to pee at every stop. I did make sure I stopped near my crew so they could take my spent gel packets and shout at me to get back on the bike quickly.

The Second Day

As night turned to day I was feeling very tired, not so much in my legs as I had been regularly repeating to myself that “I must keep it light, and that it HAS to feel easy”, but my eyes were feeling heavy. After 16.5hrs which was ~06:00, I stopped at my crew’s location to get my night gilet and night lights removed. I took the opportunity to pee again, eat another jam sandwich and have more Deep Heat applied to the critical areas before pressing onwards towards Prees Heath roundabout again. I was stopped for ~11 minutes. I passed Stuart Day on his trike shortly after joining the Quina Brook circuit again and with the hilly repeats of the Battlefield loop behind me, it was nice to say hi to Stuart, whom I’ met at last year’s event. He too had experienced a bad patch which I found out later he’d dragged himself out of, but I was still in the depths of mine. After a lap or so of the Quina Brook circuit I started to push harder on the pedals and my legs were able to respond. I was feeling more tolerant of the discomforts of remaining in my TT position and I was able to start seeing my average speed tick upwards. I was working my way out of my bad patch.

On the Quina Brook circuit I was now enjoying the early morning, the shorter laps and seeing my crew more frequently, I was also enjoying the variation in cornering and quiet roads, and my legs kept responding well to my will to keep kicking the pedals. I was looking forward to transferring to the finishing circuit, although in 2024 the transfer had me on my knees… it was hilly and the road was of poor surface. After 20hrs and 40 minutes (6x laps of the Quina Brook circuit) I started on the transfer to the finishing circuit, which I was determined to nail. It felt as though I was flying… I still had some go in my legs and any hill I encountered just wasn’t a problem for me. I was able to stay tucked in my TT position and I kept myself well fuelled. ~35 minutes later I arrived on the finishing circuit where I had 3 more hours to plug away at until my 24 hours was up. Time to totally empty the tank.

The finishing circuit was familiar to me from 2024 and I was pleased to finally be on it, concentrating on keeping my speed as high as I could for the remaining time, fuelling with more gels and carb drink. The boys had positioned themselves on the opposite side of the road near TK1, which was close to where my support had been in 2024, a deliberately high speed piece of road which served to reduce the desire for me to stop with them. The northerly dual carriageway section near the half way point of the circuit was slightly uphill and against the wind, but from the roundabout at the top we re-traced south and I was able to carry really good speed back down the dual carriageway and off to the left of the following roundabout towards TK3. I saw this as almost free speed, but it wasn’t. It was taking ~350 watts to get me up to high speed and then I was holding at slightly lower power to maintain the speed. I seemed to be the only rider doing this as I was passing lots of folk on this section. I suspect I wasn’t the only one though.

With continued concentrated effort and increasing difficulty I kept on circulating around the finishing circuit. I saw familiar faces of the Crewe Clarion Wheelers assembled to lend their support to all, and I kept seeing the boys every circuit, their shouts of encouragement willing me on. I was mentally calculating what I might end up arriving at for a final distance but my brain wasn’t functioning reliably enough to be sure of my calculations… I was thinking maybe ~460 miles could be on? As I approached my 24 hours I knew that I’d given it my all. The race ended for me at TK1 and as expected the relief was enormous. I could finally stop pedalling. I had completed 7x laps on the finishing circuit, which worked out to be around 56 miles.

I cycled the short distance back to my support crew and climbed off the bike, slumping into a camping chair. What a relief it was to stop… Huge. Looking at my Garmin I’d managed to ride 468 miles in a touch over 24 hours. I couldn’t believe it… that was an average speed of 20.01mph. I had been stopped for a cumulative amount of time of 35 minutes throughout the race, and both distance ridden and stopped time were vast improvements over my 2024 attempt. I was delighted with the support of my crew and with the distance I had been able to achieve.

I had a can of cold Coca-Cola whilst getting out of my skin suit and having a brief wash down. It was nice to be out of lycra! We packed down the bikes and got them loaded into the roof of my car before heading back to the HQ for a cup of tea, sign-outs and results posting.

Results posting seemed to take an age, but there was a nice hub-bub at the HQ with tea and cake being served and also some presentations of thanks being made whilst results were provisionally calculated.

We hung around at the HQ until the results were posted, and chatted to a few folks but as I was falling asleep we decided to head off before the presentations were made. I could see from the results board that I had made 467.20 miles, which was enough to bag me 6th place. I could not really believe it. I was extremely pleased with what I had been able to ride. I spoke to a few key people, my wife and kids at home, my coach Conrad, my mate Jim, my mate Mick and my Dad. Everyone was very pleased for me. Roffey and I said our goodbyes to Chris, as he was heading off in his car and had kindly offered to give rider number 38 a lift down to Prees Heath to pick up his car. Roffey and I were off to the Premier Inn at Wrexham, desperate for a shower and a hot meal.

We got checked into the hotel and it wasn’t long before I got a text message from Tim, to tell me that I was the leading rider of the winning team – Audax UK! This was extremely pleasing, my 2nd counter was Shaun Claridge (355.42 miles) and my 3rd counter was Ben Cox (350.65 miles). This was super as I’d hoped for a decent turn out from AUK and it was really good to get a result as a National club, one which is more known for distance than speed. We may well get a medal and an invite to the champions celebration? Roffey and I ate at the Premier Inn, a very tasty gammon steak went down well with a light beer. I fell asleep to the Lionesses working through a penalty shoot out with Spain, part of a nail biting final to the 2025 Euro’s… how could I fall asleep?

Massive thank you to Roffey and Chris, whose weekend’s I ruined by making them stay awake and look after me. Thanks to my wife and kids for dealing with me whilst I undertook the necessary training for this event and thanks to Conrad for helping me navigate how to shape up for racing.

Several of the photos I have used within were taken by Adrian Pennington of Congleton CC. Adrian was the photographer on the event and he was a very nice fella indeed, a pleasure to chat to at the end and also very generous with his photos. Thank you Adrian.

Later

I learnt that I had also qualified for RAAM (Race Across America) as a solo entrant, this was due to me riding more than the qualifying distance of 380 miles. This was a lovely thing as in the organising stages I had suggested to Tim, and the committee that we get the race checked out as a qualifier for RAAM, to which Tim agreed and quickly sorted out with the RAAM organisers. I would have 2 years to take my place at the RAAM start line, but it’s not a race I could accommodate in the next 2 years, so I’d take the qualification as a nice little bonus.

Whilst on holiday the following week in Croatia, I applied to the Audax UK recorder to claim 7x AUK points for my 751.72 Km and Audax UK’s Dave Lewis Trophy, for completing 467.20 miles in the 2025 edition of the RTTC National 24 hour Championship. This would have been a special thing for me as Dave Lewis was the late friend of my good mate Jim Churton, and it would have felt very neat to be able to claim that Trophy. However… it was not to be. The AUK recorder got back to me and informed me that I was the AUK rider with the 3rd the greatest distance by an AUK rider, which meant that 2 riders in the top 5 must have also belonged to AUK and put claims in for the same trophy. I was a little disappointed to learn that…

Finally, what awaited in the post when I returned from Croatia was lovely. A CTT medal and a pending invite to the CTT Champions Celebration in November!