It was to be the big one, the Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship this Saturday, June 17th at Irvine. The British 25 Mile TT Champion, Jason MacIntyre versus the man who ran him to within 13 seconds in the Scottish 10 Mile TT Championship the previous week — former double World Pursuit Champion and World Hour Record holder, Graeme Obree (Fullarton Wheelers).
A severe case of road works on the course put the big duel on hold until July 30. VeloVeritas decided to ask the two men what they thought about the situation.
‘What do you think about the delay?
Graeme:
“I’m pleased because I wasn’t really up for it. I’ve had a bit of personal hassle so this gives me more time to prepare. Jason has kind of messed things up for me this season; I was enjoying just turning up at races, chatting to the time keeper and having a cup of tea after the race; now it’s some big deal contest between the two of us. It’s all become very serious.”
Jason:
“I thought it was a strange decision, even although it’s an amateur sport people take it very seriously; diet, rest, peaking, tapering, maybe even time off work to train. There are riders who have planned their whole year so far around that date.”
Would it have been better to change the venue to a different course in another district?
Graeme:
“No, personally I’m happy with the postponement, the beginning of June is too early for the 25 anyway.”
Jason:
“Definitely, the word went round like wildfire that the race was cancelled so a change of venue would have been communicated to everyone just as quickly.”
Will you taper-back on your training now and try and peak again for the later date?
Graeme:
“I’m not sure there’s much to taper back on, I’ve just been riding my bike, and I haven’t touched the turbo this year.”
Jason:
“I’m disappointed by the delay because I like things to go smoothly, now my preparation is up in the air. I haven’t really thought my new schedule through yet; I’ll go back to training on the road bike for the criterium champs this weekend and I’ll be building from there to the road race championship.
“After the road race I’ll have three weeks to re-focus on the 25, I had thought my testing would be more or less over for the year after this weekend.”
What about the other guy?
Graeme:
“Jason has been knocking on the door of greatness for a long time so I’m not surprised he won the British, he’ll be hard to beat in the Scottish, but like I said, it’s all become so serious.”
Jason:
“I’m not knowledgeable enough about Graeme to say what he will do, but he rode a good Scottish 10 championship. I read some where that he would be trying to peak later in the year so maybe the date change will suit him.
“I think though that if I get my three weeks of time trial training right after the road race I’ll be hard to beat, I always just seem to go better when that time of year comes around.”
By late July could we have a “third thief” coming to the fore — maybe Mark Atkinson or Carlos Riise (Shetland Wheelers)…
Graeme:
“Definitely, it’s possible, especially Mark, you can never write him off.’
Jason:
“Mark will certainly be going quicker by then, yes.”
What about the hardware?
Graeme:
“I’m working on a new bike just now but I don’t know if it will be ready in time, I’ll probably ride my current machine – it’s 15 years old but it’s good tubing – on fixed, 62 x 13.”
Jason:
“I’ll be riding the same carbon Giant I won the British on, it’s been serviced and it’s ready to go again.”
What about the 50 champs, are you riding?
Graeme:
“Yes, I’ll be there.”
Jason:
“No. I have family commitments that weekend and I’m not sure about that saddle and position for 50 miles anyway!”
VeloVeritas would like to thank Graeme and Jason for their time, and we look forward to reporting the Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championships on July 30th.
