Sport is a multi-billion pound industry designed to achieve a pile of things that don’t actually need doing

To celebrate 10 years since I last rode the National 10-Mile Time Trial Championships, I entered the National 10-Mile Time Trial Championships. Quite a lot of people, some of them quite close to me, have asked me, “Why?” and asked in a tone that I don’t find altogether flattering.

But I can understand the question. Unlike, say, the 24-hour championships I did in July, I have a track record in things like 10-mile time trialling. I used to be quite good at it. Clearly there is a certain amount of face that can be lost here.

Michael Hutchinson

Michael Hutchinson is a writer, journalist and former professional cyclist. As a rider he won multiple national titles in both Britain and Ireland and competed at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. He was a three-time Brompton folding-bike World Champion, and once hit 73 mph riding down a hill in Wales. His Dr Hutch columns appears in every issue of Cycling Weekly magazine

There are a number of reasons for entering, each more persuasive than the one before. The first is that I bought a really nice time trial bike last year. Also a nice disc wheel, a £300 skinsuit with a weird knobbly undervest and a pair of shoes I suspect of being marginally more aerodynamic than any of the 11 pairs of perfectly good shoes I already own.

I didn’t really buy this stuff with a view to going bike racing. However, it turns out that, “Because I vaguely fancied tricking myself out with some nice aerodynamic bits and bobs and to hell with the cost,” completely fails to get past the domestic expenses committee.

Apparently, it’s not enough to just want something for its beauty and elegance, it has to be for a purpose. Hence the need to do some short- distance racing. (By this logic it’s high time Mrs. Doc used her cat to catch a few mice, but it seems that the cat doesn’t get held to the same unrealistic standards as my bikes.)

There is more to it than that. Since I retired from regular racing, I’ve struggled to adjust. While most of my friends go out for a few hours riding here and there during the week, keeping it relaxed and enjoying the countryside, I’ve kept things more structured. I have a winter programme of base mileage, along with the introduction of interval and race- simulation efforts into the spring, peaking in around June to not do the Nationals, backing off for a week or two, and peaking again in September to be cross about not being selected for the Worlds, again. If I’m going to do the training anyway, I might as well give the whole thing some point. 

It’s actually the same as the logic about the bike and the kit. One is a waste of time, the other is a waste of money, but somehow both become acceptable behaviours if they build up to a race. I’ll admit it’s odd that the race that’s at the centre of this justification does not of itself have to matter, but that’s sport for you – the whole thing is a multi-billion pound industry designed to achieve a pile of things that don’t actually need doing.

A reason this particular race makes sense is because it’s happening fairly locally to me. That way I can get a two-minute thrashing from John Archibald just 15 minutes from home. There was a time in my life when I’d have had to drive to the other end of the country for that.

The final reason to enter is the best. If I’m learning nothing else from this 10-mile championship idea it’s this – in a discipline that is 50% bike riding, 50% making excuses afterwards, “being old and retired” is the best excuse ever. I literally can’t fail. “Hey, you were rubbish at the ‘10’,” they’ll say. “I’m old and retired,” I said, and that will be the end of that.

So, to sum up my reasons for entering, I’ll have justified the money and time I’ve spent on my hobby, I’ve got the best excuse of my career ready to deploy, and I’ll be home in time for tea.

 The National 10-mile Time Trial Championships took place on 18 August, 2024, and was won by John Archibald (HUUB WattShop) in a time of 18minutes11seconds; Hutch finished 50th, in 20:17.