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After a break of five years during which she had a child, moved house and caught Covid, Kate Allan returned with a vengeance in 2022, winning three national crowns during a successful season.

The 38-year-old, who also runs a PR consultancy, came into the year with no cycling coach and low expectations after the results of Covid-19 has ruined her return the previous year.

Since winning the national 50 title in 2017 the birth of her second child, moving house and the Covid-19 pandemic had resulted in her taking a break from national level racing.

Despite being unsure of her physical capabilities, mentally she was ready to race again and it was that mental freshness which helped towards winning the National 10, 50 and Closed Circuit Championships.

“I was a coil ready to spring by 2022,” added Allan after having several years away from time trialling.

“I had so many moments where I wanted to race but couldn’t. I’m not somebody to do something half-hearted and wanted to go all in.

“Things started to align a little better this year. To do what you want to do in cycling you need to be as fresh as possible and fresh-headed. Time out did help me in that way.”

Allan first started the season undecided if she would ride a national event with her confidence hit by struggling for fitness the previous year.

Going into the year with limited expectations, Allan started the season self-coaching and went through the winter months with a personal trainer.

“By late April my numbers weren’t bad so I started back up with my former coach and we looked ahead and thought about giving the nationals a shot,” she added.

“Top five was realistically what I was aiming for. I was nervous because I had had so long out, you can turn that around and find confidence in the fact that you’re mentally charged. It’s far more important to be mentally charged and ready to go rather than trained to perfection which often comes with drawbacks of fatigue.”

First up was the National 25-Mile Championships which left Allan disappointed with her preparations as anxiety took its toll in the lead up. However, she was ‘overjoyed’ with second place, posting 57-43 which was just 11 seconds behind winner Kelly Murphy.

“Things just went upwards from there,” added Allan. “Once I got that first national event under my belt my confidence was given a boost.”

Next was her favourite distance, the National 50-Mile Championships, having won the title in 2017.

Allan was in stellar form, taking the title in a time of 1-44-55 and beating Joanna Patterson into second by 39 seconds.

After taking her first national title in five years the Team Bottrill rider’s next outing was in the National 100-Mile Championships, and she again took another podium finishing in 3-42-15 just this time losing out to Patterson.

“I struggled with it but it’s probably the result I’m most proud of,” added Allan. “It was such a step into the unknown as I don’t train for the 100-mile distance.

“Having kids, running a business and everything else I haven’t got the time to be investing in long bike rides.”

Stepping back down the distances to the national 10 over a month later, Allan took her second crown of the season. Her time of 21-09 resulted in her beating Emily Meakin by 12 seconds.

Despite training for the shorter distance events in the lead-up to the 10-mile championships Allan admitted that she had to ‘re-discover the top end’ of her form.

She used her local club 10s each week to prepare how to pace the distance and how hard she could go out to the turn without blowing.

“It was painful and completely different to the 50 and 100 but it was really rewarding,” Allan added.

“To win the 10 was incredible being as it doesn’t play to my personal strengths. The 50 and 25 are probably my forte.”

The spell of racing left Allan ‘exhausted’ due to the travelling across the country to the national events and the expectation of not being the underdog that she was at the start of the season.

“I ended up contacting my coach and telling him ‘I’m ending my season, I’m done,” Allan added.

“I pulled out of the events I had entered. Two or three days later I was determined I wasn’t done and re-entered them.”

After taking some time out Allan then prepared for the Closed Circuit National Championships in October which took place at her local Thruxton course.

“With it being a technical course I wouldn’t pride myself on my skills of negotiating my bike,” Allan added.

“Going around corners and taking the best line doesn’t play to my strengths. I was over the moon [to win] but looking back I could have worked on my position better. I took all the corners sitting up which isn’t preferable.”

Next season Allan wants to again target the national championships while also wanting to better her personal bests over the 10, 25 and 50-mile distances.

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission. This report by Ben Goddard.