Stoke Hammond '10' 15/4/09 (League Round 2)

The first evening event of the NBRC club time trial series! It was also the first event on the F5d/10 since the New Year's Day'10'.

Somewhat ominously, I woke to the sound of a 5am thunderstorm.  Still, I reckoned, over 12 hours before the event, plenty of time for the weather to clear up (the BBC forecast was for sunshine)!  Indeed, when I turned up to the club room at about 6.20, it was not only sunny, but very warm. 

Our time trial secretary had decreed that, due to the sunset time, the event would be limited to 20 riders, with preference to NBRC riders.  On the night, riders were turning in quite large numbers - in the end well over 30 signed on - and theend the decision was taken to set riders off at 30 second intervals.

Down to the start area, and I rode throught the first few roundabouts to warm up, and to assess the strength of the breeze.  This, it appeared, would whisk riders up to the third roundabout (where we turn left to join the Stoke Hammond bypass), but unfortunately would make sections of the final couple of miles a bit harder than usual.

And so it proved - in fact I made it to the dual carriageway without dropping below 25mph.  Once on the dual carriageway, it was the usual story of an undulating road, but the sidewind wasn't too much of a problem with the trispoke wheels.  The final section was rather more heavy going - not only is the road surface a bit rough, but the head wind was a nuisance.  Over the event, I kept the HR in the 180-187bpm range, so not a bad training event.  I estimated my time at about 23:30, which is sort of OK - I'd hoped for better in the back of my mind, but the reality is the lack of training on my past is always going to count against me.

RESULTS