This was my last open event before the Duo Normand (20th September) and, given the hopeless character of my season thus far, I was hoping for some indication of returning form. I decided to ride over to Tempsford, a ride made slightly dodgy by the huge roadbuilding exercise going an along the A421 - but of course at about 6am, there's not too much traffic. The ride was an excellent warm-up, and I felt pretty enthusiastic as I lined up at the start - and this despite the stiff breeze that had sprung up, and which would make the going a bit tough on the south-bound legs.
Fortunately the F1/25 starts with a short southbound leg to the Sandy roundabout, then a 12-13 mile leg north across the Black Cat roundabout to turn at the Buckden roundabout, then there's a final leg of about 8 miles that today was into the teeth of the breeze.
I did feel good as far as Buckden (I must have been averagig 27-28 mph, and in fact kept a reasonable speed up for the first half of the return leg south. What was an absolute killer was the last five or ten minutes before re-crossing the Black Cat roundabout - this section seemed to be into the teeth of the wind, and it was a real struggle to keep any sort of speed going.
As is usual, the elastic nature of time during a time trial was really evident. Through the main part of the event, time seemed to go very slowly, and it's only in the last mile that time seems to pass increasingly quickly, as the hoped for 58 morphed into a 59. In the end, I finished in 59:55, just squeaking under the hour.
After the event, Chris gave me lift back to Cranfield, so I could look at their Mercian tandem frame (we're looking to replace the Dawes touring tandem frame some time). More on those deliberations in a separate blog posting, maybe.
So, where does this leave me as the Duo Normand looms? Well at least I felt pretty good out there for the most part. It's just a shame I didn't pull off a result that would give me some confidence! Team Grumpy will post a Duo Normand preview soon over at the Team Grumpy website.
Event results
| Rider | Rider | Club | Cat | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dave Kendall | Finsbury Park CC | S | 54.07 | |
| 2 | Matt Molloy | Finsbury Park CC | V | 55.14 | |
| 3 | Hugh Vivian | Finsbury Park CC | V | 56.1 | |
| 4 | Tim Davies | Icknield RC | V | 56.55 | |
| 5 | Tom Boulton | Finsbury Park CC | S | 57.38 | |
| Tony May | North Road CC | V | 57.38 | ||
| 7 | Chris Lodge | Finsbury Park CC | V | 58.44 | |
| 8 | Neil Fraser | Hitchin Nomads | V | 58.47 | |
| 9 | Roger Queen | Icknield RC | V | 59.02 | |
| 10 | Ian Brazier | Verulam CC | V | 59.51 | |
| 11 | Robert Saunders | North Bucks RC | V | 59.55 | |
| 12 | Nicholas Hay | Verulam CC | V | 59.55 | |
| 13 | Gareth Rose | Icknield RC | V | 1.00.45 | |
| 14 | Simon Layfield | Hitchin Nomads (2nd claim) | V | 1.01.02 | |
| 15 | David Ledgerton | Hitchin Nomads | V | 1.01.37 | |
| 16 | David Solomon | Whitewebbs CC | V | 1.02.05 | |
| 17 | Malcolm Steer | Finsbury Park CC | V | 1.02.26 | |
| 18 | Matt Little | North Road CC | V | 1.02.46 | |
| 19 | Louise Schuller | Finsbury Park CC | WV | 1.04.23 | |
| 20 | Chris Hartley | North Bucks RC | V | 1.05.13 | |
| 21 | Trevor Parrish | North Bucks RC (2nd claim) | V | 1.06.22 | |
| 22 | John Pfeiffer | Icknield RC | V | 1.09.18 | |
| 23 | Robert Blackmore | Icknield RC | V | 1.09.26 | |
| 24 | Richard Bland | Hitchin Nomads | V | 1.13.23 | |
| 25 | Michael Richardson | Icknield RC | V | 1.21.06 | |
| Paul Bachini | Icknield RC | S | DNS | ||
| Simon Best | North Road CC | V | DNS | ||
| Leigh Harvey | North Road CC | W | DNS | ||
| Clive Corns | Icknield RC | V | DNS |