Astwood '10' 2/5/18

The 2018 season has been pretty awful so far. I had not completed a single one of the NBRC events (which began in early March). Roughly speaking, these fell out as follows:

Sat 3rd March, Astwood - Event abandoned due to snow

Sat 10th March, Astwood - I was away in Wales for the 2-up '25'

Sat 17th March, Astwood - Event abandoned due to snow

Sun 25th March, Hardriders - I did the signs and marshalled

Wed 4th  April, Brogborough  Course change to Astwood  - foul weather and then my front brake failed, so no ride

Wed 11th April, Stony Stratford - Event abandoned owing to poor visibility/weather

Wed 18th April,  Astwood - I was away

Wed 25th April, Brogborough  - Event abandoned owing to atrocious weather and heavy traffic

So, as you can see, a pretty poor start to the season, and by May I had a distinct lack of racing miles in my legs. Still, I rode up to the Astwood course for what would be my first solo TT of 2018. The weather during the day was quite horrible, with several very heavy showers, but by 7pm it was rather sunny, though not very warm. I'd intended to bring arm warmers, but mysteriously managed to forget them. Fortunately, we were using the BikeBus as an HQ for the event and I bought a pair there!

I had a relatively early start, and at 7.02pm launched off into an uncertain ride. To be fair, the time trial didn't go too badly in the end, with a result of 25:22 for joint 5th place. About par for my first solo '10', but of course about two months later than it should have been. I had no real issues out on the course. Onwards and upwards.