Stoke Hammond '10' 14/4/10

This was the first of the evening club events, and the start list was limited to ensure we'd all get finished before sunset.  On the face of it, we had a rather nice evening, quite sunny and dry.  In fact there was a stiff easterly that was rather chilly.  Anxious that I be able to get home safely without lights, I signed on as number 3. Lining up to start, I felt distinctly chilly, but this soon dissipated as I set off.  Fortunately, the breeze afforded me a helping hand all the way up to the Stoke Hammond bypass (beginning at the left turn on the third roundabout - see map below).  This was most welcome, and the tail wind remained as I set off along the dual carriageway section. By the time I'd reached the turn, I'd caught both riders in front of me, and I was looking forward to the return leg, unfortunately not as quickly as on the way out.  This was particularly noticeable once off the dual carriage way section (and having negotiated the appallingly damaged road surface at the roundabout), when even the downhill section was hard! As I approached the finish, I retained some hope I might pull off a long 22, but the headwind was just a bit too much, and I ended up finishing in about 23:11.  I don't at this stage have the final result, as I left pretty quickly, before the light faded too much.  This may be my quickest time on this course... Results below the map
View 10041402 in a larger map