I usually find the events on the club's Stony Stratford course not to my liking - the course runs out via Beachampton and Nash to turn at a roundabout on the A421. The outward leg therefore has a fair bit of climbing and usually acquires a new set of potholes over each winter. In the event of roadworks or other interference in the course, we revert to a back-up course. In the backup course, riders bear left soon after the start and proceed via Calverton and Whaddon, to turn at the A421 (at a roundabout just along the road from the normal turn). The course retraces and finishes short of a give way junction. This is closer to 10 miles than the usual Stony course.
The replacement course is a bit more of a challenge in some ways, overall the road surface is atrocious, very rough and bumpy (though fortunately the road up towards Whaddon has been substantially repaired), and it has several sharp corners, spiced with numerous cars parked on the road.
On the evening, I just couldn't get a sense of rhythm and found myself rattling and clattering around the course. I didn't have any trouble, as one often does on this course, with people manoeuvring cars in and out of driveways. But I found myself riding very cautiously round the bends and past the parked cars.
On the return leg, I completely misjudged the short but very steep climb between Whaddon and Calverton, which really knocked the stuffing out of me! Altogether a rather unsatisfactory ride. Jez Honor showed the rest of us how to do it!
Results
| Pos |
No |
Name |
Club |
Time |
Cat |
Vets Std |
.+ / - |
Vets Std |
| 1 |
11 |
Jez Honor |
Equipe Velo |
25.06 |
V44 |
27.54 |
.+ 2.48 |
1 |
| 2 |
7 |
Trevor Hook |
TeamMK |
27.30 |
V57 |
29.00 |
.+ 1.30 |
2 |
| 3 |
12 |
Robert Saunders |
NBRC |
27.35 |
V55 |
28.48 |
.+ 1.13 |
3 |
| 4 |
4 |
Ant Smith |
TeamMK |
28.11 |
Sen. |
| 5 |
5 |
Mark Simmons |
Open University CC |
28.52 |
V42 |
27.44 |
.- 1.08 |
8 |
| 6 |
3 |
Mick Atkinson |
TeamMK |
28.53 |
V46 |
28.04 |
.- 0.49 |
4 |
| 7 |
13 |
David Price |
NBRC |
29.00 |
V47 |
28.08 |
.- 0.52 |
6 |
| 8 |
10 |
Ant Newland |
Bossard Wheelers |
29.09 |
V49 |
28.18 |
.- 0.51 |
5 |
| 9 |
2 |
Karlo Porter-Price |
Open University CC |
29.48 |
V51 |
28.27 |
.- 1.21 |
9 |
| 10 |
8 |
Paul Woodham |
Bossard Wheelers |
30.47 |
V63 |
29.41 |
.- 1.06 |
7 |
| 11 |
6 |
Finn Hanson |
TeamMK |
30.50 |
V51 |
28.27 |
.- 2.23 |
10 |
| 12 |
9 |
Trevor Watson |
Bossard Wheelers |
32.18 |
V56 |
28.54 |
.- 3.24 |
12 |
| 13 |
14 |
Wayne Thomas |
NBRC |
32.58 |
V64 |
29.49 |
.- 3.09 |
11 |
| 14 |
15 |
Luke Daniells |
NBRC |
33.23 |
V42 |
27.44 |
.- 5.39 |
13 |
| 15 |
1 |
John Pick |
Chronos RT |
41.34 |
V70 |
30.49 |
.- 10.45 |
14 |
Timekeepers - Tony Farmborough and Bryan Scarborough.