Stoke Hammond '10' 6th May 2009 (League Round 3)

This week's time trial event was the third counting event in the NBRC club time trial league, and the first of the 2009 interclub events with the A5 Rangers Cycling Club.  It was held on the F5d/10 course, based on the Stoke Hammond bypass.   At the club room, there was quite a bit of discussion of the tragic events of the previous Sunday's tragedy, and certainly it was with some trepidation that I lined up to start (particularly with the cavalcade of fast and noisy motorbikes that passed just after I started). I had chosen to ride the Cougar with a pair of Hed trispokes.

A minute in front of me was ace fast man Tim Carter, so I knew from the off that I'd not see my minute man!  The wind has been strengthening all day, and must have matched that forecast (see symbols above) - it was pretty hard at the start, with a climb into a strong headwind, sufficient to make the bike quite a handful to control  with the front trispoke seemingly determined to alternately trying to dump me into the verge then into the traffic. An added irritation was that my HRM/computer was registering completely aberrant speed details.

Anyway, trying my best to focus on the ride in hand, I reached the Stoke Hammond bypass.  By this time, my heart rate had reached reasonable levels, though the speed readout was still seriously wonky. Here the wind was really a side wind, and continued to make the going tough - at times I thought I'd have to give up using the tribars.  At the turn, I hoped that the situation might have improved, but it didn't, at least not dramatically.  Still, I pressed onwards, catching a couple more riders.  For a change, the final sections of the course had a nice tail wind, makingthe going quite easy at last.  I roared down this section, estimating my finish time as 23:50-ish, which i felt was quite good, given the conditions, and the fact that the front wheel was trying to dump me off the bike at every opportunity!

Results