Stony 11.4 9/3/13

Well, it's unfortunate, but my season has begun with a whimper rather than a bang. I've been suffering from the latest bout of lower back pain, but I'd promised Tony I'd show up for this, the first in the NBRC series of time trial events. Notionally a medium gear event, riders usually pitch up with their regular time trial bikes. I cycled over, 18 miles in cold and wet conditions, and by the time I arrived, I seriously doubted I'd make any kind of impression. Other than a bad one. To be honest, the opening mile or so were reasonably OK, and crouching over the tribars wasn't in itself particularly uncomfortable. But when I had been through Beachampton, I found I was unable to race uphill to Nash, and indeed, by the time I passed through Nash I'd had enough and down-geared to offer a degree of pedalling comfort. Accordingly I cruised back down the hill, mostly suffering an acute sense of embarrassment because of passing club runs (which seemed to be going faster than me). I finished with a less than impressive 33:33 for last place. Results over at the NBRC website.