Stony '11.4' 30/6/10 - Drat, drat and double drat!

Another lovely evening (though rather too hot for me) for this club event.  A depleted number of "regulars" was augmented by some cyclists keen to give time trialling a shot - this was a nominated "come and try it" event.  I pounded out to the meeting point, getting there with a little time to spare. I decided to play around with gearing on the evening, and chose to tackle the main climb in a slightly lower gear that I would usually muscle up the hill.  It didn't seem to help - either I need to drop it further or I need to carry on grinding out big gears!  More problematic were the obstacles on the course this evening.  Firstly, a large tractor/trailer combo seemingly abandoned just outside Beachampton; secondly some silly kids leaping out into the course near the turn; and finally, I got stopped at the turn roundabout ("foot on the ground stopped") by a nose-to-tail line of cars coming from the right.  I don't know how much time that cost me, but I had to re-catch a rider I'd just past, and was myself caught shortly after while I was struggling back up to speed in a rather high gear. Anyway, roaring back down to Beachampton was pretty quick, and I was helped a bit by having a bit of a ding-dong with the guy who's caught me - I think I could descend a bit quicker, especially with my enormous top gear engaged. I finished with 27:51, which I wasn't hugely pleased with.  But I suppose taking into account my "excess baggage" and the hassles at the turn it wasn't too bad (any anyway this course doesn't best suit me).  I have a rare outing at an open '10' at the weekend, and it'll be good to see how that goes.