Astwood '10' 17th March 2012

I woke to a grey drizzly morning, and then the weather deteriorated into quite heavy showers.  So it was with a distinct lack of enthusiasm that I pedalled up to Astwood for this morning's club time trial.  In fact, by the time I reached the course meeting point, the rain had eased quite a bit (but I was pretty wet and dirty by then).  But the wet and blustery conditions seemed to have deterred most riders, as only four turned out: a pair from Team Corley, Ian  from Chronos RT, and me.  And I was the only rider on a time trial bike. Heading out from the start, I got stopped after only a few yards, due to a line of traffic on the course. I got rolling again, to find that I was fighting a blustery wind all the way down to the first turn at Chicheley.  Never mind, I thought, it'll be easier after the turn.  It wasn't.  In fact the blustery wind didn't seem to give much assistance anywhere, and I felt I made quite slow progress what with taking the corners rather gingerly due to the wet roads, and dodging considerable numbers of muddy patches left by tractors. I finished in 24:42, which I'm quite pleased with... After a short chat with Tony after the event, the rain was back, so I hurriedly cycled back home to get cleaned up.