Astwood 10, 14th September 2013

The weather continued in its cold, wet and windy trajectory for this North Bucks club event on the Astwood circuit. I set out on the bike in a a pretty heavy drizzle, and I was thoroughly wet after  a couple of miles. By the time I got to Astwood, I was pretty cold too. Amazingly five other idiots hardy souls turned out for this event. I had pictured being the only one! I was warming up in Astwood when I spotted a very large diesel spill on the road - this really isn't the kind of thing one wants to see when riding a bike on wet roads. Up to this point, the main road hazard had appeared to be the large numbers of road kill amphibia littering the tarmac! Anyhow the six riders lined up to do their best (I was #3). And off I went. Fortunately the short queue of traffic waiting to join the main road that had built up while I waited to start all managed to clear by the time I started. Unfortunately, once out on the road I realised that the diesel spill was out there as well. It was big enough that almost the whole of our carriageway was covered - just a couple of feet in the gutter was clear. I was somewhat apprehensive, particularly when choosing when to pass a rider on this section. This state of affairs continued all the way to Chicheley, and it wasn't until after turning off towards North Crawley that the roads were free of drizzle. Once round that corner, the wind provided immediate assistance (it had been a bit tough to Chicheley, but the diesel offered enough of a distraction!) and I made pretty good speed at least until the road began to rise up towards North Crawley. Oddly, I was finding my neck a bit uncomfortable while in an aero tuck, which is quite unusual and which left me worrying about tomorrow's '25' and, indeed, the upcoming Duo Normand. Anyhow, I pressed on, catching a second rider before finishing in 24:55. I was in second place behind a guy on a road bike with mudguards! However, being the only veteran meant I was first on vet's standard. Oh, such is life that I need to grasp at such straws! That was the last club time trial of 2013, with only the Hill Climb Championship remaining on 5th October.