Stoke Hammond '10' 4/5/11

This was a beautifully sunny evening for a time trial - good visibility, and it brought out a rather larger field I think than in recent events.  Unfortunately a stiff breeze rather meant it was tough going in some parts of the course, and brought a distinct chill. I was, as usual apprehensive at the start - coming straight from work without anything to eat always seems to leave butterflies flapping in my stomach (not actually nerves, I hasten to add - this was after all a club event), but I'd strained my back again earlier this week.  Fortunately, it didn't seem to give me any grief while on the bike. Once started, I certainly didn't seem to fly up the gentle climb to the main DC section of the course as I'd felt on our last outing on this course - perhaps the cross-wind I felt was denting my speed a bit.  And things got a bit stickier on the main dual carriageway section of the course, where the wind was nagging at my front wheel a bit - particularly noticeable when I passed lower areas of the verge, and gusts caught me.  I was closing in on my minute man at the turn - I entered the roundabout pretty much as he was leaving it.  But the return leg seemed to give him a new lease of life, and it took  a long time to close the gap.  Because he had a rear-facing video camera, he should get some tedious shots of my gurning gob at that time. From there, the return to the finish was it's usual mixed bag - quite quick on the descent sections, but the final stretch between the last roundabout and the finish line was, as ever, hard going  Still, I finished in a long 22 (I think), which is about 30 sec slower than my best ever on this course, and I didn't regard it as a particularly quick evening. After the results, there's the map of the event and if you're particularly interested, you can see more telemetry by clicking link. Results