I rode this event solo which, as it turned out, was no bad thing! I was keen to ride the event in part because that afternoon I was off to Kenya for a few days work. The morning was fairly breezy and quite cold. I left my jersey and backpack with the timekeepers, as I wanted to make a quick exit so i could pack for the Kenya trip…within a few meters of starting, it was clear that I had a mechanical issue. Looking down, I could see that my rear wheel had pulled and it was rubbing tightly against my frame. With a bit of a curse I stopped and climbed off to reposition the wheel. This took a fair bit of time, and I don’t think I recovered my composure! Another issue I noticed was that with the modifications to the big A5 roundabout near the start (which includes several traffic lights), the traffic along the course seems to come in ‘packets’ which can be a hassle when negotiating roundabouts on the course. Indeed, I got held up a couple of times for a few seconds - nothing major, but a distraction. So, mechanical ineptitude aside, how did the race go? Well, as I say, I didn’t really regain my composure, so I was reasonably pleased with 24:37! Results at NBRC website Garmin trace will be added