Lampard RC '10' 16th May 2009

Sunshine and showers today...and flipping strong wind!  Intrepid as ever, I set off in good time to ride over to the race HQ in a Scout hut in Leighton Buzzard.  Unfortunately, this ride came to an abrupt halt half a mile from the house, as I suffered a front wheel puncture.  To add insult to injury, a shower passed over as I was replacing the tube!  Since this was the only spare tube I had with me, I returned home, where I pumped it up properly with the track pump and grabbed two new tubes (and, in a fit of paranoia, some preglued patches).

Off once again, with a bit less latitude in timing.  The wind was really rather strong, and was causing a bit of trouble with the front trispoke.  I was quite confident, based on pat experience, that the wheel woudn't prove too much trouble when racing (higher speed and more weight on the front).  Fortuitously, Alan "Tintin" roared by in his big 4x4 and offered me a lift over to the race HQ, an offer that I accepted after about two nanoseconds of thought.

Once at the HQ, I got my number pinned on and popped out to ride up and down in a vague attempt at warming up.  To be honest, the main aim was to establish how bad the wind was going to be - I figured it would be a fast outward leg and a hard slog back again (much as last week's event on the same course).

After the usual repartee concerning my beard, I was off.  Pretty much straight away it was clear that the outward leg wasn't going to be a fast as last week.  And to cap it all, I got stopped by traffic at the Billington roundabout after only a couple of minutes.  The marshal at the RAB gave a sympathetic shrug as I finally made my way through.  The course uses the A505, which skirts Leighton Buzzard and meets the A5 at an elvated roundabout, which forms the turn.  Of course, no road is straight (well, apart from the ones devised by the Romans, like Watling Street), and so the course curved in and out of the tail wind.  This was in contrast to the event last week in which the outward leg wa sreally all tailwind.  This was emphasised by the return leg - mostly head wind, but with one or two sections where I raised the pace to 28mph.  Unfortunately those sections were not only infrequent, but short.

It was with some relief that I crossed the finish line, recoridng 23:34, some 9 seconds slower than last year.  Back to the HQ, where the results indicated that Steve Golla had won with a blistering 20...full results will follow...

I bravely refused a lift home, and set off with a nice tail wind.  Unfortunatelt the heavens opened, and it was a somewhat bedraggled bike rider that parked his TT bike in the garage.  All in all, a bit frustrating to have yet another windy day for a time trial.  It's also my last open time trial before I return from our cycling holiday in mid-June.

No

Name

Club

Time

Vets +/-

60

Steve Golla

Sigma Sport/Specialized/Sportful Cycling Team

20.54

 

 

50

Jason Gurney

Team Milton Keynes

21.21

 

 

40

David Johnson

High Wycombe CC InfrastructureFinanceProfiTCycle Care

21.49

5.57

 

46

Matthew Passenger

Team Milton Keynes

22.42

 

 

55

Roger Queen

Icknield RC Compomotive Wheels

22.49

8.11

 

45

Phil Lisher

Team Welwyn

22.51

 

 

20

Jonathan Sadler

Bicester Millennium CC

22.56

2.58

 

35

Simon Baker

Bicester Millennium CC

23.05

3.01

 

56

Carl Bond

Kenton RC

23.05

 

 

53

Tom Gosbee (Jnr)

Team Welwyn

23.13

 

 

25

Richard Webster

Team Welwyn

23.16

2.14

 

49

Gareth Richards

Roy Pink Cycles RT

23.24

 

 

41

Robert Saunders

North Bucks Road Club

23.34

3.46

 

42

Simon Layfield

Team Welwyn

23.41

2.37

 

59

Jeremy Mulkern

Aylesbury CC

23.44

3.23

 

28

Andrew Burnett

Bicester Millennium CC

23.44

2.58

 

31

Andrew Murray

Hemel Hempstead CC

24.21

1.09

 

47

Adrian Feek

Team Quest / The Bike Shop

24.29

1.13

 

21

Neil Allonby

Icknield RC Compomotive Wheels

24.31

 

 

15

Clive Corns

Icknield RC Compomotive Wheels

25.09

4.11

 

12

Brian Foran

Lampard RC

25.13

2.07

 

18

David Ledgerton

Hitchin Nomads CC

25.18

1.00

 

34

James Conibear (Jnr)

Hemel Hempstead CC

25.22

 

 

36

Stuart Simmonds

Lewes Wanderers

25.28

1.26

 

48

Graham Pepperdine

Verulam CC

25.31

0.59

 

26

Clive Faine

Team Milton Keynes

25.33

4.43

 

57

Frank Pressling

Maidenhead & District CC

25.37

4.53

 

58

Melanie Conibear (L)

Hemel Hempstead CC

25.42

 

 

54

Les Morris

VTTA L & HC

26.17

4.58

 

14

Tom Newman

Westerley CC

26.39

1.33

 

24

Colin Holmes

Icknield RC Compomotive Wheels

26.40

4.35

 

44

Chris Hartley

North Bucks Road Club

26.44

1.15

 

38

Yvonne Gurney (L)

Team Milton Keynes

27.09

 

 

19

Andrew Cowburn

Amersham Road CC

27.27

 

 

27

Katherine Dilks (L)

North Bucks Road Club

28.09

 

 

13

Richard Bland

Hitchin Nomads CC

29.42

0.20

 

17

William Gladwin

Hillingdon CC

30.48

2.30

 

22

Clare Kleanthous (L)

Team Milton Keynes

31.00

(2.48)

 

23

Ronald Purdy

Willesden CC

31.33

2.49

 

16

Mark Kleanthous

Team Milton Keynes

DNS Apol

 

 

30

Mark Simmons

Team Milton Keynes

DNS Apol

 

 

33

Steve Robinson

Team Salesengine.co.uk

DNS Apol

 

 

37

Paul King

Team Salesengine.co.uk

DNS Apol

 

 

39

John Lee

Icknield RC Compomotive Wheels

DNS Apol

 

 

29

John Pfeifer

Icknield RC Compomotive Wheels

DNS

 

 

32

Keith Richardson

Mildenhall CC

DNS

 

 

43

Aaron McCaffrey

AWCycles.co.uk

DNS

 

 

51

Simon Howes

Westbrook Cycles – Team Scott

DNS

 

 

52

Russell Rowles

Spirit RT

DNS