I'd entered this event before I left for our tandem cycle tour in the Highlands and Islands. In my experience, tandem touring's reasonably good endurance training, but does damn all for one's time trialling speed. And so it proved!
A pretty good morning - warm but slightly misty. When we got to Tempsford there was not much in the way of wind, but a very gentle breeze sprung up later, offering some return assistance from the turn. There had been a last minute change from the F1/25 course to the F1B/25 (see map below) It didn't do much to alleviate my suffering on the drags that characterise the southern end of the course! From the start I felt a bit slow, as if something was dragging on the bike. Hopefully I'll regain some speed in time for next weekend's '50'.
I finished with 58:55, which was at least a minute slower than I'd have hoped for. When I left the race HQ, the fastest time on the board was Jason Gurney's very excellent 52:51, but Ian Cammish and Sam Barker were yet to finish. My club mate Tony Parks did a short 55.
View Hitchin Nomads '25' in a larger map