Astonishingly, we evaded the worst prognostications of the BBC weather forecast, as none of the forecast rain showers hit us during this time trial. On the other hand the outward leg was rendered rather uncomfortable by a stiff headwind. In recent weeks, our colleagues at TeamMK had faced hostility from residents in a nearby village - tonight we were visited at the start by a slightly grumpy resident of Stony Stratford, who objected to us starting a time trial there. In discussions about the first incident, I'm afraid I was a bit didactic - but I feel pretty strongly about our rights as cyclists!
Being polite time trial types, we delayed the start for a bit while a horse (and rider!) cleared the start area - I was off last on a pretty small start list of 11 riders, and was irritated by a display snarl-up on my bike computer an while this only distracted me for a short while, it did leave me uncertain as to my progress. This course is far from being a favourite of mine, principally because of the combination of rough surfaces and the climb to the turn. On this occasion, I really suffered, dropping to around 12mph at times (unless my blurred vision was deceiving me).
Of course it was correspondingly good returning down hill, but as ever, it never fully compensates for the tough outward leg. I finished with 28:09, which was about right for the rubbish legs I had this evening. In the bigger scheme of things, I began my build up for the Duo Normand a week or so ago - the Duo is on the 19th September. This has involved significant turbo training, and with hindsight, perhaps 40 or so miles on the turbo the day before this event might not have been the wisest course of action. However, in my own defence, I was treating tonight's time trial as part of that build-up.
Anyway, results below. Particular congratulations to Lindz Barral who pulled out the stops to finish less than half a minute behind Tony.
Astonishingly, we evaded the worst prognostications of the BBC weather forecast, as none of the forecast rain showers hit us during this time trial. On the other hand the outward leg was rendered rather uncomfortable by a stiff headwind. In recent weeks, our colleagues at TeamMK had faced hostility from residents in a nearby village - tonight we were visited at the start by a slightly grumpy resident of Stony Stratford, who objected to us starting a time trial there. In discussions about the first incident, I'm afraid I was a bit didactic - but I feel pretty strongly about our rights as cyclists!
Being polite time trial types, we delayed the start for a bit while a horse (and rider!) cleared the start area - I was off last on a pretty small start list of 11 riders, and was irritated by a display snarl-up on my bike computer an while this only distracted me for a short while, it did leave me uncertain as to my progress. This course is far from being a favourite of mine, principally because of the combination of rough surfaces and the climb to the turn. On this occasion, I really suffered, dropping to around 12mph at times (unless my blurred vision was deceiving me).
Of course it was correspondingly good returning down hill, but as ever, it never fully compensates for the tough outward leg. I finished with 28:09, which was about right for the rubbish legs I had this evening. In the bigger scheme of things, I began my build up for the Duo Normand a week or so ago - the Duo is on the 19th September. This has involved significant turbo training, and with hindsight, perhaps 40 or so miles on the turbo the day before this event might not have been the wisest course of action. However, in my own defence, I was treating tonight's time trial as part of that build-up.
Anyway, results below. Particular congratulations to Lindz Barral who pulled out the stops to finish less than half a minute behind Tony.