A lovely sunny morning greeted me when I got up: unfortunately it was slightly deceptive to start with: there was a heavy frost which made my ride up to Astwood rather nippy on the fingers. Still, by the time the small and select group of foolhardy riders lined up to start, the conditions were getting milder by the minute.
The event was really billed as a 10 mile 2-up, but at the time we all went to the line, there were only five riders. Now this, ignoring the 'odd man out', wasn't really much cop for a 2-up event, so we decided to ride it as a solo event. Needless to say, a few more riders turned up, so there was at least one 2-up team riding.
Off I went, and after about a mile, I was seriously disappointed by the lack of energy in my legs. I actually toyed with the idea of packing - but of course this would have been the beginning of the slippery slope. I pressed on with the idea that it would at least be a good training session, and help to regain fitness lost recently through injury and illness. The frankly pretty moderate head wind on the Chicheley leg of the course (the BBC weather page suggested it was a measly 4mph) did seem to dent what little speed I could muster, as once I rounded the turn at Chicheley, I found my speed picking up. Unfortunately, this didn't last, as I climbed the awesome 'Col de North Crawley' (it's a tiny rise in the road - it just seems big when racing!) and wound my way past the University and returned to the finish line.
As usual, the elastic nature of time when time trialling was evident - I genuinely though I'd improved to a long 24, but in the event I finished in EXACTLY the same time as last week (25:28). Most disappointing, though I must be honest and say that training has been minimal over the past week. Still, onwards and upwards. I hope.
2-up event:
1
8
Ian Marshall
TeamMK
24.38
V42
Richard Golding
TeamMK
V42
Solo event:
Pos
No
Name
Club
Time
Cat
Vets Std
.+ / -
Vets Std
1
6
Simon Cannings
TeamMK
23.06
V40
25.30
.+2.24
1
2
4
Robert Saunders
NBRC
25.28
V51
27.46
.+2.18
2
3
1
Steve Abraham
NBRC
28.08
S
4
2
Ian Stokes
NBRC
29.12
V51
27.46
.-1.26
4
5
3
Gilbert Wheelwright
NBRC
30.29
V68
31.45
.+1.16
3
Timekeeper: Tony Farmborough
Pusher-off: Bryan Scarborough
