The rain strengthened and by the time we left for the event, it was heavy. The event HQ was the entrance hall and kitchen of Moggerhanger village hall - the usual venues being booked up for weddings. The F1/50 start was about 3 miles, and by the time I got to the start, my rear LED lamp had stopped working.
If anything, the wind was stronger than last week's event, but from roughly the same direction. So the southbound legs were much faster than the northbound legs. On the first north bound leg, I was just a fe miles north of the Black Cat RAB when I saw Tony ambling south shaking his head (he'd started 10 minutes before me), and it later transpired he had punctured , and lost his drink bottle at the first turn at the Sandy RAB.
In any event, I pressed on. Given the conditions, I felt reasonably OK and caught several riders, though in the second half my pulse rate drifted down, possibly as I got colder in the rain.
I finished in 5th place - 13 riders finished of 15 starters in a 25 rider start sheet, with a time of 2:01:53 - only 20s slower than last week, on a harder morning.
Results...
No | Rider | Club | Time | Notes | 25 |
1 | Martin Smith | North Bucks RC | 01:53:25 | 0:55:58 | |
2 | Dave Kendal | Finsbury Park CC | 01:56:19 | 0:58:08 | |
3 | Sam Hayes | Bedfordshire Road CC | 01:56:48 | 0:58:25 | |
4 | Hugh Vivian | Finsbury Park CC | 01:58:35 | 0:58:15 | |
5 | Robert Saunders | North Bucks RC | 02:01:53 | 0:59:54 | |
6 | Malcolm Steer | Finsbury Park CC | 02:03:14 | 01:01:09 | |
7 | Nicholas Hay | Verulam CC | 02:08:27 | 01:03:34 | |
8 | Lyndon Lewis | Bedfordshire Road CC | 02:14:56 | 01:07:27 | |
9 | Trevor Parrish | North Bucks RC (2nd Claim) | 02:19:29 | 01:09:27 | |
10 | Scott Edwards | Hitchin Nomads CC | 02:23:26 | 01:10:28 | |
11 | Clive Collins | Hitchin Nomads CC | 02:23:48 | 01:11:01 | |
12 | Helen Shulver | FVS Tri (2nd Claim) | 02:36:34 | 01:17:39 | |
David T Ledgerton | Hitchin Nomads CC | DNF | 01:10:27 | ||
John Harrison | Hitchin Nomads CC | DNS Ap | |||
Richard J Miller | North Bucks RC | DNS | |||
Tony Parks | North Bucks RC | DNF | |||
Daniel Northover | Finsbury Park CC | DNS Ap | |||
Richard Gray | Icknield RC | DNS | |||
Graham Stogden | Whitewebbs CC | DNS | |||
Matt Chudley | Bedfordshire Road CC | DNS | |||
Samuel D Skuce | Verulam CC | DNS Ap | |||
Barry Gilzean | Icknield RC | DNS | |||
Christopher Lodge | Finsbury Park CC | DNS Ap | |||
Tom Boulton | Finsbury Park CC | DNS Ap | |||
Ian R Bibby | Finsbury Park CC | DNS | |||
Ian Stokes | North Bucks RC | DNS |