A very pleasant evening for the latest NBRC club event, over on the Stony Stratford course. Following a few days for rainy weather, I chose to ride the trusty steel Cougar, which doesn't let the rain and road spray into the inner reaches of the frame (also, the saddle is a little less rigid than that on my other TT bike). In the event, the weather was really rather pleasant - sunny and warm. Unfortunately, of course, it also became quite breezy during the day.
By the time I arrived to sign on, at about 6.30pm, there were quite a few people milling about: I started as #17. I got ready then rode up towards Beachampton to evaluate how the breeze would be - sure enough, it seemed as though we'd get a stiff headwind for most of the outward leg, and in particular as far as Beachampton.
After starting, I quickly got upto a decent speed, but after the first bend you reach an undulating rise, and on this occasion into a headwind, which quickly knockd the stuffing out of me a bit. The trials and tribulations continued, as the toes of my right foot started cramping. Fortunately this wore off after a couple of miles! The climb through Nash was really quite hard, and it was a relief to reach the relatively flat section running up to the turn.
One might have expected the return leg to feature a bit less effort, but judging from my HRM reading, this didn't seem to be the case, reaching 193bpm on a descent was a bit unexpected! Mind you, I did notice a speed of 42.5mph at one point...
As usual, the last section between Beachampton and the finish at the outskirts of Stony Stratford was harder than expected - I finished in something like 28:20, which I wasn't too pleased with.
I had a nice enough ride home, accompanied part of the way by Tony Parks (who as expected had done better than I had, but was worrying about his training and whether it focussed a bit too much on his lengthy daily commute).
Results
Pos
|
No
|
Rider
|
Club
|
Time
|
Cat
|
Vets Std
|
Plus/Minus
|
Vets Pos
|
1
|
12
|
Simon Cannings
|
TeamMK
|
26.20
|
S
|
|
|
|
2
|
20
|
Chris Dunwoodie
|
TeamMK
|
27.14
|
S
|
|
|
|
3
|
19
|
Ian Marshall
|
TeamMK
|
27.31
|
V40
|
29.20
|
1.49
|
6
|
4
|
13
|
Tony Parks
|
NBRC
|
27.35
|
V44
|
30.15
|
2.40
|
4
|
5
|
11
|
Lindz Barral
|
i-team cc
|
27.52
|
S
|
|
|
|
6
|
17
|
Robert Saunders
|
NBRC
|
28.18
|
V49
|
31.26
|
3.08
|
3
|
7
|
15
|
Matthew Barton
|
TeamMK
|
29.07
|
V40
|
29.20
|
0.13
|
8
|
8
|
21
|
John Buchanan
|
NBRC
|
29.12
|
S
|
|
|
|
9
|
16
|
Robert Chaundy
|
TeamMK
|
29.38
|
V57
|
33.28
|
3.50
|
2
|
10
|
22
|
Phil Sinnett
|
NBRC
|
29.49
|
S
|
|
|
|
11
|
14
|
Brian Primett
|
NBRC
|
30.38
|
V42
|
29.47
|
-0.51
|
10
|
12
|
7
|
Ian Stokes
|
NBRC
|
31.33
|
V49
|
31.26
|
-0.07
|
9
|
13
|
2
|
David Skeggs
|
NBRC
|
31.42
|
V40
|
29.20
|
-2.22
|
12
|
14
|
4
|
Gilbert Wheelwright
|
NBRC
|
32.03
|
V66
|
35.56
|
3.53
|
1
|
15
|
23
|
Alan Hambly
|
TeamMK
|
32.18
|
V46
|
30.43
|
-1.35
|
11
|
16
|
18
|
Gary Mann
|
TeamMK
|
32.26
|
V43
|
30.01
|
-2.25
|
13
|
17
|
1
|
Alan Lawson
|
NBRC
|
32.50
|
V40
|
29.20
|
-3.30
|
14
|
18
|
10
|
Katherine Dilks
|
NBRC
|
33.16
|
L
|
|
|
|
19
|
9
|
Nick Crook
|
NBRC
|
33.30
|
V58
|
33.44
|
0.14
|
7
|
20
|
3
|
Gordon Batcock
|
NBRC
|
33.54
|
V68
|
36.30
|
2.36
|
5
|
21
|
8
|
Tony Brunton
|
NBRC
|
34.08
|
V44
|
30.15
|
-3.53
|
15
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2-up
|
5/6
|
Chris Hartley/Julian Hall
|
NBRC/Beds Road
|
30.26
|
V51/47
|
|
|
|