The recent weather patterns were forecast to continue for this event - heavy showers were to be the main feature. As it turned out, despite the glowering clouds, all we got was a little light drizzle for a few minutes.
The Stagsden course (see map below) isn't a very frequently used course, so it made a bit of a change from the regular events. Unfortunately, I rarely ride on the course, as in my annual cycle of work, I'm generally working away from home at this time of year. I put this lack of 'course experience' down as the explanation of my lousy start in this event. Shooting off from the start in decent style, my rheumy old eyes couldn't believe the 29.9mph my computer was showing. Unfortunately, the road then went upwards - not as who should say a
mountain, but a significant impediment to a rider in an
inappropriate gear! I found myself plugging up this gentle undulation at embarrassingly slow speed, before reaching Astwood and lifting the pace significantly. I suspect this, and the ensuing oxygen debt cost me quite a few seconds, and indeed made me wonders what I was playing at.
Fortunately, things improved from there, as I picked up speed between Astwood and the small climb to Chicheley, and made it to the turn roundabout in decent style. Coming out of the turn, I could see Tony (who started a minute behind me) was gaining on me. This spurred me on, and this together with a gentle tailwind no doubt lifted my pace for the return leg (you can see this in the Garmin trace below). Despite getting stalled a bit by a motorist who was being excessively cautious in passing riders I was about to catch, I felt pretty good about the return leg, finishing in 22:48 (I think). Results to follow.
I was of course beaten by Tony (and also a visitor from Finchley RT), but that's kind of to be expected, I think, and at least he didn't catch me. So, second NBRC rider in a League event.
| Pos |
Name |
Club |
Time |
Cat |
+ / - |
Vets |
| 1 |
Andy Hastings |
Finchley RT |
21.35 |
S |
|
|
| 2 |
Tony Parks |
NBRC |
22.30 |
V46 |
+4.12 |
4 |
| 3 |
Rob Saunders |
NBRC |
22.49 |
V51 |
+4.57 |
2 |
| 4 |
Trevor Hook |
TeamMK |
23.43 |
V53 |
+4.29 |
3 |
| 5 |
Anthony Batt |
NBRC |
23.52 |
S |
|
|
| 6 |
Ian Markham |
Chronos RT |
24.35 |
V42 |
+1.19 |
6 |
| 7 |
Alan Crane |
Chronos RT |
25.14 |
V42 |
+0.40 |
7 |
| 8 |
Clive Faine |
TeamMK |
26.02 |
V65 |
+4.58 |
1 |
| 9 |
Graham Line |
NBRC |
27.38 |
V46 |
-0.56 |
8 |
| 10 |
Gilbert Wheelwright |
NBRC |
27.49 |
V68 |
+3.56 |
5 |
| 11 |
Alan Lawson |
NBRC |
28.03 |
V43 |
-1.57 |
9 |
| 12 |
Tony Brunton |
NBRC |
29.18 |
V46 |
-2.36 |
10 |
| 13 |
Dave Crane |
Chronos RT |
32.55 |
V46 |
-6.13 |
11 |
A lovely morning greeted us as we loaded my bike into the car. As we drove over to Tempsford, the conditions became rather misty though this had cleared by the time we lined up at the start. Also rather disappointing was the head wind to the turn, which rendered the outbound leg rather stodgy - I was certainly struggling to keep the speed over 25mph.
The current incarnation of the F1/10 runs southbound from near Tempsford, across the Sandy roundabout to turn at the Biggleswade North (Warden Lane) roundabout, with a finish line really close to Tempsford Hall. Joining the A1 after the start is rather nice - it's a sliproad coming down from a flyover. Unfortunately, the 29+mph I'd got up to coming down the sliproad soon evaporated and I was plugging along trying to keep the speed above 25mph. Once at the turn, things looked up a bit and I found myself doing 28-30 mph most of the way back from the turn.
I finished with 22:33 (somewhat better than I'd expected in the first half of the race), around 18 seconds slower than Tony. In fact there weren't many really quick times today - the event was won with a 21, I think.
Back home, where Tony and I had cappuccinos, then nipped out for a 33 mile easy ride out through Soulbury, Stewkley and Hoggeston, during which we saw some charity bike ride under way. All in all a rather good Sunday morning.
