Cranfield '10' 3rd September 2025

This was the final event in our series of evening club events, and attracted 13 entries (though one didn’t start owing to illness. Through the day we’d had some spectacular thunderstorms and extremely blustery conditions with gusts of up to 48mph. Clearly not ideal, but at least by the time we started the event things had calmed down, and despite there being several heavy showers tracking around Cranfield, I think all the riders completed the course without getting wet.

For my part, I found the outward leg down to Newport Pagnell rather tough and the still rather gusty wind made it impossible to keep on the aero extensions. I was caught at the turn for a minute by a fast rider on a road bike. Things were a bit better on the return leg and I was making better progress to the finish. I ended up in third place with 25:52, good enough for second on veteran standard.

Overall I felt that my form is improving after the complications of a trip away from home and then a leg injury. This evening I averaged 234W which, while a bit down on my early season (259W), is clearly an improvement over recent weeks. I’ve also found my L/R balance is improving as I sort out a painful foot callus.

I don’t have too many events on the horizon, the main one is the Duo Normand, which is making it’s first appearance on the calendar since it was halted after 2019 due to Covid. More on that in a later post.