Stoke Hammond '10' 8/4/15

This was the first of our evening events in the calendar, and was on the revised Stoke Hammond ’10’ course, which moves the start away from the Kelly’s Kitchen roundabout. It’s potentially quite a quick course, I think, though the short stretch on the outward leg between the penultimate roundabout and the turn roundabout can be a bit challenging, as it’s uphill.

Anyway, it was rather nice evening that followed a very nice spring-like day. We saw more than the maximum field size turn out - 22 riders. I was pre-entered as #7 owing to the fact that I went home from the previous event (the Hardriders) with #7 still pinned to my skinsuit.

The start of this course is really quite quick, but it tilts up quite quickly, slowing the speed as you tirn left at a roundabout to join the main road. That section is uphillm but I held a reasonable speed, really only losing a lot of pace as I approached the next roudabout to join the dual carriageway. I then found my speed alternating between reasonably high and draggingly low, mostly due to gradient and exposure to the (admittedly gentle) breeze. Across the next roundabout and up the drag to the turn roundabout, and at last I could feel the benefit of gradient and breeze. The return leg seemed a lot quicker. All the way round the dual carriageway section, I was very aware that even though some attempt has been made to fill the little potholes that opened up soon after the road was opened, still further holes have appeared. Indeed, one rider lost his rear light as he thumped through one of them.

In the end I finished in 4th place with 23:00, second place on vets standard. Not too bad, though after the event I developed a sticky throat and dry cough. We noted that this course was slightly short.

Results

Pos No Name Club Time Cat Vets Std .+ / - Vets Std
1 14 Richard Golding Equipe Velo / NBRC 22.21 V46 26.27 .+ 4.06 3
2 13 Grant Osborn Icknield RC 22.27 V54 27.04 .+ 4.37 1
3 20 James Fox CCLuton 22.47 Sen.
4 7 Robert Saunders NBRC 23.00 V55 27.09 .+ 4.09 2
5 2 Matt Exley Corley Cycles Drops RT 23.20 Sen.
6 18 Lindz Barral Equipe Velo 23.24 Sen.
7 15 Jason Lee TeamMK 23.32 V46 26.27 .+ 2.55 4
8 3 Andy Sharman Team Baines Racing 23.45 V44 26.18 .+ 2.33 5
9 21 Andy Wickham NBRC 24.14 V44 26.18 .+ 2.04 7
10 6 Anthony Smith TeamMK 24.30 Sen.
11 22 Geoff Perry TeamMK 24.37 V55 27.09 .+ 2.32 6
12 9 Graham Line NBRC 24.45 V50 26.45 .+ 2.00 8
13 16 David Price NBRC 24.54 V47 26.32 .+ 1.38 9
14 4 Jason Edworth Bicester Millennium 25.01 V43 26.13 .+ 1.12 10
15 11 Finn Hanson Club Corley 26.15 V50 26.45 .+ 0.30 13
16= 5 Trevor Watson Bossard Wheelers 26.31 V55 27.09 .+ 0.38 12
16= 19 Simon Woolhead Club Corley 26.31 V47 26.32 .+ 0.01 15
18 10 Miles Walker LBRCC 26.41 V52 26.54 .+ 0.13 14
19 17 Michael Pattison Bonito Squadra Corse 26.48 Sen.
20 8 Wayne Thomas NBRC 26.56 V64 28.06 .+ 1.10 11
21 1 Ian Stokes 45 Road Club 27.12 V55 27.09 .- 0.03 16
22 12 Luke Daniells NBRC 27.29 V42 26.09 .- 1.20 17