I went down to South Wales for the weekend and to reunite with long-time 2-up partner Gerry Oram (Bynea CC, and ex-NBRC) as usual at this time of year, to ride the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up 25. The R25/24 course is based at Resolven, with the first half heading down a dual carriageway down the Neath valley before returning for a second trip down the valley and back on a hilly back road. It's quite a challenging course.The weather this year was quite pleasant, sunny but with a stiff breeze that made the return leg on the dual carriageway quite hard. We rode pretty well, with slick changeovers, and neither under any real difficulty in matching the other's pace. The second half featured some pretty poor road surfaces, which always offers uncomfortable bumps for the second rider! We finished in 11th place with 1:1:14 - enough to earn us 2nd composite team (the 1st placed composite team actually recorded the fastest time on the day, 55:14).
After several months confined to the garage on the turbo trainer, I was raring to ride the first club event in the 2016 series. It had been designated a 'Come and Try It' event, and I'd spread the word around local cycling groups, and we'd planned to use the BikeBus cafe as an HQ. As it turned out, things didn't go according to plan!I was all ready to ride up to Astwood when the snow came on with a vengeance - big fluffy snowflakes falling on to a heavy frost. A quick telephone conference with Tony and it seemed likely we’d call the event off. Certainly, I wasn’t keen to ride up to the course in those conditions, but I did feel as club chairman that I ought to be there for those riders who did show up.
As it turned out, the event went ahead though it was a bit cold and wet and there were only three riders. Tony, Bryan and Dave dealt with the start, while Katja and I went out to marshal a couple of the turns. It was certainly cold and exposed out there on the roadside.
Back home, it was another back to back turbo session. Next week sees the annual Team Grumpy reunion for the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25', so I'll be giving the next club event a miss.
After a remarkably warm (and wet) December during which I don't think we had a single frost, there was quite a heavy frost visible on roofs and cars when I got up in the morning. This was a bit of a concern since it had rained quite heavily in the evening before. Indeed, there were quite a few ice patches on my street when I investigated when the sun got up.Fortunately, everything had thawed by the time I set out to ride over to Stoke Hammond for the first time trial in 2016. That's not to say it was particularly warm: far from it!We had an excellent turnout of 24 riders plus a variety of spectators and helpers. My legs had felt pretty weak on the ride out, so I wasn't particularly optimistic. On the bright side, it didn't seem to be terribly windy as we waited in the start area (though actually I think that was largely due to shelter.All too soon I was lined up and waiting for my start. I had the very fast James Fox behind me, and fully expected to be caught at some point in the race. Having said that, I found the entire outward leg a struggle. I seemed to be racing through treacle and I found it difficult to stay on the tribars. Maybe I should use tribars a bit more while turbo training! James caught and passed me pretty quickly, but after I reached the turn, things improved - I suspect there was now a modest tailwind coupled with a downhill section.I roared out from the turn and across the next roundabout without having to stop for traffic. My speed didn't falter until the short rise up to the next roundabout, where again I didn't have any traffic issues as I turned right and accelerated down the hill. Upon reaching the final roundabout (another right had turn, and the last before the finish) I was more than a little horrified to see a very large puddle hugging the centre of the roundabout and spanning the lane I was in! I braked to a responsible speed and took the roundabout wide, leaving just the last section to the finish line to struggle through from a slower speed than I'd intended.I finished in 24:43, not a time I was hoping for, but at least I picked up some speed on the fast return leg. The event was won by Marcus Burnett (Ingear RT), with James fox (Luton CC) taking 1st Veteran. I came in 4th, as first NBRC rider. Full results at the NBRC website.
This event had been scheduled for the Stagsden course, but we moved it as we felt the roundabout turn on that course might be a bit busy on a Saturday morning. I chose to ride the Cervelo P3 with the kit I’ll use on the Duo Normand in a fortnight’s time: Hed 3 front and rear, with Powertap P1 pedals.
Once again, we had windy and wet conditions for this event. It was a kind of tail wind to the turn, with a bit of side in it. The descent from the start was pretty good, not really as twitchy as it could be. I held a decent speed for a bit, but took the intermediate roundabout at Marston Moretaine easy - it’s a peculiar one, plus I noted a diesel spill which gave me some concern. During the outbound leg, I was in a kind of a bubble - the tail wind plus the aero hat had me riding in near silence!
Freshly returned from my holiday jaunt to Normandy, I was somewhat dismayed so see the heavy rain that greeted me as I rode over to the Stoke Hammond course. It did stop by the time we raced, but by then I was really quite cold. Indeed it took me until I got onto the dual carriageway before my legs felt like they were limbering up.
As I was off number 1 of 5 riders, I didn’t have a rider to chase. As I rounded the turn, I could see other riders apparently going rather better than I was! I duly buckled down and made a bit more of an effort. Tom Krause later said I looked good at that point, so appearances can clearly be deceptive!
It was back to the F1B/25 for this event, a week after the Beds Road CC '25'. David and I travelled over together - he was off a little earlier than I was. It was a really rather nice morning - not too warm, but with only the gentlest of northerly breezes to trouble us.I'd had to take both wheel off to fit in the van, and after David had ridden over to start, I thought I'd better shift into a more responsible gear. At this point my bike made an awfully loud twang, and I lost all cable tension to the rear mech. I had a quick look (as best I could without my reading specs), and figured out that the washer that, with the allen key bolt, secures the cable to the rear mech had broken. I quickly borrowed a 5mm Allen key from another rider and bodged a repair. After all if it didn't work, what was the worst that could happen? Riding the event in 57x12, that's what! Fortunately the gears behaved themselves for the race although the indexing wasn't great.I had a good race in many ways - clear runs through all the roundabouts - though while I was keeping a decent pace most of the time I did find my concentration lapsing at times. I felt pretty good and as I passed the Sandy roundabout I had hopes of a finishing with a 56. Inevitably the strange telescoping of time in time trials started happening - while time crawls while you're out on the course, it seems to accelerate as you near the finish! I eventually squeaked a 56, recording 56:59. Still, it was an improvement on last week's 57:22.The other mechanical mishap was the tyre on the van that went flat on the way home. David and I displayed questionable skills while replacing the wheel. We felt kind of exposed on a sliproad on the Bedford bypass with fast traffic whizzing by. Still, we got sorted eventually!Results to follow
This was rather a nice and warm evening with only a gentle breeze to disturb the riders tonight. I was out riding my Cervelo P3 newly fitted with Powertap P1 power meter pedals - I wanted to road test the bike before taking it to France next week for a holiday (in which I'd be practicing 2-up technique with Gerry), and at the end of September (when I'll be racing the Duo Normand with Gerry).Unfortunately I was floundering a bit, and rarely felt good, I finished well down the field and was third NBRC rider behind Andy and David, who both did fine rides on the evening. Whether this was just down to me having an off day, or not feeling too comfortable of the P3 is moot. Suffice it to say that my dismay at my performance was somewhat allayed by being pleased at other good NBRC performances! The other high point was witnessing the Equipe Velo boys trying to stuff their numbers into their NoPinz number pockets.Jez Honour won the event, setting a new course record of 21:04.Results at the NBRC website.
We had a really rather nice morning for the Befordshire Road CC Charity ’25’. This was particularly welcome after a couple of frankly rather soggy and cold events. The sun was shining, and there was only a gentle (but rising) head wind to the turn, and a fast trip back.
The North Bucks fielded three riders at this event - it was nice to have a bit of company from the NBRC at the HQ! I was the last of three to start, and had a decent run to the turn, though I did get delayed at the Sandy roundabout. I made it to the turn in about 30 minutes.
This event, as well as contributing to the NBRC club time trial league, was also the NBRC Championship ’10’. Accordingly I was pretty keen to ride. I ignored comments from work colleagues that rain was forecast, and rode up to Stagsden without a rain jacket, which turned out to be a bad move.
On the road up to Astwood, a startlingly heavy rain shower came over, so heavy that at times I could barely see where I was going. This had the effect of completely soaking me (and others riding to the event), so I was shaking with cold by the time I signed on. A second shower while we were ‘warming up’ meant most of us were shivering when lined up at the start.
When I heard the 2015 VTTA Championship was to be held of the famous ‘cheatie’ course in South Wales in July 2015, I was obviously interested. Not only was this an opportunity to ride on what may well be the fastest ‘25’ course in the country, but it would be an opportunity to visit ‘Grumpy’ Art Vanderlay (aka Gerry) in the summer, with the attendant good weather not usually seen when I usually race 2-up in March.Oh, how well-laid plans fail. The drive over on Friday was horrid, with masses of traffic, really bad weather and it took 6 hours. Saturday was some kind or compensation – we had nice weather for a jaunt out to the Welsh National Botanic Gardens followed by watching the Alpe d’Huez stage of the Tour de France.Unfortunately the weather for the R25/3L on Sunday morning was completely awful. In the end Gerry decided not to ride, and of 150 on the start sheet (plus reserves), only 57 finished the event. It was very windy – 22mph plus 35mph gusts - but also very wet and cold. Quite ridiculous for an event in the last weekend in July.Gerry, having decided not to ride, kindly took me round for a second recce of Neath Bank before returning me to the start. Somewhat dubiously I rode to the start. Off I went, and almost immediately got blown so suddenly I felt my bike was moving sideways. Composing myself after that burst of adrenalin, I carried on across the industrial estate roundabout. I managed to miss the subtle left pointing arrow at the next roundabout and almost didn’t make the turn onto the A465 (there wasn’t a marshal).Then it was on to the famous Neath Bank. I have to confess I took this cautiously, maxing at about 43mph. But I thought this was sensible. The rid out to the next turn was reasonably quick. I saw Gerry on the roadside trying to take a picture with his phone. Fortunately I’m quite familiar with the turn, as the Port Talbot Wheelers’ 2-up event turns there – it’s quite a confusing turn, and there was a multitude of signage but only a single marshal.We’d expected the wind to provide a bit of assistance after the Aberdulais turn. Sadly, this turned out not to be the case, and I had a bit of a grind to the finish with a nagging headwind for most of it.I finished with 56:15 (+12:50), and I was reasonably happy with that, given the conditions.We then dashed back to get cleaned up and drive out to our favourite local restaurant, Y Polyn, for a slap up feed that pretty much made me soporific for the rest of the day!Result at the VTTA website.
After the Norlond ‘10’ a week and a half earlier, I was optimistic that I’d have a good ride in this evening club event, especially since the conditions were really rather good! Unfortunately, an encounter with a car at the mid-way Marston Moretaine roundabout delayed me a bit, and left me in a state of disarray!I really struggled during this event and finished with 22:27. Even taking the incident at the roundabout into account, I didn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders!Still, I had high hopes for the weekend’s VTTA ‘25’ Championship.Results at the NBRC website.
We had a nice evening for this event, in contrast to my ride to work on the P5 through pretty damp conditions. I also picked up a flint that penetrated my front tyre. I booted the tyre while at work, and got it reasonably inflated before riding out to Stony Stratford for the evening's time trial. I arrived to find quite a few riders lined up to sign on - in total we had 15 riders.I found the outbound leg tough as usual - but I thought my speed was even slower than usual, especially on the climb to Nash. Anyway, once through Nash, things picked up a little, and certainly after the turn I felt pretty good. It was a bit irritating therefore to be stopped by a car backing out of a drive and then sitting stationary in the road. I passed this car (the driver said something to me as I passed, but I couldn't catch it) and quickly got up to speed.I roared down the hill to Beachampton at a pretty good lick, before coping with the turns, rough surfaces and generally draggy sections of the course and finishing. I ended up with 27:11, to take the win this evening. I was left wondering if I'd have sneaked a long 26 had I not been delayed by that car!Results (at the NBRC website)
This open ’10’ was on the by now familiar F15/10 Brogborough course. I rode out to the HQ in the Marston Social Club in plenty of time. I was planning on wearing one of my skinsuits modified with a NoPinz number pocket, so I took the skinsuit in a backpack along with my aerohat. It was quite clear on the ride out that the time trial would be affected by a headwind on the return leg (and, of course, would benefit from a tailwind on the way out).
Having got my number sorted in my skinsuit, I changed into it and set out for the start. I arrived, as usual, ridiculously early and after a quick circuit of Brogborough I decided to hang around at the start. The pusher-off was pretty good - using a single hand he very effectively held me upright and set me off well.
This event was the club’s time trial championship, and as usual was held over two laps of the Astwood circuit. As for the other events on the course, we used the revised version that starts and finishes near the BikeBus cafe (and most recently modified to start further from houses).
The evening was pretty nice and warm, not so hot as it was for last week’s event. Unfortunately the wind seemed to get up rather a lot, which gave me some concerns. When I reached the signing on about half an hour before the start, I was surprised to find myself signing on as number 18 - clearly a good turnout! In fact we had 21 riders, at least one of whom was riding a time trial for the first time. As an aside, the North Bucks Road Club are planning a third “Come and try it” time trial in August, as this year we seem to have managed publicity more effectively!
The hottest day of the year saw 13 riders lining up for a club event on the Stoke Hammond course in very hot and humid conditions. It was actually around 37oC for the race! I arrived quite early, as Tony was setting out some signage and I ended up hanging about, beating off the horse flies that plagued us. In fact, as I write this a few days after the event, I’m suffering several itchy bites!
Anyway, that didn’t really dent my performance. What dented that was the stiff old headwind out on the dual carriageway, and particularly on the rise up to the turn roundabout. By the time I reached the dual carriageway section, my mouth had dried up and got rather gummy. This made things a bit worse than I’d have liked! It was, of course a consequence of removing my bottle cage after the debacle on the Brogborough course the other week.
In which I almost bottle out, then lose my bottle!
After last week's relatively balmy conditions, this evening was a bit of a shock. Unseasonably cold, and with a very strong head wind for the out bound leg, this event was always going to be 'interesting'.Over the past week, I'd been having a bit of trouble with the front brake on my P5 bike. I had stupidly screwed the pressure point adjustment screw too far in, to the point the brake was no longer functional. This required a tricky disassembly and then re-filling the system with oil. It took a fair bit of application to do this. It wasn't until the day of the race that I finally got this sorted out! There had also been some kind of serious accident on the course on the previous week (I don't know the details, but sadly I think it involved several fatalities). This had needed some kind of repairs to the roadside barriers, and threatened a weekend open event, though it was cleared by Wednesday evening.Anyway, I rode over in time to sign on as #22. I got cold at the start! The initial descent was a little alarming, with the wind buffeting my front H3, and I decided discretion was the better part of valour and didn't attempt to use the tribars. At the bottom of the hill, I could see a large collection of flowers left at the roadside, but the newly repaired tarmac and barriers, which sort of stuck in the mind a bit.Once down the hill, it was quite odd, with my speed varying between low 20s and well over 27 mph, presumably depending on a mix of gradient and exposure to the headwind. I wasn't too troubled by this most of the way, and anyway was looking forward to the return leg! I had no traffic holdups at either the first or the turn RAB, and I set off on the return.I quickly found myself flying back. Sadly, I was zooming along at around 30mph over one of the rougher sections of tarmac when I heard a bang and a clatter, and I saw black object leap off my bike, bounce of my transmission and disappear back off down the road. My first reaction was that it was one of the front brake shrouds (remember I'd been fiddling with the front brake), so I jammed the anchors on. At least the front brake did work! It turned out to be the bottle, now minus its cap. I retrieved the bottle and set off again, cursing myself for not just carrying on (after all, a capless aero bottle isn't much use).The rest of the race was pretty uneventful, though the stop must have cost me quite a bit of time, especially since I found myself starting a in a mammoth gear! Still, you live and learn!Next up should be the Hemel Hempstead '10' on the F11/10 on Saturday. After missing some events due to pressure of work, I'm keen to ride, even if the forecast weather leaves something to be desired!| Pos | No | Name | Club | Time | Cat | Vets Std | .+ / - | Vets Std |
| 1 | 6 | Ady Dench | Sheffrec CC | 22.15 | V46 | 26.27 | .+ 4.12 | 1 |
| 2 | 13 | Richard Golding | Equipe Velo | 23.02 | V46 | 26.27 | .+ 3.25 | 2 |
| 3 | 21 | Jason Lee | TeamMK | 23.24 | V46 | 26.27 | .+ 3.03 | 5 |
| 4 | 23 | Lindz Barral | Equipe Velo | 23.28 | Sen | |||
| 5 | 22 | Robert Saunders | NBRC | 23.47 | V55 | 27.09 | .+ 3.22 | 3 |
| 6 | 19 | Andy Wickham | NBRC | 23.57 | V44 | 26.18 | .+ 2.21 | 9 |
| 7 | 24 | Tim Bailey | TeamMK | 24.01 | V48 | 26.36 | .+ 2.35 | .= 6 |
| 8 | 15 | Graham Line | NBRC | 24.10 | V50 | 26.45 | .+ 2.35 | .= 6 |
| 9 | 16 | Alan Crane | Chronos RT | 24.14 | V46 | 26.27 | .+ 2.13 | 10 |
| 10 | 18 | Kevin Creese | Chronos RT | 24.27 | V61 | 27.44 | .+ 3.17 | 4 |
| 11 | 9 | Ant Newland | Bossard Wheelers | 24.32 | V49 | 26.41 | .+ 2.09 | 12 |
| 12 | 12 | Dave Price | NBRC | 24.51 | V47 | 26.32 | .+ 1.41 | 14 |
| .=13 | 5 | Graham Mackie | Corley Cycles | 24.52 | V53 | 26.59 | .+ 2.07 | 13 |
| .=13 | 14 | Jacob Tresham | Corley - Drops RT | 24.52 | Jnr. | |||
| 15 | 11 | Ian Markham | Chronos RT | 25.02 | V46 | 26.27 | .+ 1.25 | 15 |
| 16 | 8 | Paul Woodham | Bossard Wheelers | 25.54 | V64 | 28.06 | .+ 2.12 | 11 |
| 17 | 4 | Dave Brown | Leighton Buzzard Roads CC | 25.58 | V66 | 28.23 | .+ 2.25 | 8 |
| 18 | 3 | Ian Stokes | 45 Road Club | 26.19 | V55 | 27.09 | .+ 0.50 | 17 |
| 19 | 17 | David Creese | Chronos RT | 26.49 | V63 | 27.59 | .+ 1.10 | 16 |
| 20 | 7 | Trevor Watson | Bossard Wheelers | 27.20 | V56 | 27.14 | .- 0.06 | 19 |
| 21 | 20 | Luke Daniells | NBRC | 28.12 | V42 | 26.09 | .- 2.03 | 20 |
| 22 | 10 | Helene Wight | Corley Cycles | 28.31 | LV52 | 29.03 | .+ 0.32 | 18 |
| 23 | 2 | Dave Crane | Chronos RT | 31.26 | V50 | 26.45 | .- 4.41 | 22 |
| 24 | 1 | John Pick | Chronos RT | 32.39 | V70 | 29.02 | .- 3.37 | 21 |
| Time keepers:- Steph Cousins & Tony Farmborough NBRC | ||||||||
| Pusher off:- Bryan Scarborough. NBRC | ||||||||
This was my first time trial after returning from our tandem cycle tour in the Hebrides and was a return to the Stony Stratford course after three weeks (I failed to post a report on that event). It was actually the nicest evening for a club event this year, nice and warm and with only a light breeze to contend with.The nice weather brought out the usual crop of airborne arthropods (the course is flanked by crops, livestock and waterways): throughout the event, I could hear insects bouncing off my aero hat! Actually, my legs felt they were still in touring mode, and in particular I found getting up the hill to Nash a bit tough, even tought than usual. Other than that, I cannot point the finger at any cause of problems.I finished with 28:11, to take third place (second place on vets standard), behind Simon Cannings, who did a sterling ride, and Dave Glossy. Results
| Pos | No | Name | Club | Time | Cat | Vets Std | .+ / - |
| 1 | 11 | Simon Cannings | Equipe Velo | 25.57 | V45 | 30.07 | .+ 4.10 |
| 2 | 10 | David Glossy | Team Corley | 27.40 | V42 | 29.51 | .+ 2.11 |
| 3 | 12 | Robert Saunders | NBRC | 28.11 | V55 | 31.00 | .+ 2.49 |
| 4 | 14 | Tim Bailey | TeamMK | 28.18 | V48 | 30.22 | .+ 2.04 |
| 5 | 6 | Andy Sharman | Baines Racing | 28.26 | V44 | 30.02 | .+ 1.36 |
| 6 | 16 | Jason Lee | TeamMK | 28.30 | V46 | 30.12 | .+ 1.42 |
| 7 | 5 | Ant Newland | Bossard Wheelers | 28.35 | V49 | 30.28 | .+ 1.53 |
| 8 | 8 | Graham Line | NBRC | 29.10 | V50 | 30.33 | .+ 1.23 |
| 9 | 9 | Darren Haydon | NBRC | 29.20 | V44 | 30.02 | .+ 0.42 |
| 10 | 17 | Gavin Old | Equipe Velo | 29.44 | V43 | 29.56 | .+ 0.12 |
| 11 | 13 | Mick Atkinson | TeamMK | 29.50 | V46 | 30.12 | .+ 0.22 |
| 12 | 4 | Paul Woodham | Bossard Wheelers | 30.16 | V64 | 32.06 | .+ 1.50 |
| 13 | 7 | Clive Faine | TeamMK / MKCA | 31.27 | V68 | 32.46 | .+ 1.19 |
| 14 | 3 | Trevor Watson | Bossard Wheelers | 32.26 | V56 | 31.06 | .- 1.20 |
| 15 | 2 | Wayne Thomas | NBRC | 32.42 | V64 | 32.06 | .- 0.36 |
| 16 | 1 | John Pick | Chronos RT | 39.27 | V70 | 33.10 | .- 6.17 |
| 15 | Luke Daniells | NBRC | DNF | V42 | 29.51 | ||
| Time Keepers:- Steph Cousins & Tony Farmborough NBRC | |||||||
| Pusher off:- Bryan Scarborough. NBRC | |||||||
The club had agonised about whether to run this event - 24h beforehand, it was clear that we were heading for some pretty windy conditions, with gusts up to 50mph (and of course the Astwood circuit is pretty much on a hill!). We finally took the decision not to cancel, as the BBC forecast suggested the gales would subside to a mere 24mph by 7pm.So I rode to work on my P5 as usual on race day. Unfortunately when I can to leave work for the race, I found it so windy that riding a P5 with a front trispoke was alarming at best and downright dangerous at worst! I got a lift home and switched to the P3 with a rear trispoke and a regular road wheel in the front. Unfortunately, this left me only 25 minutes to dash to the start. What the hell, I thought, I'll go for it! Sadly, the railway crossing barriers were down and I got stuck for several minutes there. It was clearly very gusty as I pressed on. I had a tail wind up the hill to Cranfield and onward to the start point of the race, so I made pretty good time. I arrived a few minutes after 7pm (well warmed up), to find several riders plus timekeepers milling about deciding whether to abandon. By this time, the wind had really whistled in, bearing a nasty shower. A few riders ventured off down the course to evaluate the situation, and an in the end the wise decision was taken to abandon and we retired to the Bikebus cafe for a coffee before returning home.It did seem as though conditions were better while we were in the cafe, but frankly I think that was an illusion - it was still pretty awful as I rode home, and I had a couple of very alarming gusts.
This was only my second ride on this fast 10 mile course (F11/10), based on the A41 Tring bypass. It's a fast course because of the significant hill riders descend, but don't have to race back up. The last time I rode the course, I got held up by a line of cars at the first turn, which sort of reduced the race to a training ride!I went out to this event with Katja, who's been seeing some good performances lately, and who was off about 15 minutes after me. As per usual, I felt a distinct lack of enthusiasm as we drove out to the event and as warmed up. Also as per usual for me, the enthusiasm suddenly surfaced as I was just about to start!The start is on a slip road down to the A41, and I quickly got up to speed. Unfortunately that didn't last, as soon I was on the section of road that was resurfaced last year (much to the disgust of regular riders on the course) with a really rough tarmac. I found myself clattering along and feeling that everything was horribly inefficient. Still, that section got much better and by the time I reached the turn, everything seemed fine. I got round the turn without problems and set out on the main leg of the event.I felt great, and especially so on the descent, where I hit 47mph or thereabouts. We'd been warned of a couple of potholes, but frankly the road seemed in pretty good nick. I also got round the second turn without problems, and set off towards the finish. The last half mile or so seemed quite tough, not sure why! We'd been warned that we'd be disqualified if we didn't ride properly up the sliproad to pass the finish timekeeper, so I made sure I kept left! I finished in 21:27, which I think is my third best '10' ever, and my best in the the last 5 years. Just as I finished, the rain began. I think Katja got a bit wet out there, but finished with a PB (22:42?). I haven't seen a results sheet yet.
This was the first time the Brogborough '10' course had been used for an NBRC club event. The course was first used a few years ago when the new link road to the Bedford bypass was opened, thereby rendering the old A421 quite quiet. It features a gift start hill that doesn't need to to raced back up. On the other hand, the road can be quite exposed, and the surface leaves a bit to be desired in places. The Marston Moretaine roundabout needs a bit of care on the outbound leg, because the exit lane doesn't seem in line with the entry lane!On the evening, the weather was fairly breezy - what wind there was provided a bit of side and a bit of tail wind going out - though there was enough crosswind to make things a bit twitchy at times.I was number 17 in a field of 21, and as I lined up at the crest of the hill in the lea of a big articulated lorry, dark clouds were gathering as the temperature dropped. A few big raindrops fell, and I think we all felt a bit apprehensive!I set off down the hill, feeling reasonably good. There were a few minor twitches due to the wind, but nothing alarming. The outbound leg had been widely expected to be roaring fast, but I guess the real direction of the wind was not going to allow that. At times my speed fell and rose for seemingly inexplicable reasons! I had no trouble with traffic at the first pass through the Marston roundabout and only got slowed slightly at the turn roundabout. I had Andy Wickham in my sights by this time, and on the return leg used him as a target (I eventually passed him shortly before the finish).In the return leg, my speed seemed to fluctuate quite a bit, but by dint of keeping in a quite big gear, I kept things rolling well enough. The last half mile seemed absolute torture to me! I finished in 22:30 to take second place behind Jez, who did a splendid 21:11.Results
| Pos | No | Name | Club | Time | Cat | Vets Std | .+ / - | Vets Std |
| 1 | 4 | Jez Honor | Equipe Velo | 21.11 | V44 | 26.18 | .+ 5.07 | 1 |
| 2 | 17 | Robert Saunders | NBRC | 22.30 | V55 | 27.09 | .+ 4.39 | 2 |
| 3 | 12 | Simon Moss | Equipe Velo | 22.51 | V41 | 26.04 | .+ 3.13 | 4 |
| 4 | 21 | Lindz Barral | Equipe Velo | 23.02 | Sen. | |||
| 5 | 13 | David Carrington | TeamMK | 23.21 | V49 | 26.41 | .+ 3 20 | 3 |
| 6 | 6 | James Barlow | Albarosa CC | 23.28 | Sen. | |||
| 7 | 19 | Alan Crane | Chronos RT | 23.29 | V46 | 26.27 | .+ 2.58 | 6 |
| 8 | 16 | Andy Wickham | NBRC | 23.35 | V44 | 26.18 | .+ 2.43 | 9 |
| 9 | 8 | Ant Newland | Bossard Wheelers CC | 23.45 | V49 | 26.41 | .+ 2.56 | 7 |
| 10 | 3 | Mick Atkinson | TeamMK | 23.50 | V46 | 26.27 | .+ 2.37 | 10 |
| 11 | 11 | Trevor Hook | TeamMK | 24.34 | V57 | 27.20 | .+ 2.46 | 8 |
| 12 | 15 | David Price | NBRC | 24.52 | V47 | 26.32 | .+ 1.40 | 12 |
| 13 | 9 | Paul Woodham | Bossard Wheelers CC | 24.58 | V63 | 27.59 | .+ 3.01 | 5 |
| 14 | 18 | Ian Markham | Chronos RT | 25.26 | V46 | 26.27 | .+ 1.01 | 14 |
| 15 | 7 | Trevor Watson | Bossard Wheelers CC | 26.07 | V56 | 27.14 | .+ 1.07 | 13 |
| 16 | 14 | Ross Andrew Callacher | Leighton Buzzard Roads CC | 26.23 | Sen. | |||
| 17 | 2 | Clive Faine | TeamMK / NBRC | 26.26 | V68 | 28.42 | .+ 2.16 | 11 |
| 18 | 20 | Luke Daniells | NBRC | 27.06 | V42 | 26.09 | .- 0.57 | 15 |
| 19 | 10 | Dave Crane | Chronos RT | 33.41 | V50 | 26.45 | .- 6.56 | 16 |