France must have been good for Barry as he returned to a victory. There was some close racing between the non-TT specialists.
It was a warm evening with a north-east cross-wind.
Merv was chuffed. He established an East Anglian VTTA Group Age Record for 79 year olds. His time of 2.13.04 was nearly 10 minutes quicker than last Sunday, and only 2 minutes slower than his age record at 77 of 2.11.13.
A not too disastrous day. Weather reasonable, course reasonable, Merv reasonable, Peter rubbish. As he is about to celebrate his 79th birthday Merv was timed at 2:22:21. Peter had no excuses for 2:16:10.
Starting 1 minute ahead of Le Hutch, Peter wanted to see if he could get to 4 minutes before being passed. At 5mins 7secs he got his answer. This spurred him onto a course PB of 23:19. (Hutchinson - 18:10).
On an east\west course with a moderate north easterly wind, Peter scraped by with 24:15 and Merv came in with 26:17. In perspective, Le Hutch (18:37) beat 2nd place by over 2 minutes.
Nick C's latest adventure ... " The race was held in East Hanningfiield, sunny Essex and consisted of a six mile loop which we had to ride seven times. The roads were dry, sunny and hill-free - which made a refreshing change from last week's slog! I still have a lots to learn and was disappointed to miss out on a breakaway which came in 43 secs ahead of me. I rolled over the finishing line 24th out of 60 riders. I really wanted to beat my 18th place last week but all this racing takes time and I'm trying to run before I can walk.
Ian Penson took part in Trailbreak's Princes Risborough 45K Enduro MTB event. Whilst not exactly a race it was electronically timed and Ian came 10th out of 84! He reports that "conditions were a bit slippy (wet chalk) with some deep water but not too muddy". He started early so the course was not too chewed up.
Nick Cramer reports on his latest road race, which took place around Great Chesterford. This 62miler was the toughest race I have done to date. It consisted of 6 hilly laps, including a big, two-stage hill, complete with a strong northerly wind.
The F1 (A or B) is never the fastest course when its very, very windy. On an essentially north\south race a northerly (or southerly) wind can put paid to many riders hopes of a quick time. This was Tony's first attempt at an Open 25 and he recorded a time of 1:08:41. The term "Brick Wall" entered his mind at the halfway turn.
It was a good and fast journey southbound on the A11, always with the nagging thought that the return would be payback time. And so it came to pass! A strong northerly wind put paid to any thoughts that Peter had of a fast time. He eventually crossed the finish line at 1:00:44.
On a very windy and undulating two lap course, the only person seemingly unaffected by the conditions was Michael Hutchinson who went round in 49:35. The first of the real people came in 6:49 later. Peter's sole aim was to see how far he could get before the Hutch (who started 9 minutes behind) caught him. He succeeded in getting onto the second lap so that was a result in itself! He finished on 1:06:41 and Merv clocked 1:10:35.
After an apprehensive night, Nick turned up for this event with plenty of enthusiasm but not enough warm clothing. The event consisted of 4 laps of 13.5 miles each. Every lap his learning curve shot up, and now he realises that he must improve on his final sprint in order to better his 24th position out of 50.
A nice warm March evening. 11 club riders and 1 private. Brian Evans pumped Nick Cramer's tyre up before the race allowing him to conserve his energy for the race. Hat's off he was on a standard road bike and clocked the fastest time for a club member. Barry, Alex and Phil were all within seconds of each other. Similarly with Tony just pipping Peter. The Clarkster debuted his new machine and showed he has improved since last season. Chris Wells rode his first time trial finishing in a respectable time.
