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.
Ian Penson competed in this race in Black Park, West Drayton. As reported by Bike Magic " The course features a track that is pan flat and is a mixture of fire roads, some superb flowing sinewy single track with a couple of bomb holes on well drained surfaces which always results in fast and furious racing and this year was no different. "
The object was to complete as many full laps as possible in 4 hours and then finish the lap you're on when the 4 hour time limit expired. Clive finished 17th out of 49 starters in his category although there were a total of 500 participants across the full range of categories which included Fun male & female, 2 hour and 4 hour for both men and women which were further broken down into juniors, seniors and vets (over 40).
A foggy start turned into a cold but sunny morning as Tony prepared himself for his first open event in 20 years, albeit a 2up with Brian. They completed the reasonably flat, apart from a short steep hill, course in 26:51.
Merv rode the VTTA 30 (Leo CC) on the Newmarket course. It was a very warm afternoon with very little wind.
These conditions enabled Michael Hutchinson to break Competition record by almost two minutes in recording 55:39!! Merv reports " Unfortunately my performance was not on that standard, as I only managed 1.19.18. However this was my fastest for a couple of years ".
James Wilson of Banjo Cycles.com won the 60 mile event in a time of 2 hrs 42 min. 50 sec. Second was Toby Parnell of Cambridge University C.C.at 3 sec. Campbell Noon (Team Virgin Active) was third at 9 sec.
