SERC 10

[Andrew G]

Overcast, chilly, windy, threat of a shower - it must be a July morning then .

Back to the faster local course this morn for a (hopefully) quick blast up and down. Good to see the Guvnor of Merstham back on duty after his little break from the TTs.

Fairly strong tailwind out as I was shooting along at 30mph and over for quite a while. For once I actually realised this was in part due to a tail wind and not as usual where I just think, "going well this morning", so was prepared for a tough slog back.

It was, well for me anyway. For some reason I couldn't find a gear I was comfy with, not handy on an 11-21 straight through block but what I was really after was a 15.5 sprocket for a fairly long section .

Approaching the roundabout for the Tollgate turn-off a quick glance and I saw a huge aggregate delivery lorry. Normally approaching a roundabout like this I just put in a bit of a kick to nip through ahead of the traffic but the lorry was a bit too close, a bit too big, and I didn't want to gamble with the effectiveness of its brakes. Braked myself to a standstill, brief trackstand 'til it got out the way and then off again - arrrgggghhhhh dagnamit. In reality probably only lost 10 seconds or so but it felt longer.

Finished the slog back, didn't like the wind today, and finished with 25.01 which was okay all things considered.

Ta, ta.

Andrew.

[Robert]

Results in Race Order.

13 A Green. 25.01
15 R Royle-Evatt 23.30
24 I Munnery 26.13
32 T Collis 25.28

[Tamar]

I stuffed this one up marvellously. Two hard pedal strokes into the race and then a sudden lurch as my chain unshipped. Doh! Luckily I didn't hit the deck but took several frantic seconds of twiddling and flicking gear levers before powered motion could be resumed. I think I'd freewheeled about halfway to the first r'bout.

On a positive note, instead of sprinting over-enthusiastically from the off I'd been forced to take it a bit softer and thus when I hit that nasty little climb over the railway bridge my legs were not as full of lactic as usual so I actually went 1mph faster than usual.

Really got into it after that and enjoyed myself. Actually concentrated on pedalling instead of bemoaning my aching legs...which is a rarity for this season. Not a sparkling time, but one of my better this year. No I just need to concentrate BEFORE the race as well and make sure I'm in the right gear.

[Jon H]

[quote="Tamar"]... and then a sudden lurch as my chain unshipped.