Richmond Park TT 23-08-09

[Jon H]

This was the second of the TTs in Richmond Park organised by London Dynamo. Although these were classified as club events the organisation was more like an open, with entry in advance, published start sheet online, sign-on desk, etc. All that was lacking was a village hall.

I went and did a recce during last week so I roughly knew what to expect, as I'd never even been in the park before let alone ridden round it at race pace. I also took note of Ivor's lesson learnt from the previous TT, and figured out where the Sheen Gate entrance was.

The field seemed to be set out in order of fastest ever 10 time, as that was the only info wanted on the entry form. That meant I was in amongst the fast guys. Oh dear, this could be embarrassing

As I expected, I caught by the five guys behind me, but just let them go and rode my own race and enjoyed the novelty of riding on almost traffic-free roads in the open parkland.

Results from the agreeables and semi-agreeables:
Mike Kaziemierski (TSN) 26.38
Neil Stone (TSN) 27.26
Jon Hemming 27.37
Chris Scarlett (TSN) 27.51
Ivor Hewitt 28.20
Andrew Clark 28.37
Lisa Scarlett (Dynamo) 31.45
Alan Thruston 34.26

[Snoop Doug]

well done Jon - and t'others. Wel done too the dynamo for organising this. How d'you think it went? Will they get the nod to do more d'you think?

Snoop

[Andrew G]

Well done Jon, I gather Neil rode fixed. One for the old skool Holdsworth next year .

[Ivor]

Up at 4:30AM. again. bah.
But route and directions all planned like clockwork. knew where everything was this time, so had a nice leisurely start with plenty of time to get organised, sign on and pooter around for a few minutes.

Knew the route this time and got off to a good flying start - albeit a little too flying and lost a bit of time in the draggy sections recovering later on.
Caught up to my half minute man in no time and seemed to be holding a nice steady flowing pace, nipped past before half way. Unfortunately I seemed to be losing a bit too much speed on the longer inclines, and on the bottom drag back Chris Scarlett (43) zipped past. Managed to pull my pace back up though and held him within reach until the final ride up to the line and nipped by to take my position back.

17 seconds quicker than my slightly more eventful run a few weeks ago so an improvement, although I definitely need to work on keeping my pace more consistent going around.

On the whole quite an interesting TT to ride. Bit strange having to drive up into London for a ride, and the parking/HQ arrangement too. Will definitely be back next year though - must see if I can sneak in some training rides around the park too.

[carl f]

Well done chaps looked like you had fab conditions here again?
I was at a very blustery camp site in dorset so couldn't tell what was going on weather wise in tropical RP
Hope these go ahead for next year.....