A good start too as Don (SCCU 21 organiser) was there doing teas and handed me my result sheet complete with £10 cheque for the team prize and a smashing photo from the event. I'll get it scanned in later.
The race itself and number 13 for me again today but I dont pin it upside down, I'm not superstitious or looking to attract the TV cameras
. The course for this one is not slow but not fast, well some of the really fast guys don't seem to be slowed down by anything but it has quite a lot of little drags and rolls which I find it difficult to get a good rhythm on. I like to pedal a fairly constant cadence in TTs and on some bits of the course it meant a lot of gear snicking one sprocket up/down all the time to roll up and down them.The course starts on a side road that links the A29 to the single carriageway of the A24 south of the club 10 course. Along here up the A24 to the dual carriageway, down to Beare Green, left and down the A29 through Ockley, left and back along the the road you start on to complete a lap. Go round again but then straight on at the link road for a bit of a wiggle before up a dead end drag of 1/4 mile with the worst surface this side of Paris Roubaix cobbles to finish.
TT bike out and I my legs felt good. I put the computer on average speed and made sure I started properly as I'd dawdled for the first 10-15 miles last year
. I caught a couple of earlier starters by the Beare Green turn, looked like they were non-tester folk on road bikes who were out to try TTing out and pick up a Rawson Shield point for their club in the process, I hope they enjoyed it.Down the A29 and at the top of a little rise there was Daddy to cheer me on
. He had intended to ride out to yesterday's race but decided to switch days and get up early to ride out to today's after seeing the weather. Nice to see an Addiscombe jersey cheering you on at the road side although I accept this one was a bit more partisan than all might be.I felt as though all was well and flew down the A29 and passed Joyce's (driven out by George) support to the left hander to complete my first loop. I was caught by a seeded rider here and chased him down the link road and over the start and a line of riders awaiting their 5,4,3,2,1,Go! My catcher and I had a bit of luck along here as there were a couple of horses being led across the road and they just made it before we arrived, if we'd been 20 seconds earlier we'd have had to slow right down to let them cross safely.
My 2nd loop felt good too and I picked it up a bit as the countdown mile markers started to appear. Passed Joyce again, now joined by my Dad, and on to the final wiggly bit. I had in my head that this was a bit shorter than it turned out to be but you can't have everything. I caught organiser extrodinaire Robin Johnson along here, he always sets himself off at number one and then gets back to the HQ to do the results board and hand out a big pile of prizes.
Up the final drag and my word that surface is shocking, glad I had road race tubs and not TT ones on today. I waited for Robin to finish and then rode back to the HQ with him picking up my Dad on the way.
Tea and times:
Rob R-E 1.04.03
Andrew G 1.04.35
George 1.01.03
Jon H 1.04.01
PVT (bad day at the office, he looked half dead) 1.10.50
Pete Tadros rode a very nice Planet X fixed (track/TT frame) and clocked 54.05
, although he looked a touch over geared a touch when I saw him on my way back to HQ he certainly shifted on it. The race win was a tie between the evergreen Steve Dennis and Big Ben Instone who both clocked a phenominal 53.40. As I said some of these really fast fellas don't seem to slow much no matter if the road rolls or not.Rambled on as ever
. Well done if you've made it this far, as you can probably tell I'm happy the racing season has started up again.
also had his name pulled out of the bag but had left the building so missed out on his prize. That'll teach him 
