The Vectis Festival is a series of 3 time trials on the Isle of Wight run by Vectis RC, run back to back on consecutive days getting longer with each day.
3 of us had signed up for this – George, Jon Hemming and myself, so we had a team
.I travelled down with Jon on Saturday and we checked in to the B&B we were staying at in Ventnor, a very nice place with great hospitality and very nice rooms.
We then set off for the HQ in Hulverstone, a good HQ at a pub which is run by the chairman/president of the Vectis with a marquee set up in the garden for sign in, cakes, prize giving. We met some nice folk from the promoting club and said hello to George and John the old ‘un who was helping out and pushing off on all 3 days.
As anyone who knows the Isle of Wight will know it isn’t flat, far from it, so all TTs were Sporting ones.
The first TT – 15.5 miles - Saturday evening
This was a simple out and back affair with the finish dead opposite the start. It was up and down the Military Road, starting at Brook and then heading up a more or less constant drag with a nasty half mile climb at the end to turn at Blackgang.
The wind! The Isle of Wight is a windy place and all weekend it was easterly/north easterly. We had a very strong head wind (on left shoulder or head on as the road weaved a bit) all the way to the turn up the drag. The strongest wind I’ve ever raced in (until Sunday) and the ride to the turn was a really hard slog, around the turn and fly back...literally! I was in 53/11 nearly all the way with 53/12 and 53/13 in a couple of places only going lower than that on a little drag which thanks to the head wind hadn’t really been noticeable as a down on the way out!
I knew the wind was very strong so basically rode an 8 mile TT knowing that it would be a doddle on the way back. A simple measure of the difference is my splits as I glanced at the time at the turn. 24 minutes to the turn, 15 minutes back
. Never have I seen such silly split times.Winner – Bill Girvan (North Hampshire RC) 35.15
Addiscombe:
2nd place - George 35.39
10th place - Andrew 39.45
14th place – Jon 40.51
We got 2nd place Team
.The Second TT – 22.5 miles - Sunday morning
This one started and finished outside the pub/HQ and consisted of a big loop followed by a small loop. The big loop took us from Hulverstone back to the Military Rd, back down the Military Rd (in to the wind – aggghhhh!) to Chale (turning in land at the base of the climb before the turn of day one). Turn in land and then back through the twisty lanes (through Kingston, Shorwell, Brighstone, Mottistone) which was mainly fast but with plenty of rolls and little digs up, also a few tight turns and s-bends, and finishing with a descent to fly back through the start/finish at the pub in Hulverstone. The small loop we continued through past the pub and back down to the Military Rd. Back in to the wind but turning inland after a couple of miles or so to go through Brighstone and back to finish at Hulverstone.
The headwind on the Military Road was even stronger! I thought 10 out of 10 on Saturday, on Sunday they turned the dial up to 11.
I went fairly well but not knowing the roads well enough (having driven through once) had to ease up at some of the tight bends, a couple of them tighten up on you and I went in a bit hot in to one of them and had to slam on the anchors when I saw the exit was a bit further round than I’d predicted, oops.
The Military Road leg was very hard but you did get some recovery in the lanes.
Winner – Bill Girvan (North Hampshire RC) 55.45
Addiscombe:
6th place - George 59.18 (but with a reason)
11th place - Andrew 1.03.20
12th place – Jon 1.03.46
We got 3rd place Team
.Post race – Jon and I went to Carisbrooke Castle, a really nice trip wandering around the castle and seeing the donkey wheel demo – like a hamster wheel but a donkey walks inside a big wheel to pull a bucket up from a well. I don’t know if spending all afternoon walking up and down steep rough stone steps was perfect recovery but it was very enjoyable.
The Third TT – 39.5 miles - Monday morning
This was two laps of the big circuit from the previous day and one small circuit.
Guess what, yep even windier than before, they blew up the amplifier! Even the locals were commenting on how strong the wind was this weekend, which didn’t make us feel special. I didn’t start too well and struggled up the Military Road for the first lap. Once in the lanes I started to feel better and got going and enjoyed the race. On the second big lap I was going pretty well and continued to go well quite well through to the finish.
Winner – Dave Dent (Wightlink/Offshore RT) 1.40.29
Addiscombe:
3rd place - George 1.41.43
10th place - Andrew 1.52.17
12th place – Jon 1.53.17
We got 2nd place Team
.Overall Result for the Festival:
1st Bill Girvan (North Hampshire RC) 3.11.54
2nd Dave Dent (Wightlink/Offshore RT) 3.13.31
3rd George 3.16.40
10th Andrew 3.35.22
12th Jon 3.37.54
Overall Team result – We got 3rd place just 15 seconds behind North Hampshire RC and 5 minutes behind the best Vectis team.
George picked up prize money for the 1st and 3rd races and for the overall, and we all picked up prize money for all races and overall for the Team
. George rode a blinder and but for an unfortunately on the second race could have challenged for overall top honours.All in probably the hardest racing I’ve done, all three races were very hard in really tough conditions on testing Sporting courses and having them back to back getting longer each time was a good test and great training.
A big congratulations to Vectis RC who put on a very good Festival of races, had generous prize money, and have some good riders. They are a bit of an unknown quantity racing as they don’t travel to the mainland much due to the cost it would make the race and the insane early time to leave to get the ferry over. They race club events every weekend and midweek during the season though on hard courses on the island so they are very strong.
A top weekend and a top weekend’s racing
. I'll sleep well tonight 
, even in leafy Surrey it was blowing a gale- nearly had me wig off.
