Hainault RC hilly time trial

[Jon H]

Another March Sunday, so time for another cold hilly time trial. I ventured north of the river again into Essex for the Hainault RC hilly, as it's the second event in the Spoco South East competition. An unusual course - an undulating 10 mile circuit which isn't too bad and would make a good sporting course on its own, followed by an out and back bit including about 10 miles of evil road without a metre of flat on it, and a 1 in 8 climb thrown in for good measure. 28.8 miles in all.

I was off at no. 16, caught no. 14 after about three miles and continued to catch people all the way round whilst not getting caught by anyone myself. I knew I was on a good ride when I caught no. 10 a couple of miles before the finish, either that or he was having a bad day.

So, being one of the first back to the HQ I had plenty of time for tea and cake while the results came in. The winner got round in 1:12:35, and I scraped into the top 10 with 1:21:36. Pretty pleased with that.

[Andrew G]

Sounds like you were flying, catching 6 riders! Congratulations.
Please make sure you are many riders away from me for my TT debut in the evening 10s.

[Jon H]

Yep, second outing on my new bike, and it got dirty.

I actually caught ten riders; everyone in front of me except 4,5,12 & 15 (and number 13 who didn't start). What surprised me about catching number 10 is that the guys with a zero on their back are normally the fast guys in the field. I was equally surprised that I didn't get caught by number 20.