Hounslow & District Wheelers 100 - 25/05/14

[SteveD]

Paul, Chris McHugh and I down to ride this one, Paul and I having the 24 in mind but Chris not starting. We fluked a dry, bright but breezy day between rain soaked Saturday and today, though it was chilly early on (even at my start time of 9:44).

My plan was to ride at a good steady pace with the 24 in mind rather than really race. The early chill, however, made breathing very troublesome for the first hour or so and I found it difficult to judge my pace (at one point I was wondering whether the breathing or hypothermia would mean I wouldn't finish - and there were guys just wearing skinsuits!). I actually went through the 25 mile mark in 1:08 which was a bit faster than I expected. Luckily the temparature rose by a few degrees as time went on and my breathing became more comfortable allowing me to settle into a steady pace with the next three 25s all being around 1:12 giving me a final time of 4:45:29. Paul was obviously pushing a bit harder and recorded an excellent 4:34:13 (not sure about the seconds) on a far from easy day. The winner was Adam Topham with a superb 3:40.

[Andrew G]

Well done guys, tough wind yesterday. I hear the top part of the course has a very rough road surface these days.