Despite getting up at some silly hour for our 6.03am start on Saturday in the Catford 10 Paul T and I showed remarkably good humour when we get to the course and find that the whole of the return leg of the course is closed for roadworks. 5.00 am at the HQ and plenty of time for a good natter and cup of tea with Paul and Rob RE before turning round and going home to get some sleep. My good humour was probably partly explained by the relief at not having to ride the tandem down the ski slope start with Paul in control. In our one and only training session Paul had accused me of backing off at some points, which as I explained was my only way of exerting any control over the manic driver on the front
Sunday was a trip back up to Tempsford on the A1 to ride one of the 2 '30's' I had planned to ride this year. Paul's 30 record (see sticky topic above) being one of the targets I'd missed out on last year. Having suffered like a dog last week with 12.5 miles directly into a biting headwind I wasn't looking forward to this event. The course was almost the same simply going a bit further south before turning. That gave the possibility of 15 miles into a biting headwind if the wind was in the same direction.
As I drove up the promised rain was starting to arrive. At the HQ the sky was grey the road was wet but the rain wasn't actually falling. The good news was the wind seemed a lot lighter than it had been last week and seemed to be more of a cross-wind this week.
Ummed a bit about whether to start. Riding on a dual carriageway when spray is flying is not my idea of fun (or sanity) but there wasn't any real standing water and it looked as if the rain may hold off. Decided I could always pull off and turn round if it started to rain whilst I was riding so started to get everything ready. Lots of sullen faces around and no-one seemed to be particularly up for it. Erred a bit about which wheels to use. Disk/trispoke versus deep-rim front and back. The disk/trispoke is much quicker but the Vittoria tyres don't perform well in the wet. The deep-rims have Conti tubs on them which are much more stable. Speed won the day but decided I would take things very easy on the turns.
Shorter than normal warm-up due to umming about whether to ride. The first part of the course was exactly the same as last week. Recently I've been going out hard for the first 10 miles and then hanging on in an attempt to develop my speed prior to the National 10 Championships next week. Today I decided to ride an even pace in an attempt to beat my PB (just over 1.09). So off slightly slower than last week, keeping a cap on everything. Got to the first turn pretty quickly, knocking out slightly quicker than 11 minute 5-mile pace and turning at 7.5 mile in about 16.10. This was a touch slower than last week. At the turn waited to hit the head wind and prepared for a 35 minute slog
This week, however, the headwind didn't really seem to be there. You could feel it slightly but it didn't make a big difference. I knew that if I could knock out 11 minute 5-mile pace on the way back I'd get pretty close to the club record so settled into a steady rhythm.
Got to the bottom turn (22.5 miles) in 49.30 and was bang on target. Was starting to worry more about the club record then a pb. Just needed to hold things together
At the turn I see a car starting to come round the roundabout. I had time to go in front if I didn't brake but that would make the turn a bit tight. Remembering that it was wet I hit the brakes and rolled to a near standstill waiting for the car to get out of the way. Was overtaken by the rider I'd come past 30 seconds earlier as he didn't have to slow so much.
I'd lost a bit of time but felt I could make it up on the way back. Started to get back into a rhythm, but as I'm changing down to go up a slight drag I drop the chain
(I really should think about putting a front derailleur on just to hold the chain in place). Fortunately this week I'm a bit more relaxed about it and manage to pick it up and put it on without losing too much momentum and avoiding having to stop. At 25 miles I was about 20 seconds down on record pace but things had settled down (apart from my nerves every time I changed gear 
).
The finish was shortly after a turn off the black cat roundabout. Fortunately it wasn't quite as far along as it had been last week but I wasn't sure quite where it was. Hit the turn, and then 30 miles on my computer in 1.05.50. Still no sign of the finish. All courses are about 0.1 miles too long to make sure that they are not too short
and my computer wasn't necessarily absolutely accurate but where was it 
Then just as the road started to bend around I saw the chequered board tucked away in a lay-by at the side.
Finished in 1.06.11 so very chuffed. Sorry Paul
Then, just after the finish the rain starts to fall, enough to soak me by the time I get back to the car but I don't really care. Then when taking the bike apart I find the tyre is very soft. I'd picked up a slow puncture somewhere but hadn't noticed it.
fortunately there is no real call for stopping quickly in most tts 