50 mile TT National Championship

[Jon H]

Five of us were back on the A1 in Bedfordshire this morning for the national championship 50. A slightly different variation on the course took us out on a dog-leg to start with on a new bypass, then up the A1 north, back down further south than last week, and finishing back near the start.
A westerley wind made the part out to the first turn hard, then it fairly even on the north-south A1 section.

Dominic was off 1st out of the five of us, but didn't get much further than halfway, continuing his unlucky streak with yet another puncture and a DNF.

I was up next, finished in 2:02:40 which was 22 seconds slower than last week, in 94th place out of 120-odd finishers.

After me was Paul T, who was going well until he turned at the wrong roundabout at the southern end of the course, so only did 46 miles and so was also a DNF.

Next up, Rob R-E, 2:03:43, 3 places behind me in 97th.

Finally Rich V, seeded much closer to the back end of the field with all the fast guys, stormed round in 1:52:10, a new PB and a very respectable 44th.

And Michael Hutchinson took his 8th succesive 50 mile title in a pretty rapid 1:42:22.

[tel]

Well done to all the finishers. Poor old Dom, hope all his bad luck is behind him. Pb in th Nats can`t be bad.

Terry

[Andrew G]

Fantastic time Richard. Well done Jon and Rob on quick times as well.

Paul you must've been mad, please don't take it out on us next week.

Dominic I think you should just fit solid tyres now and be done with it. What do you use tyres or tubs? If it's tyres I find GP4000s good (speed and punctures). Sadly not quite as good as the GP3000 predecessor but heh that's progress I guess. (I find the 4000s don't feel quite as sure footed in the wet, and I've had sidewall spits on bad impact punctures). Best price I've found is at Ribbles, about £21.

[Dominic]

Superb time by Richard

I have been contemplating the tyre question and the amount of usage of my ProRace (between beers) all afternoon. I have counted and apart from commuting for a week on the aforementioned tyres, I have only raced on them about 7 tmes. Less than 500 miles.

I will buy a new set of ProRace and see how I go and in light of that I may buy a flash set of wheel and have bash at tubs.

Congrats to all that finished, I am very jealous. Oh and Hutch looked phenonamally fast.

[Stu Merckx Man]

good stuff lads!

[Dominic]

Marco,

I spent an hour on Wednesday checking the rims etc. It seems to be different spots everytime.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Fantastic ride by Richard on what wasn't the easiest of days and only 47 seconds away from bagging his 2nd club record- chapeau

Simple mistake at roundabout - could happen to anyone and finished with a 1:53:41, so still beaten by RV

Rich, Jon and Rob were just 3 minutes off the club team 50 record to boot. Let's get it next time!