It was a lovely warm day perfect for fast times on this course, only thing was there was a constant stiff wind blowing.
Met Jon Hemming at the HQ as he was off much earlier than us.
Off I went, once onto this beautifully smooth dual carrigeway I was tanking along and really could have done with a 10 sprocket or a 57 chainring.
Got to the turn with an average speed of 32mph felt like a pro
wahay I thought this was gonna be a good un for sure 
Then round the roundabout and boom straight into the wind, this felt like I had to push my legs at more than twice the effort to attain a speed below 30mph, I tried and I tried and I tried but couldn't get that speedo into the 30's, still it was something to get your teeth into.
So I grit my teeth and slammed it into the 11 sprocket and was only managing 65 rpm, felt like riding up titsey hill, hat to think what Nik Bowdlers cadence must have been with his 76 chainring
I tried a once to go down the cassette and get the cadence up but noticed the speed dropped off, so the only way to ride this leg of the course was to power it in top gear, even noticed the photographer changed her exposure to 2 seconds on the way back.
Finally crossed the line which took ages to arrive at and got off the bike to wait for John L who started 4 mins later, It took ages for my heart to get below 120 and my hearing was all messed up cos every car that passed just pulsated in my eardrums.
Waited and waited but no John asked if the riders finishing had spotted no. 99 but to no avail.
Back at the ranch Jon H was there and we commented about the return leg into the wind which as a matter of fact was the longer leg of nearly 6 miles, it's a shame cos this is a super flat course and on a good day I believe it's the fastest one around London area I've seen.
John L made the turn at a super pace even managing to hold off Sam Barker his very fast minute man till just before the turn then hit that wall of wind on the return leg which sucked all the power out his legs, he felt his mind wasn't on the job at hand so took the first available exit out of that nasty wind for a tootle back to the HQ for a DNF.
Afterwards John was feeling a bit bad about his decision especially when he had to let his coach know but really there was no point in him slugging his guts out just for a 28 or 29, at his age there really is nothing to prove except enjoyment of the sport and I can tell ya that return leg was only enjoyment for sadists
Had a great day out driving there and back with John who's been super motivated this year and has transformed his riding and fitness levels to a degree he thought impossible last year, finally back at home I'll catch up with some sleep. Great course good safe road conditions lovely hot day horrible wind
Jon H 24.46
Moi 22.56
Jon L DNF
Hutch 19.57
