Up at 5am, togs on, brekky, out the door at 5.30, pick up Mark McL at 5.45, arrive at HQ at 6.45, unload Mark who has an earlier start time than me, then have a bit of time to kill. Helped a damsel in distress pump her tyres up (to 180psi
), got a text from Andrew saying he'd overslept, bit of a natter with a couple of peeps, pinned a couple of numbers to people's bums, then it was time to get ready.
The rain we'd driven down in had stopped by this time, although the roads were still pretty wet so I got a wet bum and feet as soon as I started getting warmed up. Decent temperature though, so not too bad.
A stonkingly fast trip out to the first turn, then back into the headwind. Going up Tollgate hill was a welcome break from the headwind! Felt reasonably good all the way round and I could push the gears into the wind to keep the speed up. Had some very oddball readings on my speedo because it had got wet - it was showing a cadence of 457 at one point.
I usually figure that if I get to the Southwater turn in 50 minutes then a sub-hour ride is on the cards. 52 minute this time, damn. Finished in 1:01:40. Reasonably pleased with that though, and at least I've qualified for the SCCU BAR now.
ACC results:
Dominic Lowe 01:00:38
Jon Hemming 01:01:40
Mark McLaughlin 01:01:56
Robert Royle-Evatt 01:02:00
Steve Hehir (2nd claim) 01:04:18
Tamar Collis 01:09:01
Mike Ingram DNF