West London CA 10 - 27 Sept

[SteveD]

This was my last race of the season and turned out to be a bit of a whimper. The event was on a course (possibly a new one) I hadn't ridden before - the H10/3A on a B road to the west of Newbury (I'm told the 10 championship is on this course next year). The day was bright with clear skies and very light wind, promising some good times. There is even a downhill start which you don't have to climb on the way back.

My ride started well on the generally smooth surface until I got to the first village after about 1.5 miles where the road surface is ultra smooth. This however leads you into a false sense of security as there is what can only be described as a hill as you leave the village. By the time I reached the top I was down to 13 mph but told myself this would be good fun on the way back. From the top of the hill it is pretty much gently down hill to the turn which is fairly straight forward despite being a junction with the A4. Coming back was a complete grovel to the top of the hill and even the downhill run to the finish was disappointing.

I finshed with 24:05 thinking that either I had done a spectacularly bad ride, the course is actually spectacularly slow or the conditions had been completely deceptive. A look at the result board showed that all the times were pretty slow with a 22 being the quickest time - it had to be the course or the conditions then (well that's my theory).

Ah well, I can look forward to next season now and hope for some better weather next summer.

[Andrew G]

B road, hill, all sounds a bit "Sporting". Tidy time again though.