Charlotteville 50

[Andrew G]

A few of us over at Bentley today for this one - Dominic, Jon, Rob, and myself.

Nice sunny morning but initially it felt a bit chilly. Back out in the car park to collect my bike after number pinning on and there was a bit of warmth coming off the sun so I ditched the armwarmers and put my track mitts on rather than the full fingers. Glad I did as it was a nice temperature out there.

The course is 2 full laps (up and down) and about half a lap, turning at the mid point roundabout at the third time of asking.

I was 4th rider off (no.5) and caught numbers 2 and 3 inside quarter of an hour . I've never ridden these roads before and they're pretty good, a bit of a bumpy section in one place (like riding on a stone sorter) but it wasn't long. The surface is nice and smooth and the road seemed to swoop and drag a lot, gentle rollers though so no groveling just had to work up and down the cassette a bit.

After the first lap I felt fine so started to pick it up a bit as I thought I'd started a bit too easy. This was only my second 50 so I'm not exactly an old hand at pacing them. On the return leg of the second lap the wind had picked up a bit. The first lap had been nice and calm but there was a noticeable touch of the blowy stuff heading back. I was going quite well and felt fine so the breeze wasn't a problem and I caught number 4 on one of the little drags. Number 8 had caught me so I had to make do with being second rider in.

Starting the short third lap I really tried to push it, making every effort to try and keep the speed up. I'd had a rather optimistic target in my head (5 mins faster than my previous 50) and it was going to tough to get close to it after my slightly too easy first lap. Around the final turn and...blimey that wind has really picked up now. The final 5 miles were a bit of a slog as the wind felt tough and I was struggling to push in to it. The drags were now hard work and I knew my optimistic target had gone for a burton but I just went as hard as I could to the checkered flag. Glad I had an early start as I felt for those still out for another lap or so in the increasing wind.

Back at HQ, off the bike and ouch the pins hurt, specifically the quads were really sore. I'd switched the spacers on my tri-bars to raise them a bit more. In theory for extra comfort but it seemed to have altered my position a touch so they have hastily been switched back to the smaller ones, and fingers crossed I won't have the same aches after my other 50s.

Important stuff - tea, 2 pieces of very nice flapjack, and a time.
2:12:56 (22.5mph ave) a PB by 2 minutes . My optimistic target had been a 2:10 and I think I'd have got close if the wind had stayed as it was on lap 1. Hey-ho that's racing, just got the target still there to knock over and can't be disappointed with a PB by 2 minutes.

I had to shoot off straight away for my Dad's birthday jelly and ice-cream so didn't get any other times or a chance to speak to any of the other ACC post race.

[Jon H]

Well done on the new PB Mr Antisocial

The rest of us were well down on our PBs. I didn't write them down so don't know the seconds, but Dominic did a 2:02, I did a 2:07 and Rob did a 2:08.

I did about half the race with a big fat 0 showing on my speedo so didn't have a clue how I was going. It stopped working on the bumpy descent from Holybourne to Chawton the first time, then started working again at Holybourne on the return, and switched itself off and on a couple more times before the finish.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

It won't last Jon

semms like a tough day out there -well done all for persevering - I think I would have found the short distance back to the hall too appealing with a strong wind out there.

[Dominic]

I was off 82 and was judging my ride by how quickly 85 and 90 (Paul Holdsworth) would catch me. It was quite a shock to be caught by 83 within 5 miles and I thought that I would see him again. I was wrong on this point. Felt like I was going quite well and took it steady as planned up until about mile 30. Still no sign of 85 or 90. I thought to myself, not going too bad this. However between miles 30 and 40 it went a bit Pete Tong. Tried to up the pace a bit and found myself feeling sick. I also had undercarriage issues that at one point I thought was going to make me stop.

Seemed to clear up after that and then I was caught by 85 who although was pulling away was not pulling away that quickly. I got caught by Paul Holdsworth about 3 miles from the finish and then realised that he was not on a good day for him, (his LTS time is 1.40). Gave it some to the finish and felt quite chuffed until I looked at my watch.

My official time was 2.02.21. 5 minutes slower than last year. The conditions were not as good but I thought I may have got within 2 or 3 minutes of last years time. Still some work to be done

[Toks]

Good work boys, I'm sure that A. Green fella has been training Well done Andrew

[Andrew G]

Stop swearing Toks (and thanks).

A selections of pictures below as the photographer has kindly said they can be copied, I've only put smaller copies in but all the pics are [url=http://www.pbase.com/blinkmanphotos/charlotteville_open_50]here[/url] with some other snaps of us lovely yellow folk, and the bonus of some beard and trike action .

Jon
[img]http://i.pbase.com/g1/38/662238/3/112396977.rHwvw9pa.jpg[/img]
Rob
[img]http://i.pbase.com/g1/38/662238/3/112396878.MSsjFgsu.jpg[/img]
Dominic
[img]http://i.pbase.com/g1/38/662238/3/112397011.Ir7iYaVB.jpg[/img]
Me (ashamed to say despite having the gaffer tape in my kit bag I forgot to put it on my arm in memory of Gareth).
[img]http://i.pbase.com/g1/38/662238/3/112396632.w1RSKqKA.jpg[/img]
The End - I'm sure we can all feel his pain, but is it a good or bad pain he's feeling?
[img]http://i.pbase.com/g3/38/662238/3/112396978.z92FJCr3.jpg[/img]

[mark mclaughlin]

Well done chaps, can't get my head round doing a 50 yet. Another PB Mr Green, just need to get under the hour this year with all that training.