Well, last time I raced over these roads it was in the WCTTA 12hr event in August..Oh what a difference 6 months can make..
It was a early start for the WVCC boys [there were just 2 of us to face the timekeeper] as I was picking Andy Wooley up in Weaverham at 0700.
Bikes on the roof…we had a very interesting ride down to the HQ at Tilstock [near Whitchurch]. Andy was quite nervous and very worried as it was to be his first 25 EVER..
The forecast rain didn’t materialise until we left for home at 1100, however it was cold and very windy .. Andy was first off at No54 with me 12 mins later.. on the A41 between Prees and Tern Hill islands there were lots of times that the speed was up at the 27mph mark.. as I looked over to the other carriageway.. I could see riders heading towards the finish, making real hard work of the trip back into the wind.
Both Andy and I found that stretch really tough.. open, headwind, uphill and bad patch made for a tough finish.. one of those were you just watch the average speed tumble downwards..
Andy stopped the clocked with a very creditable 1:06:08 and he was very pleased with his finish time [even though he was a bit wheezy on the way home as the air went down into the depths of his respiratory system that it hadn’t been to for a long time!]
I managed a 1:04:40 [a 2min improvement on the Chelford event of 2 weeks ago.. so I getting over my unplanned ‘concussion’ and broken rib of 5 weeks ago]
Bryn Davies of the Haffen CC was leading when we left with a 54:20.. and as there were only about another 20 riders to finish, I suspect this would have been up there. There seemed to be less ‘under the hour’ rides today, reflecting the toughness of the day..