East Sussex Cycling Association 25 M TT April 2015 on G25/89
At 0600 I looked out the window and as forecasted, it was raining. Well to be more specific, a light drizzle but judging by the puddles on the patio it had been doing that for a while. I stared outside for a while and reminded myself that I don’t like riding in the rain and with the poor road conditions it would not make for a fast time so why bother.
Back in bed and wondering had I made the right decision I recalled what our Club Chairman, Richard said yesterday before we started the beginners ride. “He would be treating the race as a training ride due to the predicted rain”.
I arrived at the HQ about 7.15 and collected 92 which had me setting off late in the field at 08:32. I looked to the sky and saw no dark clouds and no rain. The tarmac also looked quite dry so things were looking up for the “training ride” Saw no sign of Richard Woodward or Ted Boorman who were on the start sheet with me to make 3 East Grinstead riders ready for training!
After a warm up with the water proof jacket on (it had been raining now for 30 minutes but not hard) I went to the line. The first 3 miles are quite quick so normally the average speed achieved, always builds false hope. By the time I got to little Horsted I was up on my best pace for this course as was that false hope (thanks to a northerly wind). The road was dry which was odd considering it was raining 3 miles north. At around 5 miles in I spotted Richard coming the other way, on his training ride but he looked grim. One mile later I found out why as it was raining again.
By the turn, I was still on for a course PB so wondered about converting the training ride into a major effort. Although the drizzle was back and I could feel some wind from the right as I headed west, I felt like I had a bit left.
Chris Parker the organiser, in his post match report stated that many commented that later on there was unusually, a stiff head wind for the last few miles. Yes, I would agree with that Chris, as the normally faster last 5 miles was not that quick at all but at least it had stopped raining. I crossed the line in 1:04:06 which was an improvement on last week so things are looking up.
Back at the HQ for cake, no sign of Richard but I did see the product of his “training ride” which was a respectable 1:05:45. Looked like Ted did the sensible thing and stayed in bed.
64 of the 99 riders on the start sheet turned up and finished so a few wimps in stayed in bed I guess 🙂 At a few points on that ride I wished I was one of the 35!
Results
1st James Lowden Neon Velo 53:32
2nd Tom Glandfield Lewes Wanderers 54:28
3rd Nick Dwyer Lewes Wandereres 54:39
34th Ben Crick EGCC 1:04:06
44th Richard Woodward EGCC 1:05:45
Ben C
