Mike Anton writes…
Last year I travelled up to join Brian Phillips on a blast around the A11 and A14.
That event was held in perfect conditions and a huge number of people recorded PBs, with the winner, Nik Bowdler scoring the 4th fastest ever 50.
With this in mind I decided to have another go this year and with a splash more preparation, was hopeful of a better time.
It was a glorious sunny afternoon and being the 3rd from last to start, I wasn’t off until 3:28. As we drove along some of the course I could see some of the earlier competitors en route and there did seem to be some heavy legged bar chewing going on. This confirmed my fears that the NE wind was stronger than had been predicted.
You start on the A11 and head SW which was great with a tail wind. Unfortunately the bottom turn came along too soon and it was back NE in to the wind. Doggedly grinding on to the A14 interchange there were a few fast bits but the average speed continued to drop.
The top turn has a short dog leg off the dual carriageway and I had hoped to get back on to the fast road in just over an hour. That goal was totally out of the window by then so I had to content myself with making the most of the fast bits where I could comfortably turn the big gear over.
Eventually arriving at the bottom turn I was starting to panic that time was slipping away and there was another 5 miles back in to the wind.
What seemed like an age later, I eventually managed to sneak in under 2 hours, passing the timekeepers with 1:59:28.
Brian was on his fixed and had an immeasurably better ride than me, finishing in a cracking 1:51:57.
Looking at the results boards and listening to some of the comments, it appears that folk were generally 2 – 3 minutes slower than last year, so if nothing else, I was consistent with others.
egcc results Brian Phillips 01:51:57 Mike Anton 01:59:28
