Steve Dennis writes…
It’s a funny old game, Cycling. I mean, you watch the results week by week on certain courses, namely the G10/42 at Holmwood, and every week the conditions
are perfect and everyone is doing personal bests.
At last I get the chance to ride an ‘Open’ on a Sat afternoon in the hope of improving on my personal
best. I get the kids packed off to their grandmother so I can do all the necessary preparations without any hinderance, take a nice gentle ride over to Dorking, line up for the start and I’m off – into the tooth of a howling gale! I now know why it was such an easy ride to Dorking!
Anyway I get going as best as I can, the wind is buffeting me all over the road, then half way along the Capel by-pass I almost run out of gears as the wind hits me full on. Things are a tad easier after the turn but it only meant you had to pedal extra fast to make up for lost time. At the finish, speeds were
recorded in excess of 47 mph which sort of made up for the outward leg.
The result board showed the evidence of the tough conditions as most riders were a minute or more down on their normal times. Didn’t stop Michael Hutchinson
though – he won with 20:12. I managed 2nd place 59 seconds down (21:11), beating Keith Coffey by 27 seconds. No other Grinstead riders entered. (They didn’t miss much! ).
