Chris Kitchenham writes…
After a few road races and a few 10’s, I thought it was time to have a go at beating 2 hours for a 50, before riding some 25s later in the year. The Finsbury Park event uses the fast F1 course which uses 2 laps of the 25 course on the A1 in Bedfordshire.
Arriving early is was a little chilly – but the tops of the trees were encouragingly motionless, and there were high hopes for a fast event.
I was number 72 of 90 riders but the southerly wind was already beginning to increase. This meant that the Sandy to Buckden leg was made easier – but the return leg became harder than usual! I went through 25 miles in 58 minutes and then got to the southern turn at Sandy at 26 miles and flew back to Buckden at 27mph all the way. At the top turn, my fears were confirmed and the wind has got up appreciably, the last 11 miles were into a block headwind.
I struggled back to Black Cat roundabout still averaging about 23 mph. But then the last 3 miles I tired significantly as the wind strengthened and the rain began to fall. I was down under 20mph and only kept going by the fact I knew I had done it, but a very fast time evaporated away from me, but I crossed the line, at about 19mph in 1.58.54.
Back at the HQ this was put into perspective when Ian Cammish’s time was put up at sub 1.44.56, just shows the fast boys are fast…………………..always!
