Steve Dennis writes…
…….On to the 25 on Sunday – time to put the record straight, I thought.
The day dawned much the same as Saturday but quickly improved to reveal dry roads and very little wind….perfect!
I bundled the TT bike into the car and headed off to Okewood Hill again, conditions improving all the time – even some sunshine. There were only two Grinstead riders down to ride today, the other being Alan MacInnes.
At 09:31 Alan was thrown into action and quickly set about a blistering pace with blatant disregard for a rather ominous looking bulge in his front tyre! The tyre held out and he clocked a very respectable 58:46.
I set off down the road 9 minutes after him hell-bent on revenge after yesterdays debacle. Fully ‘Zipped’ and ‘aeroed’ up, I followed the G25/44 course which involves two laps of a circuit starting in Marches Road near Warnham, goes up to the A24 at Kingsfold then north to Beare Green, south through Ockley and back up Marches Road again. After the second lap you keep on the A29 to Clemsfold. bear left and turn left again shortly after up what can only be described as a cart track known locally as Strood Lane.
It was a 5 mile ride back to the HQ so plenty of time to warm down and reflect on the ride. I’d stopped my watch on 53:40 so you can imagine my surprise when I got back to the HQ and saw that Ben Instone had done exactly the same time! With Pete Tadros clocking 54:05 we were equal 1st place, which made it difficult presenting the one bottle of Champagne that the organizer had brought along.
So on this occasion, it was most definitely about the bike!
Steve recorded his rideResults 1= Steve Dennis East Grinstead CC 53-40 1= Ben Instone Scientific-Coaching 53-40 3 Peter Tadros In-Gear RT 54-05 4 David Shepherd GS Stella 57-43 5 Niall Digby Sigma Sport 57-59 6 Alan Macinnes East Grinstead CC 58-46 52 riders
