Steve Dennis writes…
…..There were only 29 riders on the start sheet of the VTTA Surrey &
Sussex 25 mile TT on sunday morning. Probably down to the fact that the
person down to organise it had moved house and has not been seen since!
There are probably about 30 or 40 envelopes sitting on their doormat.
Anyway, VTTA secretary Esther Carpenter stood in at the last minute to
save the day. And what an event it turned out to be.
The morning was still and misty on the A22 at Maresfield, for the trip
down to Boship and back, so misty in fact that the officials considered
delaying the start, but in the end it was started on time.
It was just
Paul Winkley, Ange Nainby and myself from EGCC who managed to get an entry in, and with both Ange and
Paul a non starter (Paul due to a cold), it was down to yours truly.
Five weeks off racing, I’ve decided is not such a good idea – during
the racing season anyway. Especially when you’re up against blokes like
Gordon MacCauley, the PCA professional who was using the event as last
minute preperation for the world championship TT in Germany this week.
He dispensed any ideas that it was a “heavy” morning and not suited to
fast times when he romped around in 50 mins 50 seconds – the second
fastest time ever on this course after Graeme Obree’s stunning ride in
the national champs in 1996 (48:55).
The rest of us were just scrapping for 2nd place after that, with
Dennis getting the verdict from Mark Winton of Lewes, with 54:48.
