>Yesterday it was back to the Marlow course with it’s ski jump start. A fortnight ago I did a ‘recent years’ best there with 1:3:42 and I wanted to improve on that. I was off at 7:39am in the High Wycombe CC event and it was cold! My warm up was interrupted by a mechanical (my bars moved), but the climb to the start meant that I was ready to go. Unfortunately the 15 minute wait meant I cooled down again (why can’t I judge warm up timings?).
The start was okay, though I bottled the two mile descent again – moving to the base bars as the bike started to move about. I seemed to be flying going to the turn and when I turned for home I realised why. Headwind. I don’t suppose there was more than a breeze, but it made the ride to the finish a struggle. Most people seemed to go back 90-120 seconds on their times of a fortnight ago, so I was pleased(ish) with 1:3:45. If you can’t go faster it is useful to consolidate your form, which is what I didn’t do last weekend.
The rest of the day was spent manning a feed station at The Archer RC GP Sportive. That’s a hard course. Chapeau to all those who rode it.
Tuesday night is a 10m TT at Bentley. My 10 time is a disgrace, so there’s work to do there. Next weekend we’re going to see family on the border and I’ll take the chance to ride a fast Welsh course on Sunday morning.
Lance Woodman 