The club’s Wednesday evening TT season is now underway, with two different types of events now completed. The first on 29th March was the Come & Try 5-mile TT at Gaydon, followed by the first of our 2-Up TTs on the club’s longer, but popular K4/20 course, this week.
Whilst different in both distance and discipline, they both had one thing in common – the weather. Both events attracted 18 plucky riders, who were keen to start their season, in what were far from ideal conditions – an overcast sky, light rain and somewhat on the chilly side. On the plus side, the wind was very light, which no doubt played its part in the breaking of two course records so early in the season.
The Gaydon 5-mile event was won by Josh Lovell, with a time of 10.45, with fellow race secretary Richard Santhouse 26 seconds in arrears and Sam Harding from Rugby Velo, a further 8 seconds back in third. First lady home and fourth overall, was second claim member Sian Marsh (Team Boompods) on 11.23, which broke her own non-BSCC record by 4 seconds. Peggy Simpkins lowered the FU18 record by 12 seconds and whilst father Jon was not on his normal TT bike, she did beat him by 12 seconds.
The 2-Up attracted 7 teams, with a few riders choosing to ride solo. Tactics play quite a big role in this discipline, with each rider taking a turn on the front, in order to give the shielded following rider a slight rest. Knowing and gauging your partners ability is key to all this, with the stronger rider usually taking longer turns on the front.
2-Up winners Lovell/Nixon emerge from the gloom in tight formation (photo Tobi Ng)
Partnered with Nick Nixon, Josh Lovell won again, with a very respectable time of 27.36. In second place were Mark Davis and Steve Goddard on 31.03, whilst in third were joint club presidents Mark Boyles and Matt Sleath on 33.31. Father and daughter, Simon and Poppy Kisley, had a great ride to fourth on 34.07, ahead of the first women’s team of Denise Shepherd and Annie Heaney on 34.13. Fastest solo rider on the night was Richard Santhouse on 29.01.
Thanks, as usual to TT secretary Rhys Martin for organising the event, plus his band of happy marshals.
Don’t forget, you no longer need to pre-register for these TTs and can again just turn up on the night. The full season calendar is on the website, listing courses and start times.