A drizzle while I warmed up on the rollers turned into a full downpour for the event but nobody escaped and luckily there were no accidents on the twisting 'P' shaped course alongside the M40 to the Harewood House roundabout on the Fosse Road and then back through Kineton and Gaydon near the Heritage Motor Centre.
The start on the B4100 was down a long hill but unlike a normal Time Trial where there is a tendency to 'gift' you a fast start the roadmen 'hardmen' of the LVRC make you finish up the said hill which makes for a lung bursting finish on the slopes up to Edge Hill.
A last minute slap of embrocation was quickly applied as the rain came down harder, I was the last in my age category away last years victor (Andy Eagers) wasn't riding and BTTC Champ (Kevin Tye) DNS so it was looking good for me. Having not ridden in the cold wet conditions for ages I was slow getting going but cautious as there were some tough hilly sections before the finish and I made sure I reved up and over all of these catching several riders but my minute man proved elusive when I had a minute of road ahead.
There was a steep decent into Kineton with a tight left hander at the bottom and my brakes on carbon took ages to take effect as I tried to keep a close line without ending in a ditch. Back on the B4100 at Gaydon and the road straightened out and I was able to see I was 10-15 seconds up on my MM but I could not close the gap any more
The winners
In the end Michael Ellerton (Team Swift) beat me by 39 seconds 42:59 to take the title, he had beaten me by over a minute in the recent Team Swift '25' so it was to 'form' and I had to be happy with my 43:38 and the runners up spot, Tim Booth (Newark Castle) my mm was a further 16 seconds back in third. I was 4th fastest overal, only two of the 'A' cat (40-44) Champion James Heaton (Leasure Lakes) 42:48 and Andrew Meliak (ODLS Racing) 43:36 while the 'C' cat won by Jim Moffatt (Spirite RT) 43:46, 'D' Peter Greenwood (Clayton Velo) 44:30, 'E' Tony Taylor (Team Endura) 46:18, 'F' Roger Iddles (Stourbridge Velo) 45:21, 'G' Mick Ives (Team Endura) 49:53 and the ladies Ruth Eyles (Beacon RC) 45:33
That's my final event of the year - 55 Events
4 x Hilly
1 x circut TT
1 x 2 Up
1 x 3 Up
7 x Crits
3 x RR + 1 x Prologue
11 x 10 (2 x OldSkool)
9 x 25 (2 x OldSkool)
3 x Track
3 x Pursuit
8 x 50
3 x 100
1 x 12
Total 1993.7 miles
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