NNO 25 + SB 50

I had a couple of fast outings mid July while the 100th Tour was wending its way through France, the North Nott's Oly '25' I've ridden numerous times on fixed usually but this time I plumped for gears as I've not done much and I was wanting to get the best out of myself in the next week Shaftsbury '50'
Almost a repeat of last year when the long spell of dry weather was broken by thunder storms that fell early evening, gone are the days when a Saturday time trial was midday due to traffic count this part of the Great North Road is used in the early evening (first rider 5PM) so it was a long days wait (I did 20m in the AM & some Yoga) watching the Tour for inspiration. The first 30 or so riders were deluged to the point where the A1 was almost un-rideable and some competitors decided it was too dangerous but by the time I was off an hour later the rain had completely cleared up and the temperature dropped and all we were left with was damp roads to contend with.
I still did a good warm-up on the 'rollers' as my legs had been sore after doing my first Mallory Park evening criterium in two years on the Tuesday, I finished in the bunch and a bit of a shock to the system. The wind was a bit weird stirred up by the evening storms and I set out with the aim of not going too much into the red too early! 10:45 for my first (5m) split and then 11:02 and 11:20 as I negotiated the damp turn and then picked up a bit on the way back, as it was evidently faster 10:24 as you climb up to Newark and then 10:14 dropping down to finish at Sutton on Trent 53:46 about 30 seconds down on my usual for this course but good enough for 10th and only 2:30 off the winner's time Adam Gascoigne (Loughborough)
The next Saturday I have the Uber fast '50' on the Newmarket bypass and around (A14/A11) Last year this event was run off in almost perfect windless conditions but today we have a steady NW wind that will make the long 20 mile pull out to the turn at Red Lodge hard work and the heat is there to make it worse, I still see some riders with a bare 500ml bottle and some with none at all but I'm taking a full litre! (of water) and it can go on my legs if I think I don't need it.
The first ten miles out and home 21:57 does not look bad as I think anything inside 1:50 today will be a 'good job' so I have to average 22:00 for each ten mile section over the duration, my second split 23:34 is not so pleasant as the wind hampers my progress but I dare not put in too much for fear of overdoing it and having nothing for the return. After a while my legs get the hang of the conditions but my head still has to rule and the (out & home) third split 22:28 means I can let loose a bit as I now have a tail wind and the worst is out the way 19:58 is good work and pulls back the time lost on the two previous splits but I still have to do the final ten miles, (the same as the first) This means a hard final five miles but 21:41 gives me a time of 1:48:51 making a negative split of nearly 5 minutes as I was at the '25' point in 56:51 and then a nice round 52:00 for the second half. Just shows what you can make back if you hold your nerve, last year I was 53:04 to the turn and I suffered on the way back into the wind as I usually put everything into the first half but when you only have a limited amount of condition you have to be assiduous with it and on this occasion I think I played it right. Winner was a new name at this level Jon Wynn (Northover VT) 1:40:47 (52:10) from current BBAR Adam Topham (High Wycombe) 1:41:16 (52:54) and third 51 year old Kevin Tye 1:41:37 (53:28) winning the Vets prize with +38:50