The Time Trialing season is now well and truly under way! The last week of April heralded the start of the eagerly awaited club Evening 10’s and the Charlotteville 50, a TT that flits over the picturesque Surrey and Hampshire border. Both races took place under the same gloomy skies that have prevailed over most of this year’s springtime events. The Charlotteville G50/8 course involves two and half undulating laps of the A31 between Farnham and Alton, running alongside the rolling hills of the Watercress Line, down to Jayne Austen’s picturesque 17th Century cottage. The timing and location of this event provided a useful preview for the National 12 Hour Championships course, due to be held on the same roads in June. The Frank Cubis Memorial Ride will also run along the course later in September, where, hopefully both occasions will see better weather and conditions than those served up to the five Phoenix riders who were gathered on the start line at Bentley last Sunday. All riders had to dig deep in a strong field that boasted a start list of over 140 riders. At the time of writing – no official times have been confirmed – Kieron Davies (DRAG2ZERO) was the fastest overall with 01:39:08 whilst Angela Carpenter (…a3crg) won the ladies competition at 01:56:21. Of the Phoenix, Simon Trehearn carried his impressive early season form on with a time of 02:03:47 followed closely by Alex K, who signaled his return to the TT fray with a time of 02:06:14 (clearly the ultra-endurance events have not dented his racing form). Gavin H and David P – both of whom were riding their first 50s were next home with times of 02:07:42 and 02:19:59 respectively, whilst Suzanne broke her PB for a 50 with a 02:26:12. This was a tough event in tough conditions, the threat of rain was never far away and the low temperature throughout made for a day that was tough. Even when the undulations and weather were at their most tedious – I could only spare a thought for the young local rider who, at 7 o’ clock in the morning, given a lift by his dad to the event HQ, had his bicycle (on the roof rack) totaled by the height restriction bar over the entrance to the car park. “Thanks Dad”. That’s this year’s Christmas present sorted and a surefire Adversity Award winner. Here are the non-official times as of present: SIMON TREHEARN - 02:03:47 ALEXANDER KEW - 02:06:14 GAVIN HUGHES - 02:07:42 DAVID PERCIVAL - 02:19:59 SUZANNE SHAW - 02:26:12
nice write-up Gavin. Thise bumps seem to be getting worse, and the thought of riding the 100 and 12 hour on that same road in a month’s time is starting to fill me with dread. It was a really filthy day, yesterday, with the wind strengthening throughout the event and it was really cold. One of the start marshals took pity on me and gave me a jacket to wear as I waited, because i had got down to the start far too early. It took me a good 20 minutes to get warmed up on the road, and even then I was never really comfortable.
It was however, still an excellent event; very well organised, a great field and damn fine bacon rolls. Fab to have a good group of Phoenix riders out, riding an Open, even though it’s not a counting event for the Club Champs.