Sunday was a different kind of cycle event for me. Rather than rolling up and riding around as usual, I was organising a 10 mile Time Trial on the H10/181. (Witney bypass in normal language)
How much cake to buy? is one of the great dilemma’s of being a race organiser. I bought too many and as a consequence am steadfastly working my way through 2 giant carrot cakes…. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. I’m fairly confident that if I keep a steady pace and disciplined approach, I will be able to finish by the end of the week. Alas, life isn’t fair, and I probably still won’t budge from 64 Kgs.
When other people organise cycle races, it always looks so easy that I thought I’d enter my own race and put myself off number 10. As it turned out I didn’t want to ride. Off the bike for so long, plus I didn’t fancy racing with responsibilities of organising.
It’s a funny thing organising an event. Before race, you worry about things that might go wrong. But, as soon as I started putting up warning signs on the road and actually start, it seemed to go quite smoothly.
For all the idosyncracies of cyclists, and time-triallists especially, they are a pretty good bunch of people – drawn together by a mutual fascination in racing up and down roads in search of that elusive pb. It was a good experience to be on the other side of a race. It definitely gives you an empathy with organisers. I have to say, it’s easier to race than to organise!
I was actually quite lucky to have two very good timekeepers from Didcot Phoenix CC. Tip for any organiser, always get your startsheet double checked by someone else before sending out!
The racing was fast and furious. If you don’t get a ticket for box hill Olympic road race, pop along to the A40 one Sunday morning – there’s really not that much difference.
I had quite a few willing helpers from other friends in the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. Thanks also to Run and Become for offering some prizes. They are quite used to putting on running races, but a cycle time trial is quite a new experience for them. They asked a few questions like why do you race on dual carriageways? It’s one of those questions not so easy to answer. Though at least on a dual carriageway, you don’t have to worry about those pesky red lights..
The race was won by Danny Axford (Arctic RC ) in a time of 20.57. First women was Danuta Tinn (Maidenhead & District CC). Full results at Sri Chinmoy Races
The good news is the leg seems fine now. A couple of hill intervals on Saturday didn’t cause any problem, so it may be time to restart proper training. If things go well, I will be entering the Farnham RC 10 mile TT on Saturday – I may even offer to take any surplus cake off the organiser at the end of the race.
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