Banbury Star Hardriders 2013

Sunday was second race of the season, the Banbury Star hardriders 23 mile TT. A typical early season cold hilly time trial. This year was probably the best conditions I’ve done this race in. As I set off, my car thermometer posted a balmy 3 degrees, but at least with no wind.  Last year, 2012, I nearly froze as we raced under a blizzard. In 2010, it was below freezing. So 2013 was relatively good as early March weather goes.

The course is fairly flat, apart from a rather brutal 16% climb (Sunrise hill) in the middle. It would make a good hill climb course in its own right, but when you’re doing a 25 mile Time trial at your threshold level, it’s a completely different story when you hit the steep slopes. I was grateful for a 23 sprocket as I grovelled up. It’s a reminder it’s completely different to do a hill climb, rather than same hill when you approach already flat out.

The race was pretty good, apart from the seemingly obligatory knee problems – especially towards the end.  It felt quite fast, though it is all relative. I finished the 23 miles in 53.32, at an average speed of 41.5 km/h. It was a whopping 3 minutes quicker than last year in 2012. But, not at all comparable, as the weather was absolutely brutal last year. It was still a pb for the course, and good enough for first place. I some how came away from the race with three trophies. Two from London West District C.A from 2012 (courtesy of the Fountains) and a rather nice trophy from Banbury Star. It has an impressive collection of names, so it was nice to win, after coming second in the race twice before. However, any enthusiasm was mitigated by trying to work out how many days I might need to take off for knee to recover. Soon the races start getting longer and longer, I better pop a few more Glucosamine, Cod liver oil combos and hope for the best.

Thanks to Banbury star CC for organising, it was probably easier racing rather than standing around marshalling in the cold.

I even had my parents coming to watch, they happened to be having a holiday in Lemington Spa. (I hope when I retire, I’ll be able to holiday in suitably exotic places as Lemington Spa, I guess when you’ve lived in Bradford for 30 years, even Birmingham seems like a good holiday destination)

Results 2013

1 Tejvan Pettinger Sri Chinmoy CT 00:53:32
2 Danny Axford Arctic SRAM RT 00:54:10
3 Will Fox Metaltek-Knights of Old 00:54:53
4 Will Hayter London Dynamo 00:55:26
5 Karl Moseley Stourbridge Velo 00:55:37
6 Timothy Hastie Team Jewson, MI Racing 00:56:00
7 Gregor Wallace Team Midland Racing 00:56:09
8 Justin Belcher Banbury Star CC 00:57:59
9 Stewart Wilson Bonito Squadre Corse 00:58:02
10 Luke Souter Banbury Star CC 00:58:18
11 Rob Weare Leamington C&AC 00:58:20
12 David Schofield-Nel Leisure Lakes 00:59:59
13 Nick Green Stratford CC 01:00:25
14 Cameron Foster Club Corley Cycles 01:00:33
15 Peter Wright Rugby CC 01:00:41
16 Matt Jones Rugby CC 01:01:00
17 Peter Oliver Fairly United Cycle Team 01:01:25

Women

1. Marina Bloom Born to Bike – Bridgtown 01:06:47
2. Suzy Patience Banbury Star CC 01:07:29

Fun results at Banbury Star CC