Race Report

It was a beautiful day down in Serpentine today but the bloody great sign we encountered when we turned into StAlbans Rd, ready to start our signing of the course, was a bit of a worry. Still, the size of the sign, announcing road-works, was much greater than the scale of work involved so far (300m or so); it scarcely caused any rider hesitation; the surface was quite 'fast' in fact. This was the first '160' i can think of where the were no DNFs. It was the first 160 Mark Roberts has ridden and he rode it to finish! It was the first time Young Freddy cracked the hour (on Standard). He would have liked to do it having reached 70 (next month) but it was actually better to have achieved it at 69 - if he'd had a 70's standard today it would have been all too easy! And he has the incentive to come back next year.

There is something special about riding a 160. Most of the decisive things probably happen beyond the 120km mark. Stuey seemed to be saying later than he didn't achieve the time he dreamed of last night and Scotty thinks we should ban future 160s from the calendar but most of the others seemed to have managed something like their personal target. Genevieve reckons she achieved something special when she re-caught Stuey and passed him but even without that she rode a helluva ride! Maybe Roger won't put this ride down as one of his better experiences as the tank just ran dry - totally. He was NOT in good shape for a while but he got there.

It was pretty amazing seeing you guys turn into Hopeland for the last 1200m. It brought back a few memories…

Of course there were some good rides in the '80' option too - it was Nigel's first '80' and it was the first TT for a few too (eg: Lisa, Daniel, Jason) - and it was Jose's comeback with the firm intention of staying on his bike and finishing; as he did.

mouse