It wasn't too hard to see why a few people decided to stay in bed today - it was definitely a tad brisk just after sunrise, before those sunny Joules had reached the surface of Wandi. But it was dead calm and the early starters were understandably raring to go. Most of the 40k-ers had done at least 3 laps before confronting the Northerly up DeHaer Rd so there was a respectable cohort of PBs amongst them; not so many in the 80k list. Keith Hickey was on a short leash today - needing to be home early and already having swapped from an 80 to a 40, stripping ten minutes from his previous should have guaranteed buckets of points. Steve Marks' 7min improvement on the course was no mean feat either.

The performance of the day, though, might well have been that of Tian Beckett doing her one-lapper. Things weren't going well when Lorraine picked her up after she flatted. But it was absolutley fantastic to be at the finish to see her elation when, after a restart she realised that big ambition to crack the 40km/h mark for the first time. So even though she hadn't ridden this particular course previously, there could be no way her achievement couldn't have been seen as a PB! Well done; great stuff!

The puncture gremlins claimed a few victims today; Susie possibly saved another when she removed a double-gee from the finish line? Mark Anastasas was forced to shift his 80km aspirations to 40km after a restart but Sam Smith would have to be the unlucky man of the day. He had gone through with the fastest 40km of the day and was sitting on a 41.8km/h average and accelerating when he punctured at about 75km.

Overall it was not a bad way to finish the Summer season. There are a few riders who should take time out over Winter to re-acquaint themselves with the basic tenet of time-trialling: you ride 'alone and unassisted' (NO drafting); the 'I' in 'ITT' stands for 'individual'. One rider forestalled any need on our part when he disqualified himself but there was at least one other group going round the course as a peleton for some time. They don't get any Brownie points. Please save these tactics for your training group rides, road races or TT events like the 'Gents' when you can do it legitimately.

On the other hand it is great to see, for example, the closeness of the spread of times amongst riders who do it honestly - see the first three riders among the 80s; or the satisfied finishing surges of riders like Hal Burdon or Young ('why must I keep doing this'?) Freddy who were both trying out new 'Standards' today.

The people who get lots of points today are our helpers and group mainstays: Susie; Lorraine; Helen and Carolyn at the registration desk; Roger at the start; John Wass and Dan Taborsky on the Rowley turn; Robin Warrington down at the roundabout and Byron (relieved later by Dan Dragicevich) on the final corner into DeHaer. Thank you all.