VTTA North Mids 25

Saturday tea-times used to be Basil Brush and then that fella that fixed shit for ya that no-one talks about now, but everyone had the theme tune on their mobiles a few years back !

No, tea time yesterday involved lycra, three wheels, nut cream and lashings of start oil !

It was the VTTA North Mids event on the A1 and I was riding the big pink trike at no64. A similar event was cancelled at the start of June due to crosswinds, but this event despite 14mph cross winds did go ahead. the wind had been a worry, but it had dropped through the day and the night looked to be OK.

The HQ was at Sutton On Trent, and not too far from the start. The course was a simple up and down the A1 job. Going on at Sutton On trent and coming off and through Long Bennington, before looping round and re-joining the carriageway North. I was chasing the clubs record of 1.04.28 and had a good weeks training behind me going in to it. I would also be trying out my new Aeroshell helmet and wondered how I would get on with it. Overall though, I was looking forward to the event.

Start time came around quite quickly, and I was soon haring along and ready to join the Southbound carriageway. It felt quick, there wasn't too much traffic, but there was cross head which, when there was little in the way of shelter, knocked the speed off a little. There were rises in the road, but nowt like the T502 or Bingham courses and I was able to tap it out going up them. In fact, I got to the Long Benno turn in approx 22.7mph and knew that a good ride was on the books.

I didn't know if there would be a cross bcak push on the way back, but soon smiled when the approach loop to the Northbound carriageway yielded that unmistakeable push. It was now a 12 mile go for the line whilst nervously waiting for the speedo to creep above the record 23.3mph.

It was a great second leg and I managed to leave the A1 with an avg of 23.6, and a short sprint later had taken the record by nearly a minute.

1.03.35 on a not quick day - might be back next year for an improvement.