Final King of Speed report

A nagging north-easterly wind made the return from Yedingham to Irton hard going in the final King of Speed event, the third 25-mile time trial. The threatened rain barely put in an appearance, but then sadly neither did the competitors: there were only three of us - me, David Schubert, and Paragon’s Jimmy Morrison. Keith and Kathy Underwood graciously agreed to time keep anyway, so the race went ahead.

I was keen to ride as I needed to improve my 25 time by a mere 11 seconds to overtake Jeff Francis. But in the end I went slower by about the same amount. Jimmy did a good ride - not quick at the start, but kept plugging away. David was a DNF. Well, he did finish, but only after his own Tour de Yedingham. He got lost and rode well over 25 miles. Me and Jimmy thought he’d punctured so I went to find him in the car - only to see him riding ruefully towards the finish.

1 Dan Joyce 1:06:58

2 Jimmy Morrison 1:11:40

DNF David Schubert

With all the King of Speed events now run, I can tell you the results.

RCC King of Speed 2010: Jeff Francis, average speed of 23.49mph

Runner up: Dan Joyce, average speed of 23.43mph

Best Improver: David Schubert

Best performance by a non-RCC member: Dave Thompson, average speed of 26.65mph

Trophies will be awarded in January.

I didn’t think the final result would come down to me and Jeff, but as someone or other said: half of success is turning up. Some riders had ridden only two distances (e.g. 5 and 10), others one. Since it did come down to me and Jeff, I’m still gutted: 0.06mph! That’s the equivalent of 4 seconds in a 10 mile time trial, or 2 seconds in a 5 - and that, ultimately, is where the series was won: Jeff’s corking 5-mile time a couple of weeks ago. Well done, Jeff.

Next up: the Summer Series.