Another good turn out tonight, with 20 riders on a cloudy night that promised rain. Great to see more new faces – Anne Blood and Paul Schofield racing for the first time – and a return of some familiar ones, such as Paul Marr and Andy Browne.

Among the Pickering Three, it looked like it was time to up the ante. Dave had an eBay aero helmet and a racified road bike, Stu had some shiny semi-deep section wheels, and Rich had… oil on his hands from putting Dave’s bike together! Stu – still riding high on his fast Dalby Red Route time and race performance – had annouced he was going to beat the other two. (‘He’s been telling us all week,’ said Dave.)

As we warmed up, the weather was breezy from the south east. I had to zip-tie the RCC flag to a fence post to stop it blowing over. But the wind eased as the evening progressed, and it was a few degrees warmer than it has been. So not bad conditions, all told.

And we could have eaten our dinners off the road corners, as they had been meticulously swept free of grit by marshall Carl Martin, to make sure no one skidded during the race. Top work.

During the race, I know that Dave Myers went a fair bit faster than the last time on this course and caught Anne Blood - but was then passed by her. Anne put in a very respectable first ride, beating trophy-holder Lorraine by a margin of 18 seconds.

Norris senior and junior were again close, with dad Simon claiming victory tonight. Callum mentioned that he was feeling tired before the start, and any wind (that south easterly was quite noticeable for the first lap) tends to affect less powerful riders more. So it looks like a pretty even match that will continue.

Tony Graves helped me slot wild card Paul Schofield into the running order, and was pretty close in his estimation of Paul’s time. There was just six seconds between them, both coming in under 30 minutes.

Paul Marr said he just wanted to finish in under 30 minutes, given that he was doing his first time trial for ages. But in the event he did more than that and went under 29, and was just off the pace of David Schubert, who went quicker this time and said ‘It felt really good coming back to the finish.’

Among the Pickering Three, only 23 seconds separated them. I set them off Stu, Rich, Dave, thinking they’d finish in reverse order to that. Stu put in a strong ride, and told me after the finish he’d beaten them both. He wasn’t far off, despite Rich and Dave both getting fastest ever times, but Dave held onto the lead and is still the man to beat of the three of them.

A similar grudge match played out between Jeff, Andy and me. I caught and passed Jeff, my minute man, but he came past me on the final straight, unwilling to be taken for 60 seconds. I put some teeth marks into the handlebars to go past him again, but Jeff did the same and he crossed the line a second ahead (but 59 down). Behind, Andy could see my blinky rear light but we stayed a similar distance apart the whole race, it turned out. (Yessssssssss! )

Among the top three, TEF Richardsons racing machine Matthew Enticknap took 21 seconds out of clubmate Paul Hickman to claim second, while Paragon’s Dave Thompson was again a good distance in front with a short 22.

There were a few drops of rain for the late starters, and as we sorted the times out at the end a sudden shower finally broke. (The flag is now drying in my back room, along with the numbers.)

Many thanks to Kathy and Keith for time keeping again, and to Carl for marshalling that tricky right-hander. I’m still looking for helpers for the next Snainton event on 2nd June, incidentally.

Just a couple of formality-type things that I should have mentioned before now. Thing one: a time trial it’s forbidden to ‘draft’ another rider. If someone passes you, you can give chase and even overtake them, but you can’t ‘sit on someone’s wheel’ (i.e. ride right behind them). If you do find yourself riding at the same pace and unable to pass, your only options are to drop back or ride side by side. Thing two: if you’ve got any breath left, shout out your number as you pass the timekeepers at the finish. It makes it easier for them.

Those times again. (Check out all the personal bests!)

1  22:09 Dave Thompson (SPCC)

2  23:19 Matthew Enticknap (TEF/R)

3  23:40 Paul Hickman (TEF/R)

4  25:01 Barrie Cappleman (SPCC)

5  25:08 Dan Joyce (RCC)

6  25:27 Andy Browne (RCC)

7  26:07 Jeff Francis (RCC)

8  26:17 Dave Simpson (RCC) PB

9  26:26 Stu Jackson (RCC) PB

10  26:40 Rich Simms (RCC) PB

11  27:54 Andy McLellan (SPCC)

12  28:30 Dave Schubert (RCC)

13  28:47 Paul Marr (RCC)

14  29:48 Tony Graves (SPCC/RCC)

15  29:54 Paul Schofield (RCC) PB

16  32:00 Simon Norris (SPCC/RCC)

17  32:27 Callum Norris (RCC)

18  32:30 Dave Myers (RCC)

19  33:18 Anne Blood (RCC) PB

20  33:36 Lorraine Naylor (RCC) PB?

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Nice one. I reckon it's game on between you three, Stu. Nine seconds and 14 seconds aren't big margins. Unlike 78.  It's a pity Carl brushed those corners so clean or you could have started to get used to eating dust.

Having said that, you can go faster with bike upgrades I've already made, so it's still all to play for. I think if there are going to be any upsets, it will happen at Burton Fleming. We'll see!

Cheers Carl. 

It certainly helps when everyone just does a little bit of volunteering for the club which we all know means not racing yourself.

Sounds like Tommo got the bad weather for the night. 

GUTTED

really wanted to beat dad but, after the paragon 10 on tuesday and the RCC ride on the wednesday night, my legs just weren't up to it.

It does give you major respect for the guys in the Tour etc. though

Callum

Cool. Which hill did you have in mind? Note that as it would be on a public road, we have to inform the police (28 days notice) and CTT (six weeks notice). We'll also have to do a risk assessment, unless there's one already. That sounds like a lot but it's not really. I have all the forms and can talk you through it. 

It's still only May, so it's still quite do-able to run this later on this year. And the hill climb season is autumn and late summer anyway.

Sounds good, Dave. 

If it's on a public road then yes, we have to inform the police. I can talk you through what needs to be done and supply you with the blank forms to fill in. It really is straightforward - just a formality we have to go through. Then you can submit them back to me, I can check them and send them to the relevant people.

Sorry about the delay getting back to you on this, due to the website being down.