TMG 'Storm' to a Team Win

As Southern Britain braced itself with the onset of St Jude's Storm yesterday morning, our two teams were bracing themselves for a messy Gentlemans' Team Time Trial. Organised by our mates at Arbis Raceteam , we were pretty sure their team would be the fastest.

6am Sunday saw a massive rainstorm hit Hertfordshire. Fortunately, by the time our riders set off to the event, it had passed. Conditions like this also bring challenges after the event though, principally in terms of debris and sharp flints which are washed into the road. There was also no shortage of surface water, with many low sections flooded into the bargain.

 The 2 teams of 5 were reduced to 4 and 5 when new arrival Ian Baynes punctured en route to the start, his tyre so badly slashed that a repair was impossible.

Once started, two more riders were lost within the first 5km out of 60 so that by the time they reached the Park Gate Climb up to Wing, we had only 7 riders remaining out of 10. Seven very determined riders though, as you can see from the echelon formations in the 40mph crosswinds on that section.


By the finish, team A had lost Ross to another puncture, so Neil rolled over the line, gasping and clinging on to Luke's back wheel for grim death. The time didn't count though; 4 riders needed to finish in order to be officially eligible.

Team B meanwhile, had stayed calm and focused, worked together amidst the disruption and crossed the line 4 seconds ahead of the Didcot Phoenix team.

There may have been some luck involved, but there was also a fair share of determination and plenty of effort. In particular, our mate Mark Jervis, who saved the day by filling in for Paul Caton, and new boy Matt Rushton, who was seriously struggling with form only a week ago whilst recovering from a late season broken collarbone.

winners Eugene Rack, Mark Jervis, Matt Rushton, Darren Powell, John Lacey

So all in all, a great morning out - it looks like the Gentlemens' TTT could be around for a few years to come, along with a great Cafe HQ at The Cog.

Silver National Medal for John

We fielded a Team of three last Sunday for the LVRC National TT Championship. Amidst the excitement of a National Medal, we were a bit slow in filing a report.

Full Gas, as they say - John Lacey shoots for Silver at the LVRC National TT Champs

Held near Coventry, a rolling course made it a tad more challenging than the typical Drag Strip most commonly associated with Time Trialling. Darren Powell joined Paul Caton, who is still battling back to form after his ruptured spleen in July and John Lacey.

John clocked the fastest time by some margin: "It's nice to see my name up there," he said afterwards. "I have spent most of the season concentrating on TTs though so I reckon this could be almost as good as it gets. I did say almost. though!"

With a time of 00:46:19, John took the Silver Medal in the B Category
Paul's Category was very hotly contested, so his time of 00:48:08 left him out of the silverware. Darren, on a rare race outing, posted 00:51:08. "It was a good experience," he said. "Hopefully I'll have time to get some more training in and try again next year!"