During the last weekend of August the Women’s National 10 mile TT was held near Alcester (Warwickshire) on the flat K33/10D course and surprisingly I exceeded my expectations and came 8^{th .} See link for full results.

As I still see myself as more of a long distance specialist (and have only very recently adjusted my training to shorter stuff), I was hoping for a top 10-15 placing, so 8^th is a great result – even more so when you notice how appalling my position was for most of the first cross-wind swept 3 miles… I had the pleasure of testing out the NoPinz wallet for my back number, but any watts saved by NoPinz were obviously nullified by my position! 

Once again I chickened out of riding my 55mm HED front wheel and opted for the shallow 24mm Dura Ace instead. Not the most aero setup and given I rode on the base bars for quite a bit in the end, it actually didn’t really matter. I don’t mind battling against a strong headwind, but as soon as the cross wind starts to play with my bike I just freeze up and go back to the base bars in panic. It’s really starting to annoy me how pathetic I am in cross winds. I’d better bring my TT bike to the Netherlands some time and do some training in the wind swept polders 😉 As the photos demonstrate, all other women managed fine and I really look like ‘the odd one out’ – see full gallery of the event by Mick Stallard Photography. 

The event was won by Hayley Simmonds in a brilliant time with Bronwen Ewing coming second not far behind. Both these ladies have had an amazing season. Congratulations, well deserved success (and big kudos to your respective partners too). 

So that was it for National TT races for me this year. Having entered most of them with the attitude of just giving it a go, I think that looking back, some mishaps excepted, I can be quite pleased. I was contemplating doing the National Circuit Champs on the 14^th of September but decided to give it a miss in the end as I haven’t done any of the other RTTC series events either. It will require a bit of travel but perhaps this could be a project for next year as the challenging courses will force me to improve my bike handling skills? I was actually quite keen on entering the National Closed Circuit Championships at Thruxton Motor Racing Circuit on the 19^th of October, but plans for a big party the night before (to see Fat Freddy’s Drop & Mr Scruff at Alexandra Palace) took priority!