Tooting BC Sporting 21m TT on GS/334 (Bletchingley circuit, 2 laps)
Three RCC riders were entered into the Tooting BC Sporting TT this morning including Simon Mallin, Maurice Brennan and Rupert Burbidge.
The course and weather were absolutely perfect...at 0830 there was just a slight chill in the air but the sun was out and there was no hint of a breeze.
Having ridden this course just two weeks ago in another event, I had a good idea of how to take the corners, particularly the left and right handers down the hill on Coopers Hill Road from Nutfield.
Also, the road was drier than a couple of weeks ago so this instilled more confidence on the corners.
I opted to ride a bit harder up the hills and to recover from them on the descents and although it was hard it seemed to help my lap times.
It was a gorgeous ride passing the windmill and the spring flowers, not to mention the groups of happy club cyclists going the other way on many parts of the circuit.
The finish this time was actually at the 30mph signs into Bletchingley and not a couple of hundred yards beyond them like two weeks ago. I came up the last climb absolutely on the edge and managed a time of 51m07s.
This is a 44 second improvement on my PB from two weeks ago! It put me into second place behind event winner Sebastian Ader of A3CRG who was 4 seconds quicker at 51m03s.
Maurice also got a PB knocking around a minute off his previous best with a time of 56m18s. Nice work.
Simon knocked a few minutes off his PB from last year with 61m32s.
To sum up, it was a really nice event in perfect conditions.
Result summary:
1st Sebastian Ader (A3CRG) 51m03s
2nd Rupert Burbidge 51m07s
3rd Niall Digby (La Fuga Sigma Sport) 52m17s
Maurice Brennan 56m18s
Simon Mallin 61m32s