Titch makes his 50-mile mark

In another great performance, Titch Richards made his mark with a flying first ride at the 50-mile time trial distance in the CC Breckland time trial.

Mark “Titch” Richards at the roundabout (photo: Fergus Muir)

Richards was the fastest VCB rider with 1-59:14 but George Kerridge was not to be outshone, as he rode an impressive personal best time, 2-02:15.

George Kerridge at the turn (photo: Fergus Muir)

Chris Womack was also on course for a personal best when he was caught out by a greasy patch at a junction and could not continue because his tubular front tyre rolled off the rim when he crashed and slid into the kerb. The good news was that he was not hurt.

John Thompson achieved a steady 2-26:14. After a nosedive in his results last year he is building up his level of performance and this ride was his best 50 for the last three seasons.

The course had to be changed because an earlier localised thunderstorm south of Attleborough had caused a flood that closed the road under the A11 where the riders were due to turn.

The organiser was lucky to have course measurer Don Saunders on hand to go out in the early morning to find the correct start and finish points for a new course utilising five laps of the “old” ten-mile course between Besthorpe and the Browick roundabout turn on the A11.

It was a great solution to the problem as everyone got a ride but there were lots more turns than is usual and some riders thought this made it slower than one of the usual courses. Fortunately, however, the wind was in one of the favourable directions for this stretch of road.

Before the event the VC Baracchi records did not include a tandem one for 50 miles, but John Swanbury and Ali Banks set one at 2-02:03 on the tail end of this event.

The tandem pair negotiate the Browick roundabout to return to the A11 carriageway (photo: Fergus Muir)

Their intention was to set off gently in view of the unaccustomed distance and they rode two laps at an average of just over 25mph, but instead of increasing this fell away slightly towards the end of the ride to the eventual 24.58mph average. It was the only tandem in the event.

Nicki Hawkes, VCB’s secretary, riding for Team VeloVelocity, rode a personal best time of 2-09:57. It will count for one of the VCB trophies, last won by Hawkes in 2-15:53.

The winner and the second and third riders were from Team VeloVelocity: Jason Bouttell 1-42:23, Daniel Bloy 1-46:46 and Scott Davidson 1-49:58.

The fastest lady rider was Susan Triplow of Essex Roads CC with 2-05:32, with Hawkes second.

Peter Horsnell of Chelmer CC, aged 84, rode to an unbeatable performance for veterans, beating his age standard time of 2-59:27 by over 33 minutes with his 2-26:25 actual time.