Sunday, 16 March, saw a number of Medway Velo riders testing their early season fitness in the PMR@Toachim House 25 mile time trial held on the A20 and starting in Harrietsham.
Riding in the solo event were the powerhouse, Steve Smith and ironman finisher, Kay Maynard. Conditions were tough with a strong headwind greeting the riders on the turnaround at Charing. This meant they had to punch through the wind for 15 miles of the course before turning at the Leeds Castle roundabout and heading uphill for the chequered flag. Steve did a fantastic ride, showing amazing form to come home in 1:00:10 and so narrowly missing breaking the hour. However he could take some comfort in an overall 5th place in a hotly contested field. Kay, who was using the event as part of her ironman training and riding ‘old school’ without TT bars managed to come home in 1:35, 2nd lady.
Matt and Lee
First off in the team time trial competition were Lee Pilcher and Matt Fearn who improved on their 3-up TTT the previous week and took 9th place in 1:05:18. Riding in as a mixed team were Sally Smith and Rob Kennison who were not quite as fortunate. Four miles in Sally punctured in a pothole, after a brief discussion, Rob kindly offered her his wheel. The pair met on course again some 15 miles later but had to stop another 3 times for another wheel change and brake issues. However they finished in 1:16 (Rob officially withdrew from the event as he had not completed the full course). After the event Sally said: ‘I hope I’ve got all of my seasons bad luck out in one hit. A massive thank you to Rob for offering me his wheel. As I have been told, cycling is all about disappointment and today was one of those days, but seeing everyone else doing so well made it well worth getting up at stupid o’clock. Well done everyone.’
Rob and Sally
Whilst the 6 were playing with the traffic on the A20 17-year-old Sam Farley travelled to Brighton to ride in the cat 3 race at Preston Park. Despite his age Sam was riding with seniors in a very quick race which averaged over 25mph. The youngster did immensely well finishing in the bunch and even riding off the front in the race in an attempted break. Well done Sam!
Sam Farley
Solo results Solo
1Chris Fennell PMR@Toachim House 0:56:17
2 Ben WimporyPMR@Toachim House 0:56:45
3 Jonathan Harris SG SAvanti 0:57:11
4 Mark Perry All Terrain Cycles 0:58:42
5 Steven Smith Medway Velo1:00:10
TTT results
Conall Yates In-Gear Quickvit Training Matthew Miles In-Gear Quickvit Training 00:54:27
Tim Bayley Arctic-SRAM RT Steve Berry Arctic-SRAM RT00:55:00
Malcolm Davis 4T+ Velo Club Nick Malins 4T+ Velo Club 00:55:57
