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Shaftesbury CC Middle Markers 25 on the E2/25 4th June

Results for CCA riders:

Tom Trimble 49:59 (1st)
Chris Potter 51:47 (2nd)
Gareth Davies 59:13 (76th)
Janet Bassett 1:02:02 (99th)
Kevin Stigwood 1:04:49 (109th)

Signed up for the middle markers 25 mile TT on the fabled (and now fastest in the country) E2 course. Having never done a straight 25TT before (but plenty in Olympic tri's) I was keen to see what I could do on a fast course without having to worry about a 10km run afterwards.

Traffic looked very busy on the A14 as I drove to Newmarket so was pretty nervous. However I was one of the first off so get registered and sorted and before long was clipping in and being held up. I got on to the A14 smoothly and settled in at my chosen power. The wind was suggesting I would get blown out and battle it back so tried to ride just under the limit of what I thought I could do. Strangely after one car passed in the same lane (with plenty of room) I calmed down a lot. I caught my minute man whilst still on the A14 and then the 4 minute man before the turn. Got round the RAB without having to stop and started the slog home. The A11 drags up before merging onto the A14 and I was suffering here (about 37 mins in) and was still being cautious, stupidly not checking how far was left. Once within sight of the flyover the slog stopped and I could really press on, got past the BP garage and gave it everything to the slip road. Stopped the clock on around 51:50 (garmin) with the course being slightly long.. I measured 25.17 mile. Back to HQ very slowly and in dire need of a coke. Looking at results I paced it beautifully, 3rd, 4th 5th 6th and 8th were all clocked faster to the turn than me by up to 40 seconds so was really pleased to see it can be pulled back with a bit of pacing.

I would definitely recommend others try it, seems a lot more daunting when you aren't there, but once on the road I thought it was fine, and blimey is it fast! I bought an Exposure Tracer rear light to be spotted and its pretty dam bright which is a nice comfort

Tom, Gareth and I blagged second in the team prize for CCA also.

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