Well, in the absence of some of our fastest riders we didn't manage to retain the trophy - that's gone to Shaftesbury this year - but we beat Eagle to second place in the team competition. Alex was the fastest Lea Valley rider, knocking a huge amount off his PB (8 minutes???). I was his minute man and he caught me between the Hinxton and Sawston roundabouts before disappearing up the road. I found the traffic quite problematic - not just having to grind to a halt at some of the roundabouts (which can't be helped, it's just the luck of the draw), but an idiot in Littlebury deliberately braking in front of me over and over while laughing with his mate and then speeding off at 60mph when I tried to come round him. Chris found the course a bit confusing and took a wrong turn somewhere so his time is a bit down on last year. Monika won the women's prize. She had the pressure of having the other woman start one minute behind her, so she was determined not to be caught - she needn't have worried because she beat her rival by a massive margin.
Lea Valley times:
Alex Sweeting 1:04:10
Jamie Fake 1:05:50
Mark Freeman 1:13:03
Monika Konieczna 1:13:08
Chris West 1:13:34
Dave McCarthy 1:18:24
Johannes Douglas 1:20:08
Armin Hersch 1:24:47
@JamieF
Well, in the absence of some of our fastest riders we didn't manage to retain the trophy - that's gone to Shaftesbury this year - but we beat Eagle to second place in the team competition. Alex was the fastest Lea Valley rider, knocking a huge amount off his PB (8 minutes???). I was his minute man and he caught me between the Hinxton and Sawston roundabouts before disappearing up the road. I found the traffic quite problematic - not just having to grind to a halt at some of the roundabouts (which can't be helped, it's just the luck of the draw), but an idiot in Littlebury deliberately braking in front of me over and over while laughing with his mate and then speeding off at 60mph when I tried to come round him. Chris found the course a bit confusing and took a wrong turn somewhere so his time is a bit down on last year. Monika won the women's prize. She had the pressure of having the other woman start one minute behind her, so she was determined not to be caught - she needn't have worried because she beat her rival by a massive margin.
Lea Valley times:
Alex Sweeting 1:04:10
Jamie Fake 1:05:50
Mark Freeman 1:13:03
Monika Konieczna 1:13:08
Chris West 1:13:34
Dave McCarthy 1:18:24
Johannes Douglas 1:20:08
Armin Hersch 1:24:47