2022 Midweek TT Series - Week 2 - Spanner in the (road)works

26 May 2022

Just one normal day organising the TT series. That's all I ask.

Macmerry roadworks lasting 3 and a half years would be pain enough. That's before we factor in roadworks on a backup course route. Roadworks closing the A1 and diverting traffic onto the race route. Loveadmin causing more anxiety than Donald Trump's speechwriters. Timekeepers making a slight error and inadvertently adding 300metres of 35mph headwind to the course. Still, at least Bob Marshall was there last night to capture all my angles. I tried my best 'Blue Steel' when cycling past him but I feel Ben Stiller's 'Blue Steel' look involved much less dribble than mine did last night.

For all the issues, I'll just take 'full responsibility' which we know is code for blaming everyone else and not actually taking any responsibility unless 54 of you write to the committee stating your no confidence in me. Please don't, I'll offer you knighthoods if you don't send a letter in.

But rest assured, I wont accidentally organise or be present at a party in my own house and then claim surprise at it ever occurring or that I ended up there.

I realise as well that there has been a fair few new faces this year. Coupled with being in a covid induced absence last week some of you may have not known who I was. Apologies for not saying hello to everyone. For reference, I was the guy who looked like if George Harrison had a bad hair day and instead of loud suits and fur coats he developed a penchant for lycra.

Having recovered from covid now (did I not mention I caught covid?), I will try welcome as many new faces as I can next week. I think we're up to 15 new faces already this year, which is pretty nice. All are welcome, keep it coming! You get a lot of roundabouts for your money remember.

29 riders signed up to what was, I think, the windiest TT I've done. Thank Christ there were no crosswinds. One half of the course you'd be ticking along at 50kmph and the other you'd be giving it all the beans just to get over 30kmph. I say there were no crosswinds, not strictly true, at the Haddington roundabouts I did very gingerly navigate my way around, conscious of the possibility of a gust pushing me 200 metres into the A1.

Remember of course everyone racing thought they were doing a 10mile TT but we all did a 10.3mile TT instead. Just for the fun of it.

7 women had signed up yesterday which is a trend I hope to see increase as the series goes on but 7 out of 29 is a great start. Especially as most of these were new faces. This makes me happy. I look forward to seeing you all and more sign up again in the following weeks. Of the women we had Kasey Park off first, Kasey was a great supporter of the series last year and finished with a signed Katie Archibald skinsuit to boot. Kasey finished in 37:50. We also had a batch of newcomers, Carolyn Dyson of Edinburgh Tri - 38:08, Zofia Lisowski of Peebles CC - 33:20. Abigail Corsie of Ronde - 31:45 and Nina Tomlin of West Lothian Clarion - 30:58. Sarah Emslie was the 2nd fastest woman on the night and 15th overall, finishing in 29:21. The fastest was Beth Harley-Jepson of the Ricky Martin Jadan - Vive Le Velo Team finished in 27:57 and 14th overall.

Of the top road bikers, Alasdair Easton, one of the youngsters finished in 30:37. For some reason his Dad Eric didn't sign up last night, I wonder if the 40mph headwind made him think to send Alasdair out as the sacrificial racing lamb this week. The top 3 road bikers all went under the 30 minute mark. 3rd was Chris Bruce of Ronde CC in 29:37. 2nd was Gerry McGuire in 29:29 - Gerry a regular and kind complementor of my reports also complemented me on my flowing locks last night. Well, I think it was compliment anyway. Fastest road biker was Louis Moorehead, of Ronde CC, in 27:33 and this put him in joint 11th. The extra 300 metres is a cinch for Louis, he's well used to riding 300km let alone an extra 45 seconds.

The top 10 all went under 27 minutes. Frank Landay, a big fan of loveadmin, was 10th in 26:34. Paul Rigg 9th in 26:12, Warren Crombie 8th in 25:52, David Henderson 7th in 25:21 and Neil Glover 6th in 25:08.

I snuck into the top 5, hopefully at a point where the effects of covid on my lungs are dissipating and I'll maybe gain some benefit of my week in Majorca now. Oh yeah, so you know when I gave Hannah covid and she maybe wasn't too pleased about that. I must have caught it when I took myself off to Majorca for a week. So, not only was I away in the 25c Spanish sunshine whilst Hannah was stuck in blustery Edinburgh, I came home and my returning present was an international lockdown inducing virus. What a fiancée I am. I came 5th in 24:45.

Cameron Adam of the Spokes Pyjamas Racing Team was 4th in 24:20. Craig Mabon of insert club name here was 3rd in 24:11. The top 2 were the only two to go under 24 minutes. Sandy Waller, who I'd like to think put his saddle back to it's correct height was 2nd in 23:49. John Waller of EH Star who is potentially 2022's Rory Downie, came 1st in 23:37.

Many thanks again to our volunteers - Alan Dean and Alan Burke for timekeeping. Colin Sills for signs and marshalling and Jonny Noblett for nervously holding riders up and marshalling.

Same course again next week, but I aiming for it to actually be 10miles this time.

Results here - Week 2 - Results

Bob Marshall's photos here - ERC TT 25 05 22 - Google Photos

*Corrections Corner - informed Beth Harley-Jepson was on a road bike which made her 2nd fastest road biker

Cheers

Dan