Kent Valley RC TT L1015, 15 June 2019

On a course where places are very sought after, I'd been accepted to ride from the reserve list for Saturday and was looking forward to the opportunity. My 18:59 start time was certainly different preparation to the 7:09 start in St Asaph the previous week and after a day's wait watching the pouring rain, there was a gap in the weather for the event itself. The course, cossetted by rugged cliffs and amongst green rolling fields near Milnthorpe in the Lake District, is known to be fast, with a downhill to start leading into a relatively flat terrain. Setting off, a headwind out to the roundabout (the halfway point) started to drain the energy through repeated stronger gusts and I tried my best to keep my shoulders and upper body down on my road bike to minimise the wind resistance. Ploughing on, I knew so long as I kept the effort high, the tailwind on the way back would assist to even out the ride and help mitigate any lost time. Riding hard in the second half, the sign to indicate the slip road where the course finished was a welcome sight as the distance between the countdown markers to the exit seemed to increase as they counted down but I pushed on for the final few hundred metres. I was quite surprised at the speed of the second half, as I approached the finish, after the blustery conditions on the way out and I am very happy with my time of 27:12. I hope to be accepted on this course again for an event next Saturday where I will work hard to better my time.

Julia Wardley-Kershaw