Mid Shrops Wheelers 50TT

Mid-Shropshire Wheelers 50-mile TT - Sunday 19th May

Following the disappointing cancellation of the '50' up at Borrowdale last weekend, Alfie Shaw and Richard Cary had their first outing at the half-century distance on Sunday.

The Met Office had forecast a fine day with relatively light winds. We were greeted at Prees Heath with a heavy fog, accordingly the organisers delayed the start by half-an-hour and sure enough, the clouds lifted and the temperature crept up.

The Mid-Shrops course can be best-described as 'sporting', with a number of demanding hills to catch the unwary and weary. The delayed start also meant that the early breakfast we had both had would be wearing off.

Exchanging notes afterwards revealed that we had both been shrewd enough to take on board fluids at strategic points in the race, and before the body was starting to cry out for extra supplies (if one gets to that point, it's often too late). So, no complaints from either of us, we had each got the pace of the race right, and the balance of fluids and food right. Alfie completed just inside 'evens' - 2:29:35, and I got round in 2:15:05, rather 'old-fashioned' times, but a rather 'old-fashioned' course. Nonetheless, with a decreasing number of distance events on the calendar, and so many being cancelled for one reason or another both of us were pleased to now have a 50 under our belts.

And both of us now with aching legs and shoulders from the sustained effort. Next up, on similar roads, is the notorious Anfield 100 on Bank Holiday Monday, another 'sporting course'.

No piccies from the race itself, but here's one from the finish line of my recent ABC Centreville 10.

Richard Cary 27/05/2013

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