The NFCC Club time trial season kicked off in gusty conditions on the barren P170/10 course in the north of the forest. The out and back course runs along the route of an old airfield before looping back on itself, so although pan flat, the exposed nature of the landscape means there’s no escaping the wind. Breezing back past the start line on the return leg, the course takes a dip under the A31 before a heartbreaking climb towards the Canadian War Memorial to finish.

Thirteen brave souls found themselves crossing the line with an absolute gift of a tailwind for the first leg, soon to find turning back into the said wind not quite so pleasant. Fortunately, the wind was also assisting for the final dip and climb, so not quite breaking hearts as hard as usual.
Bournemouth Cycleworks’ Jamie Witcher was the fastest rider on the night with an excellent time of 21:06, followed by a strong performance from Bobby Bunfeld with 22:24 and NFCC’s Phill Brown rounding off the podium in 23:18.

The first event opened the opportunity to collate the 10 Series scoreboard and test the new divisional timing system, based on percentages of finishing time against the fastest Club Rider on the night – all seems to have worked and initial scores can be found here.

As always with Club Time Trials, huge thanks from the Club and all the riders to the volunteers for standing out in the cold, sorting registration & entries, timing, marshalling and erecting event signage… We couldn’t do it without you.

A full list of results can be found below: