CHIPPENHAM & DIST WHEELERS 3up Team Time Trial

[Mick Hazlewood]

The last race of the season for me took place  with the Chippenham and Dist Wheelers 3up team time trial down near Devices, Wiltshire.  Having made an early start on the morning with my team mates John Poole, Owen and team manager and vocal supporter Hannah we set off into the unknown.                                                                               When I say the unknown,  the Saracen many years ago used to compete in this event entering a number of teams in the early seventys and eighties and normally with great success with the likes of the Carbutts and Chris Kent to name a few coming away having won the event on a number of occasions.      A hard act to follow.

It was great to be back down there to ride this event, the last time I rode was probably in 1982.  we had a great welcome with a number of people saying how pleased they were to see us taking part after such a long time and that the Saracen was now going strong again.

Having not competed in this event for a number of years and not reading the course details properly it was a bit of a shock to us all when we found that other competitors are talking about  the very undulating circuit and some severe hills to climb,  oh well it was to late now so we just prepared ourselves for the off putting a few extra layers on as it was pretty fresh although the sun was out,  which was followed by a good warm up.

Well our time arrived and we lined up for our journey into the unknown.  the one thing we did now that it was three to start and three to finish so it was a case of looking after each other and working to each others strengths and weaknesses.   The good thing was that we had ridden together before so we had a good idea how we would gel together.

It wasn't long before we realised how tough this 24mile circuit was going to be having only done some 5 or 6 miles and not had a bit of flat road. Never the less we pressed on and keep it together really well catching a number of teams in front of us.  I've got to say  at this stage I was happy not to have known the course as there was worse to come. Having heard words of great encouragement at about 12miles by team boss  ' H '    ( how can so much noise come out of such a small person ) we continued our journey towards the finish swooping through villages on quite narrow country lanes at great speed, crawling up severe hills at what seemed like 5 mile an hour and decending down the other side at something like 40mile an hour.

With the finish looming up we hit the last hill with about 2 miles to go,  what a Beast !!!   ( more like a mountain TT ) with ours lungs about to pop out of our chests and our legs about to fold we were over the top and with 2 teams in front of us it was the last lunge for the finish line which was now in sight, with a half hearted sprint to the line and a huge breath of relief we crossed the line and found the energy to congratulate ourselves on finishing together and surviving the ordeal.

We rolled down back to the changing rooms which seemed to have a great atmosphere and buzz inside and downed a well earned drink and homemade cake  We were soon joined by Hannah saying how much she had enjoyed supporting us and also saying how much she enjoyed riding part of the course.  As we were busy coming around to some sort of normality H was checking out the results board and reported back to us very excitedly saying we had finished 5th overall with only 3 club teams and 1 composite team faster than us, and all five teams had finished within a one minute, the fastest team with a 55.30 and us 5th with 56.28.   More tea and cake to celebrate !!.  The results were confirmed and we proudly excepted our prize for 4th club team.  34 teams in total had entered the event. The organiser made a point to mention that the Saracen including myself had supported the event many years ago in the seventy's and eighties and how pleased he was to see us supporting his event again.

A fantastic event, very well organised and certainly one for my diary next year and hopefully some more riders from the club will be there as well.  Hannah has already shown an interest in putting a girls team together so beware Sam, Laura.

A great finish to the season for me after such a dissapointing one with my results throughout the year.  With a change of direction next year with my racing I will certainly still look forward to this event. A huge thanks to my team mates John and Owen and not forgetting the team Boss H.

 

[rovi]

WOW!!  Well done you three,

if l am not mistaken this is probably the best Saracen result in modern times.

Jolly well done.

We used to win the Beacon TTT in the 50's so keep up the tradition!!!

 

[Sean Barker]

Well done team and a great report Mick