Saturday (14th March) saw High Wycombe’s Race Teams power house TT specialists Steve Golla and Jon Shubert and not so specialist, whippet boy Adam Brittain line up for the infamous Antelope 3-up Team Time Trial.
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 High Wycombe CC Race Team Report (Link: High Wycombe CC)
240 riders and 80 teams lined up for the annual event which also incorporates the University Championships (BUCS). After glancing through the teams, the boys had been seeded third fastest, although Steve knew many riders and insisted that a podium position would be a big ask and top 10 was more realistic. Their chances weren’t helped by the sudden news on Saturday morning that Jon had decided to pick a fight with a parked car whilst out for a spin.
Unsurprisingly he didn’t quite win and ended up face planting. After a quick trip to A&E to glue his chin, lip and forehead back together, in true team spirit he arrived at the HQ looking like he’d gone 12 rounds but still kind of raring to ride! (Major MTFU points!) So after a quick warm up, the three headed to the startline with little to no game plan, and without even a quick run through formation, their race would be their maiden voyage!
Above: Adam, Steve and Jon (L-R)
However… this maybe wasn’t the best way to attack this race and within two miles of the 31 mile race disaster struck! The two Power House TTers went so hard out of the blocks, that the small whippet boy with his slow twitch muscle fibres had been thrown instantly into and over his red zone. In fact, it was a similar sensation to how he was hoping to feel in the final lunge to the line, not at 2 miles! With no time to recover or flush the lactate that had flooded Adams body, and knowing that all three riders had to finish to get a result, all that the trio could do was alter the game plan to a 2-up with one hanging on until he could settle into some kind of rhythm.
Steve and Jon seemed to pull that much harder at the front to compensate and although I’m sure they were hurting themselves, you wouldn’t have known it from Adams vantage point! It wasn’t until the second lap, that Adam felt even close to human and where he could roll through to the front for considerably shorter turns then his team mates in an attempt to help them recover for even a short period.
The second lap seemed to last an age, even though for the back part of the course, the trio were motoring along in excess of 35 mph, in fact Adam had noticed that Golla was sat consistently in the 53/11 for miles… (he would know, he spent enough time looking at Steve’s wheel!)
Rounding the final bend into the final few miles, the three dug deep. By this point Jon was now in the 53/11 as well, not by choice, but his gear lever had fallen off and he had no choice but to power through to the line in his biggest gear!
After such an effort just to finish, Adam did momentarily contemplate trying to sprint past the two that had put so much time down the front to finish first …all in the name of banter of course! However, when he stood up to sprint… nothing happened and even if he wanted too, he couldn’t sneak past to take the glory!
Above: Steve, Adam and Jon (L-R)
A really tough day in the office for the RT’s trio! It wasn’t the quickest of times with 1:07:06 however upon returning to the HQ they had learnt that it had been a slower year all round and their time was good enough to put them into second place just 19 seconds off the win! And they had ‘lost’ that time in the first half as the second half they managed to get time back on the VC St Raph boys.
Above: Jon, Steve, Adam (L-R)
A great effort from the team, especially from Jon after such a nasty fall in the morning! Hope you recover quickly! And thank you to Ralph Dadswell of Antelope RT (and 2nd Claim HWCC) for putting on such a fantastic event.
(Lap 1) Final
1. Berogna,Sykes,Walters (VC St Raphael) (34:15) 01:06:47
2. Brittain,Shubert,Golla (High Wycombe CC RT) (34:56) 01:07:06
3. Weatherall,Pitt Ford,Ahearn (Cambridge Uni) (35:02) 01:07:33
4. Waller,Fostun,Tipper (Lancs) (35:17) 01:08:23
5. Bruce,Ledger,Pancratz (Oxford Uni) (35:58) 01:08:46
6. Maynard,Farrell,Farrell (Welwyn) (35:35) 01:09:04
7. Crammond,Clayton,Leeming (Southampton) (35:35) 01:09:13
8. Clarke,Clarke,Clarke (Milton Keynes) (35:21) 01:09:17
9. Stapleton,Field,Clarke (Chelmer) (36:13) 01:09:35
10. King,Nichols,Pybus (Loughborough Uni) (36:34) 01:10:07
Eventual winners!
