Fourth place for Ian

North Notts Olympic 50 - 09/07/2005 - A50/25

With his mid week win boosting his confidence, Ian had another solid ride in the North Notts Olympic 50 mile TT on Saturday 9th July. Using a sporting course that was more suited to a Rudy Project TT round, Ian covered the course in scorching conditions in a time of 1.55.52 to claim 4th place behind former national champion Kevin Dawson (Planet X).

With a strong and warm breeze blowing and with temperatures rising above 28C, it wasn’t going to be an easy day as the course stayed off the main roads for a large portion of the race and used B roads around the villages of Harby, Plungar and Langar before using the nearby A52 for a small leg back towards Bingham. The riders covered 2 laps of this course and as the event continued throughout the heat of the day, most of the riders suffered and recorded a slower second lap.

Ian started his race slowly and thought he was struggling especially after finding it difficult to keep the speed above 30mph on the downhill start. Settling in and trying to make the most of the main road stretch towards Bingham, Ian put in a big effort and didn’t let the slow start get him down. At the half way point Ian lying in 3rd place behind leader Kevin Dawson (Planet X) and only a few seconds behind Andy Proffit (Artic Shorter) who was lying in second place whilst Nigel White (Sherwood CC) was in fourth place.

Starting his second lap as hard as he dare with 25 miles still to go, Ian felt he was still going as quick as when he started and at the 35 mile mark Ian was still pressing Andy Proffit hard for second place with only seconds still separating them. With the only 10 miles left the conditions and the course took their toll as Ian started to drop off the pace and Andy Proffit stepped up a gear to put a 2 minute gap between himself and Ian whilst Nigel White was also creeping up on Ians times.

At the finish line, Nigel White had also just pipped Ian for the third place which he had been holding the entire race relegating Ian to 4th spot with a clear winner in Kevin Dawson and second place going to Andy Proffit.

Although disappointed to loose so much time over the last 10 miles, Ian was still pleased with his general performance and proving that the inconsistency of the last few months is well behind him and he can now look forward to a strong close to the season.