‘A day of Pure frustration’ for the Cherry Valley Racing Team was the only way of describing the opening round of the national time trial series sponsored by Rudy Project. Round 1 of 6 was held on a sporting hilly course from Wymeswold to Upper Broughton near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire on Saturday 26th March 2005. With 60 points awarded to the winner down to 1 point for sixtieth place in this season long series, it was important for the Cherry Valley riders Aaron Tuplin, Ian Dalton and Gareth Williams to get off to a good start.

A cold wind blew from a south easterly direction, on a dull and overcast day that constantly threatened rain, making it headwind for the riders over the first 7 miles of the course with a tailwind helping them up the longer uphill sections back to the finish. With Aaron riding the junior competition and covering 1 lap of the circuit, he set off well, soon getting into a fast pace. At around the halfway mark disaster struck for Aaron when an unknown person on the road side decided to discard and empty drinks bottle in Aarons direction. The full force of the projectile hit Aaron broadside in the stomach and nearly brought him off his bike. After a few minutes of trying to compose himself, Aaron got back on with racing but with a very sore stomach. ‘Once that bottle hit me, I just couldn’t get going again’, Aaron explained ‘I had a pain in my side for the rest of the race where the bottle hit me’. Well done Aaron for sticking it out to the finish. Aaron eventually covered the 1 lap in a time of 38.02 which was good enough for 7th place and earning him some valuable points toward the overall competition title.

With Aaron starting in the Junior section, next of the Cherry Valley riders to start was Gareth in the senior section of the race which covered a tough 2 laps of the circuit. Gareth covered the first lap in a time of 34.54, which was below what he expected and slowed even more over the second lap by nearly a minute finishing with a time of 1.10.39 and good enough for 15th place overall and 46 points. ‘I was really disappointed with my actual performance today’ Gareth said, ‘I have been feeling much stronger than how I went today and I just cant put my finger on why I didn’t feel to go well. It was really cold today and I never felt to got warmed up, I was cold when I started and I was cold when I finished. I really like the circuit though, my computer recorded a top speed of just over 50mph down that big descent’.

With the UK’s top time triallist still to start behind Gareth, Ian started second from the end, as the starting order was determined by Ian’s second overall in the entire competition in 2004. Sandwiched between Michael Hutchinson (API-Metrow) starting last and Gavin Pardoe (Stourbidge CC) starting third from the end, Ian struggled to find his rhythm on the first lap and could only manage a first lap time of 34.10. With such a disastrous start, Ian then pulled out all the stops on the second lap and already being 2 minutes behind Gavin Pardoe Ian really had his work cut out. Ians second lap saw him fly. Taking back almost a minute from Gavin Pardoe, Ian managed to cover the second lap of the circuit in the third fastest second lap time of the day. It was all too much too late for Ian and even with his fast second lap, he finished with an overall time of 1.7.12. Despite Ians slow first lap, he still finished 5th in this opening round of the national time trial series gaining a valuable 56 points toward the overall placings.

The next round of the Rudy Project Series sees the Cherry Valley trio of Aaron, Ian and Gareth travel to Keswick in Cumbria on April 17th.