Sam starts to find his form

Rutland 25 TT - 10/06/2006 - O25/10, Ranby, Notinghamshire

A scorching afternoon ensured a very hot and sticky race for the Cherry Valley riders in the Rutland 25 TT on Saturday afternoon 10th June. Although Jon was a little off par with his performance, Ian and Sam returned great rides to narrowly miss out on the fastest team prize.

With the temperature topping out at 27C in the afternoon, the riders faced a scorching ride on the A1 from Ranby to Markham Moor and Blyth and back to Ranby to cover the 25 TT course.

After just a few weeks of more intensive training for Sam, the benefits could already be seen as he got into a good rhythm on what was actually a very tough day with strong winds blosing across the course. Sam found the legs to keep the pace high enough to cross the line ion a time of 57.43 to record his fastest 25 of the year and to finish 24th overall from a full field of 120 riders.

With Sam halfway around the course, next Cherry Valley rider to start was Jon. After a midweek training accident which resulted in snapped tri bars and bruised knees and damaged pride, Jon was setting off tentatively and took some time before he was fully confident again at riding at speed. As the race went on, Jon started to feel the intense heat taking the edge off his speed but after carefully negotiating the roundabouts, Jon powered his way to the finish to complete the 25 miles in 55.24 for a below par perfoermance which resulted in a final 10th place.

After Ians storming mid week ride at Boston and his brialliant performance 6 days earelier in the National 25 TT, Ian was again looking to keep his good form goin in this Rutland event that had attracted some of the best time triallists in the UK. Ian found himself slightly off the pace of Ramsbottom (Scunthorpe Poly) and Broadwith (Shorter Rochford RT), but still put in a strong performance to cross the line in a time of 53.42 to finish 5th.