Personal Best for Ian

VTTA 50 TT - 10/06/2007 - Thirsk

An early start on Sunday morning for Cherry Valley RT’s Ian Dalton who was competing in the Cleveland Wheerlers 50 miles time trial, this event was also the VTTA National Championship.

The event was run on the A19 and A168 roads starting at the Kirk Leavington junction heading south towards the A1 turning at the Dishforth junction and retracing back to finish in the village of Kirk Leavington. This out and back course had two distinct sections to it, the top end of the course was on more undalating roads and the bottom section from the Thirsk bypass to the turn was generally flat.

With light winds it looked like it would be fairly even going both ways but once the riders joined the A19 it was soon noticealbe that it was fast going to the turn. Cherry Valleys Ian Dalton, off number 60 in the 120 rider event, was riding his first 50 of the year and hoping it would be good preperation for the following weeks national championship event in Bedfordshire. Starting fairly quickly Ian did wonder if he’d pay the price later on the harder return leg. Over the outward undalating section Ian had averaged 28mph, but dropping down to Thirsk the speed was well over 30mph for several miles, at the turn 25 miles was clocked in under 50 minutes. The return leg was going to be harder going and slower, on the flatter first section the riders were finding it slow going as there was little shelter, but the final undulating section it did feel better. At the turn Ian had thoughts of setting a personal best time but time was slipping away on the harder homeward leg and with the not knowing the course it difficult gauge how well you were going. The final mile was off the dual carriageway to Kirk Leavington, Ian knew a PB was on the cards and he crossed the finish line to clock a time of 1hr 47mins 30sec knocking almost 2min 30sec of the previous best time.

This was the fastest time so far but with quicker rides out on the course it was going to be a long wait to find out his final position, as riders times were posted things were looking good for Ian with several riders getting close, most noticable Gary Brown from Equipe Velo Ecosse with a time of 1.47.31 but it was rider 120 and pre race favorite Vince Macklam – Yorkshire RC who was the eventual winner with a time of 1.46.04