Midland DC

For the final event of this year's Series we returned again to the Shirley RC's club 10 on the course starting at Knowle and heading to the Five Ways roundabout and back. Once again the Shirley RC pulled out all the stops to make us feel very welcome with marshals, a proper results board and refreshment served up afterwards. The weather was also extremely kind after the very mixed weather of recent weeks. There was scarcely a breath of wind and the evening was sunny and warm. It was great to see 34 riders sign on, although just 10 of these were entrants to the Women's Series.

Seven hardy souls braved some dreadful weather in the latest round of the womens series.  The heavens opened an hour or two before the race started and left the course heavily water logged, covering the whole road in places.  In such dangerous conditions and with 3 tight corners on the narrow lanes the race was going to become a tactical event with riders who were able to sprint out of the corners and get back to race speed saved vital seconds on their competitors.

Michelle Drakeley was elated when she heard she had set the fastest time on the night finishing in 26.10 with an average speed of over 25mph. The competiton was tough with only 32 seconds dividing the top 4 riders.

The fifth event of this year's Women's Series was the Leamington C&AC open 10 on the Fosse Way course starting near Offchurch. A warm summer evening with bursts of sunshine and a fair south westerly breeze welcomed the 26 women in the first half of the field before the men followed later.

The 4th event in this years women's series turned out to be another competitive event when Stafford Road Club played host to the Midlands Women's Series.  Despite atrocious weather during the day and strong gusting winds, by early evening the sun came out, the roads dried up and most importantly the wind dropped.

	Debbie Sheridan concentrates at the start

For the third event of the Series we returned to the Beacon's Janet Kelly Memorial Open 10 on the Salford Priors course. This is one of the fastest courses in the district, with the majority of the course being on the wide, exposed A46 dual carriageway. Last year this event proved to be one for personal bests when we enjoyed excellent, warm, still conditions. This year the weather was again beautifully sunny and warm (not to say, hot!) but there was also a fair blustery breeze. Out on the course the breeze seemed to neither help nor hinder, however, and, unusually, nobody reported that one direction or the other was especially hard-going.

Some rather damp conditions greeted just six riders in the  Series at the Walsall RCC club event. In actual fact the weather improved by the start of the event with the rain stopping and the wind dropping, although the conditions were still quite tough for the riders.

Nevertheless some very good rides were done. Rachel Turner (VC St. Raphael) was the fastest on the night taking another 16 seconds off her personal best with 24.37. Intriguingly a dead tie was achieved by Michelle Drakeley (Concorde CC) and Susan Semple (Stafford RC) with 25.32 with Debbie Sheridan (BRAT) less than another minute down on 26.25.

Along with Rachel's personal best, the other two newcomers to time trialling, Gemma Cairns (Leamington C&AC)

Michelle Drakely

and Alison Holmes (Lichfield City CC) both did well to improve on their time from Event 1. Alison shaved a couple of seconds off to come home with 29.06 but Gemma made a massive improvement and sliced well over a minute off her previous ride to take the minimum points on Improvement for the night. Congratulations to her.

In the vets competition on standard, Debbie Sheridan was the clear winner with a ‘plus' of 3.23 and Susan Semple was second with +2.14. Well done Debbie.

The three points tables for the Series are beginning to take shape but we need a few more events before a significant number of riders will have 3 performances to include and we can see how the various competitions are shaping up.

Many thanks to David Lloyd, Kevin Adams and the Walsall RCC for welcoming us at their club event.

Next Event: Beacon RCC Open 10, Sat May 30^th, K33/10S, 15.00

Nadine Mayhew

You would think that an extremely flat, straight, out-and-back course with just one turn to negotiate would produce very fast times, but the K41 based at Wolvey is deceptively tough to ride. After you have done a few time trials this course is not the place to expect your absolute fastest times. The best thing therefore is to compare your performance to others' results and to your own previous rides on this course.

That said we were fortunate to have the best weather of the bank holiday weekend with warm conditions, the very slightest north-west breeze and occasional bursts of sunshine. Most wonderful of all, no fewer than 45 women had entered this local classic time trial which is run each year as a memorial to Diana Cooke, aunt to World and Olympic Champion, Nicole Cooke. In eleven years of time trialling I have never seen such a large, enthusiastic and friendly turn out of women. I hope everyone enjoyed the chance to compete on a level playing field against so many other women instead of being lost somewhere in the middle of the men's results as is usually the lot of us women.