Today saw five MDCC riders take on the West London 25 held on the CC114 close to Great Missenden.  The pre race health and safety report had spotted a cow enjoying the fresh grass on the verge of the A413 south of Great Missenden. Armed with this information we all set of to the start.

As this was Mike's first time he was briefed regarding the course. Today's weather meant that we were all faced with a strong head wind for the first five miles. Simon was first off and was not likely to be caught as he is in very good form. I arrived at the start with seconds to spare and was dispatched by the time keepers without being held. A minute later Andrew Payne set off with Gurpal Panesar given a stiff target to follow as he started two minutes behind as Julian Fairley had not started. Mike was our last rider off one minute behind Gurpal. Into the wind I was caught by Andrew after 4 miles but since this was further than I had got when I had rode this course before I was hopeful that I might be going quicker. By the time I was reaching the first turn with Andrew in front of me I saw that Simon was pushing hard back towards the start with the wind behind him. I continued to keep Andrew in sight as we both made the turn and started our way back south on the A43. As I rode back up the incline both Mike and Gurpal were making good time towards the roundabout. It wasn't very long before I lost sight of Andrew as I was not able to keep up the pace that he was setting as he headed down pass the finishing line for the first time. With the tail wind blowing us all to the most southerly roundabout our time differences were pretty constant. As I made my way down to this roundabout both Simon and Andrew were already heading back into the wind towards Great Missenden. As I made the turn a short while later I was soon facing the same windy conditions. It wasn't a great prospect knowing that you had another 10 miles of this to go. I am sure that all of us were looking forward to the final turn and the fast decent to the finishing line. Unfortunately Simon was so keen to add a few extra metres to his distance as he failed to turn at the last roundabout and had to make his turn using one of the roundabout islands. I also had my own problems as I had the bracket that holds my aero-bars break as I passed the start line for the second time. I first thought that I had broken the carbon fibre but it was only the alloy bracket. With about seven miles to go I thought I might as well try and finish.

With five of the MDCC riders back at the HQ the post ride discussions started. Both Andrew and Simon had completed the event finishing on exactly the same time of 1:01:15. I was the third placed MDCC rider in an improved time of 1:09:28, with Mike and Gurpal both finishing in respectable times of 1:10:06 and 1:18:10.

The winning rider was Peter Dixon of Willesden CC in 58:02

The next time trial in this series is the H50/4.