Races of truth on K33/10D in Alcester

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat - Malcolm S Forbes

The season generally includes at least one or two trips down to Alcester/Harvington to race on K33/10D; a nice course two thirds of which is on single carriageway roads with the last third being a steady drag up the dual carriageway. As with most courses it rides differently depending on the direction of the wind and of course the traffic around on the day. It's generally a headwind in the first third with a crosswind thrown in for good measure if you're unlucky. 

My first race on this course this year was the Janet Kelly Memorial hosted by Beacon Roads Club back in May. It was a warm day but not baking hot. This year was the 38th running of the event and the trophy is awarded to the fastest female on the day. This was also a round of the Midland Women's Series so both points and a trophy were to be awarded and I was desperate for the points having not yet got any on the board due to being away for round 1 and round 2 being rained off. 

Previously won by the great Beryl Burton

Compared to my last race on this course last year, where I had to overtake a horse and cart and then 2 miles later almost went into the back of a car that suddenly decided to take a right turn with no prior warning other than slamming on the brakes, this was pretty uneventful. Slowing at all three roundabouts for traffic already on the carriageway and annoyingly almost coming to a stop at the last due to cars everywhere but that seems to be customary this year - hopefully it'll even out as the season goes on.

As I crossed the finish line, barely able to shout my number to the timekeeper, I caught up with a lady who'd finished a moment or so before me and didn't know how to find her way back to HQ. I rode back the scenic way with her, not fancying a return trip up the dual carriageway, even though it was shorter. She was delighted to have finally broken 30 minutes - it was nice to see genuine astonishment on her face that she'd done it. Meanwhile I wasn't entirely sure what I'd stopped my Garmin at, so I was riding back oblivious... Until I rode into the car park at HQ to be greeted with "it's a tie", cue blank look from me, "sorry what's a tie?" It transpired that both myself and Jessica Rhodes-Jones from the host club Beacon RCC had ridden 23:42 to win the trophy! We were almost a minute clear of 3rd placed rider Keri Parton from the RAF.

Jointly winning the Janet Kelly Memorial Trophy

My next visit to K33/10D was the weekend after ToC and following a week of being poorly so expectations were pretty low. This time it was for the Charlie Grieg Memorial TT. The way out felt REALLY hard, in fact so hard that I was actually considering spinning around at the first roundabout and riding back to the start. With the roundabout approaching there were decisions to be made... Of course I was going to carry on, I don't give in that easily!


It didn't get any easier, time trialling never does; you just go faster. I didn't dare look at my Garmin as I wasn't expecting anything too hot - 22:58! Wow, that's a course PB, in fact a season's best, perhaps that's why it was hurting quite so much and there was me attributing that to a week of pretty much being wiped out. If I was impressed with my time, then friend and fellow MWTTS series competitor Liz Powell, managed to pull a really impressive 22:22 out of the bag!

Podium at Charlie Grieg Memorial

The season has just got a whole lot faster all of a sudden! Things are definitely looking up for July :-)