The M18 course is more often used for team time trials so this was a rare opportunity to race it solo.

In fact I've raced it six times in team time trials, either two or three person teams, and this would be my fourth solo event. The course shares the first and last few miles with the Vagabonds 10 course, with some additional rolling miles in between, so is a classic "sporting"course. There are no climbs big enough to give me any real problems so the course is relatively well suited to me.

The weather on the day was damp, with intermittent drizzle but very little wind. For the first time this year I had a late starting position in the field, number 92 starting at 11:32. I left it late to start my warm up to avoid getting too wet before the start and it proved to be a good move as the rain ceased shortly after I left the car park and stayed largely dry for the race. You have to feel sorry for the marshals and timekeepers who stood out in it for the whole event.

I still haven't got the start nailed with the bumpy road surface so played safe and stayed off my tri-bars until I was past the Police HQ. From there to Kirkley Hall I tried to hold back just a little, conscious this was my longest race to date on the new TT bike. By Thorneyford Farm I was into my stride and trying to hold my pace up the drags on the way to Gubeon. If anything this was the headwind leg as well as being generally uphill, so an average speed of 22.6 mph to the turn seemed pretty reasonable.

The next stretch to Whalton has some bad potholes so focus was not just on riding fast but on taking a safe line around all the hazards, The road surface in Whalton itself was surface chipped last week, so the sharp bends had to be taken far more slowly than usual, and on the last couple I nearly got held behind a car who had waited for oncoming cyclists before moving round a parked car.

The climb up towards Belsay is as hard as any other part of the course, but once onto the A696 at Belsay it was really quick back to Ponteland - in fact an average speed of 28 mph on what is a predominantly downhill stretch with a few uphill drags along the way. Jack Earl was taking pictures in the layby just after the Highlander, and conscious of being close to a 24 mph average speed I was flat out past the Wagon to the finish line. 

My time was 43:23, a personal best for the course by 17 seconds, and an average speed of 24.2 mph. In fact I have only once ridden the course faster as part of a team time trial. Overall I placed 26th out of 98 riders, scoring me more national ranking points than any other event this season. A very pleasing result!National Ranking 6th June 2018