North Road Hardriders TT

The North Road Hardriders TT is a well established early season classic. It has been promoted by local clubs since 1939, with the North Road CC taking responsibility for promoting since 1955. Out of interest, the North Road CC were established in founded in 1885 to ‘promote fast and long distance cycling on the Great North and other Roads’. 1885 is a long time ago, though the Hardriders TT is far removed from fast racing up the flat and traffic laden A1…

The Course

The course is a series of twists and turns, running on small roads north of Potters Bar, passing through villages like Essenden. The terrain is best described as ‘lumpy’ with several short sharp climbs. It is course best suited to a ‘puncheur’ – there are no smooth long climbs, but a series of ups and downs. The first 15 miles, feels like a very slow rollercoaster, there are quite a few 90 degree turns and frequent dips and climbs. On the downhill you try to pick up as much speed as you dare – to carry you up the other side of the hill. It is the kind of course, where you can go from 45mph to 10mph on a regular basis.

There is a total of 563 m height gain over the 25 miles

Ideally, you would ride the course before hand to get used to the corners and know the course. I spent all week studying an OS Map 1:50,000, and just about managed to remember the course. However, the course was excellently marshalled with signs 200m before every turn and marshals pointing the right way. It’s always possible to get lost when racing, but it was signposted as well as you could  hope for.

The final thing about the course is that there can be a few tricky moments with horses on the roads and slow moving vehicles. You can’t expect a smooth run all the way around. After a hilly first 15 miles, the last 10 miles or so, are on smoother faster roads, without so much hills. It’s an opportunity to put it in the big ring and try and raise your average speed. I used TT bike, discwheel and Zipp 404.

Entering

I’ve been wanting to ride the North Road Hardriders event for the past 10 years. In fact, this is the fourth time I’ve entered, but have had to dns three times. I very rarely dns – but in late February, I’ve often been susceptible to winter injuries, niggles and colds. I only made a late decision to enter this year after another stop start winter, but feel glad to have finally made it around.

Cold

It was 3 degrees Celsius on arriving at the rather plush HQ. It presents a dilemma of how much clothes to wear. Some will say, man up – just ride a skinsuit – like in July. But, these people are rarely 190cm and 61kg. I chose to wear leg warmers, two pairs of gloves, two pairs of socks (+ hotpads). I wore the ASSOS skinfoil baselayer underneath the skinsuit, and this worked out pretty well – it is as warm as two or three normal undershirts. As it happened, it warmed up quite nicely during the race, and was a positively barmy 7 degrees by the finish. I think that dry, sunny and 5 degrees counts as excellent weather for the North Road Hardriders.

Race

In a bid to keep warm before the start, I nearly missed my start. Usually, I’d be happy to wait by timekeeper for a few minutes, but this time I tried to cut it fine. In fact, it was very fine – 15 seconds to go by the time I got to the start, just enough time to fling off the last jacket. Then I was away. I’ve had a good month of training in February, but nothing which was like a proper race, so it’s always hard to know how to pace first event. I went quick up first climb and then tried to hold on. I occasionally looked at power, but you can’t really ride to power on an event like this. The last 10 miles, I could put out big effort and increased average speed and really flew up last few drags, so perhaps I held a little bit too much back on the hillier part of the course. But, overall it was a fairly decent pacing effort for the first outing of the season.

I stopped the clock in 58.49 – which was 4th place. The top two were riders from Pedal Heaven UCI continental team. 1st Lloyd Chapman 57.54 and Joe Fry, 58.02; 3rd place was last years winner , Ashley Cox (Luton CC) 58.29. 1st women was Judy Conibear (Hemel Hempstead)

• Power for  race – 295 watts raw

Results 2016

Phil Liggett – Fred Bidlake Memorial Prize

Just before the results, Phil Liggett was awarded  The Fred Bidlake Memorial Prize. This is an annual cycling prize  given to the most outstanding performance or contribution to cycling.

Phil sounded just like he does on TV, I half expect to see visions of the French Alps when I hear that soothing, reassuring voice.

Past winners of Fred Bidlake Memorial Prize include:

• Frank Southall (1935)
• Marguerite Wilson (1939)
• Reg Harris (1947 and 1949)
• Eileen Sheridan (1950)
• Beryl Burton (1959, 1960, 1967)
• Tom Simpson (1965)
• Hugh Porter (1968)
• Tony Doyle (1980)
• Chris Boardman (1992)
• Graeme Obree (1993)
• Nicole Cooke (2001)

Previous winners of North Road Hardriders Events

The first rider under the hour was Chris Boardman

Prior to 1955 event promoted by Kingsdale C.C.
1955    R. Gosman    Barnet CC    1.19.37
1956 to 1958 promoted by Norion CC
1959    A. Howling    Castille RC    1.12.49
1960    I. Moore    Zeus RC    1.08.53
1961    J. Bompas    Finsbury Park CC    1.12.14
1962    D. E. Meekins    Welwyn Wheelers    1.12.58
1963    T. Nimmo    Letchworth Velo    1.05.58    23 miles
1964    S. Lovatt    Century RC    1.10.58
1965    B. McKeown    Welwyn Wheelers    1.09.19
1966    B. McKeown    Welwyn Wheelers    1.08.15
1967    B. Lapworth    CC Islington    1.10.28
1968    J. Winstanley    Finsbury Park CC    1.08.23
1969    J. Winstanley    Finsbury Park CC    1.09.57
1970    C. Kearley    Whitewebbs CC    1.07.04
1971    J. MacMillan    West London Cour    1.05.56
1972    J. MacMillan    West London Cour    1.05.53
1973    R Cary    Whitewebbs CC    1.09.08
1974    D. Sheehy    Hainault CC    1.09.39
1975    S. Poulter    Highgate CC    1.11.58
1976    A. Engers    Woolwich CC    1.08.34
1977    R.J Downs    VC Olympia    1.06.42
1978    R.J Downs    Anglia Sport    1.08.28
1979    S. Yates    Archer RC    1.06.46
1980    T. Stevens    34 Nomads    1.03.45
1981    R. Cary    Professional    1.10.47
1982    M. D. Pyne    CC Breckland    1.02.03
1983    D. J. Webster    Manchester Wheelers    1.01.39
1984    D. J. Webster    Manchester Wheelers    1.00.38
1985    D. J. Webster    Manchester Wheelers    1.02.56
1986    D. J. Webster    Manchester Wheelers    1.02.46
1987    D. J. Webster    Manchester Wheelers    1.00.29
1988    E. J. Adkins    High Wycombe CC    1.04.31
1989    J. Walshaw    Professional    1.03.00
1990    T. M. Jackson    Invicta RC    1.02.14
1991    C. M Boardman    Manchester Wheelers    0.57.20
1992    R. J. Prebble    Wembley RC    0.59.08
1993    No event.
1994    S. Dangerfield    North Wirral Velo    0.58.00
1995    G. Butler    Norwood Paragon CC    1.00.00
1996    G. Butler    Norwood Paragon CC    0.58.32    short course
1997    S.Yates    Team Clean    0.58.44
1998    M Belfield    GS Strada    1.00.20
1999    G. Butler    Norwood Paragon CC    1.05.25    28.2 miles
2000    C. Newton    Midridge CRT    1.01.57
2001    No event.
2002    J. Ramsbottom    Race Scene    1.04.41    27.4 miles
2003    C.Newton    Corima RT    0.51.03    22.2 miles
2004    No event.
2005    M. Huchinson    Api-Metrow    0.54.23    23.0 miles
2006    M. Huchinson    in-Gear Quickvit RT    0.59.14
2007    R. Prebble    Pinarello RT    0.59.45
2008    J. Ramsbottom    DeRosa RT    0.42.55    18.0 miles
2009    S. Gaywood    Team Corley Cycles    0.58.36
2010    M. Bottrill    I-ride.co.uk    0.59.30
2011    W. Sybrandy    Sigma Sport    0.42.22    18.0 miles
2012   Wouter Sybrandy IG Sigma Sport 56:36 Course record and 25 mile event record.
2013  Joe Perrett (Team IG-Sigma Sport) (22 miles) in a time of 49.21
2014   Ashley Cox CC Luton CC 00:56:47
2015  Ashley Cox CC Luton CC
2016  Lloyd Chapman Pedal Heaven CC