September 21st. Richmond Grand Prix Premier Calendar.

This was the last Premier Calendar road race and my last road race of the year and of course it had the best weather of the year.  That wasn’t really difficult, as long as it wasn’t snowing or raining.  The route went along Swaledale, over Buttertubs pass and down Wensleydale then did three 10 mile circuits near Richmond and finished in the town.  The start down Swaledale was quite quick and fairly lumpy and a few people got dropped on some of the sharp climbs early on.  I managed to get dropped in the right place, Buttertubs, a mile and a half of one in six.  I’d only done this climb a couple of times from the other side in the middle of a 600k audax so it wasn’t really ideal preparation for this situation.  At least I hadn’t ridden it in the dark.  Still, I wasn’t alone in my torment as all the other hopefuls were getting shelled out in short order as well.  I got together with Andy Tinsley and Steve Rudkin, two other CDNW stalwarts and we carried on down the cracking descent and along Wensleydale on the minor roads.  Tinsley must have actually been annoyed at being dropped because he was pushing on and we dropped Rudkin.  We managed a lap of the circuit which itself included a steep hill, before we were pulled out to allow the big boys an unhindered passage.  Russell Downing won again and then finished the World Champs the next week in the bunch.

 Jimmy Froggatt.