18-1-07 TT 27.42. Splits 6.48, ?. Steady but not strong NWer. This was with a group of people on Simon Kennett’s weekly Thursday 6 pm Tip Track climb for all-comers. Meet at the bottom gate at 6pm. Going up with others certainly makes you push yourself a bit harder. Also, I left my backpack at the bottom. It’s probably only about the fourth time I’ve climbed the TT without a backpack. I wasn’t aiming for much, but I wanted to keep ahead of Paul Kennett if I could, and apart from that go under 30. Got stuck on the top gate (again!), which cost 10 seconds. Paul started about 10 seconds behind me and got up in 28.50 (he’d already ridden in Belmont before work), so I imagine we’re fairly even.

The big excitement was John Randal, who’d just spent $800 lightening his bike (now a feathery 29lbs). He got up in 22.37 – 8 seconds faster than his PB of 22.45 set a couple of weeks back. That’s $100 a second – money well spent!

The big mover was Simon Kennett – 22.01! His halfway split was 10.38, so he stopped to smell the flowers a bit on the second half. Some talk about Tim Wilding’s possible TT time in the Owhiro Bay car park to the Golfball climb. I think his time was 24.37? Simon reckons he could do the road bits in about 4 minutes, and Tim Wilding was probably quicker, so did he go up the TT in under 20 or not?

Have to do something about my front forks (Dukes). The stanchions are very worn and I can now wiggle one of them laterally. Was so worried they might snap that, just as I was about to set out for a big ride, I decided not to go. Went back down the TT carefully, but even so it still would’ve been painful if the forks snapped.