Welcome to the 2026 outdoor time trial and hillclimb season. Two weeks ago, with all the snow and frigid weather, it seemed hard to imagine that we'd actually be doing this today. Au contraire, mon ami (getting ready for our trip to France and Italy soon).

Five riders showed up for the 5:30 start (Andy, JOK, Madeline, Melissa and Tim) while 4 of us did it earlier (maybe later too?); me, Dusty, Frank and 1st timer Charles. I did drive over to greet the starters, cheer them on at the halfway point (Tim waved, Melissa blew me a kiss and the rest just ignored me while I was out there jumping up and down, cheering and making a fool out of myself which defied my doctor's orders, in fact doing the time trial defied my doctor's orders too) and get their times at the finish line.

There was some sort of Madeline's dog-on-the-course incident. I can't really shed any light on it but Madeline rode off after finishing, almost as fast as her TT speed, to go find her dog. Maybe an explanation will be forthcoming.

Okay, enough of this fluff. Here are today's results:

1. Jonathan O'Keeffe; Time: 24:26; 22.59 mph; 9 points

2. Frank Sleegers; Time: 24:41; 22.36 mph; 8 points

3. Dusty King; Time: 24:46; 22.29 mph; 7 points (birthday boy!)

4. Andy MacDonald; Time: 25:44; 21.45 mph; 6 points

5. Melissa Warwick; Time: 26:12; 21.07 mph; 5 points

6. Tim Pitkin; Time: 26:24; 20.91 mph; 4 points

7. Madeline Nagy; Time: 27:04; 20.39 mph; 3 points

8. David Goodwin; Time: 29:07; 18.96 mph; 2 points

9. Charles Bohl; Time: 30:48; 17.92 mph; 1 points

Next week is the first hillclimb - Leeds to Chesterfield. Hope to see you there.