Jim Trevor was the sole Hull Thursday RC representative in 5th event of the Yorkshire SPOCO series which was held on the V235 ‘25’ TT course on Sunday 27th April, 2014, promoted by Otley CC.

Jim improved on his 19th place in 2013 to take 15th place in this year’s event, recording 58:31. It was interesting to note that only 22 seconds faster would have secured him 11th place as positions 11 to 15 were only separated by 21 seconds, so close was the completion. Annoyingly one second faster would have got Jim 14th place as Edward Rosser from East Bradford CC pipped Jim by only one second.

The V235 is an undulating course on the A168. This section of the A168 is a very wide, well surfaced and unused road, that runs adjacent to the A1M motorway. In fact this road is actually the old A1 that has been given an overhaul by the Highways Agency for use to access the villages, once traffic has exited the A1M. Thus the course is probably one of the safest ‘25’ TT courses in the country, due to the width and low traffic count.

Unfortunately it is not an easy or fast course, rather a challenging one. The course involves a lap and a half of a 7 mile stretch of the A168. It includes climbing the notorious ‘Wall’ twice. Those who rode time trials before the A1M improvements will remember the ‘wall’ on the old A1 course. The ‘wall’ is a mile and a half stretch of the road that gradually climbs about 40m that has a brick wall to the eastern side. Not a huge climb but one of those drags that destroys average speeds and drains the body. Obviously when going down the ‘wall’ at over 30mph the ‘wall’ is a comforting sight especially on the second lap.

As always with Otley CC promoted events, the organisation was to an excellent standard – well marshalled, precise timekeeping, clear signage as well as really good race HQ.

The inform Simon Beldon of Team Swift won the event with a 54:24 with only one other rider, Mark Wolstenholme beating 55 minutes. The fastest veteran was Blair Buss with a 56:03.

Speaking exclusively for HTRC web site Jim commented that he was very pleased with the performance considering it was his second ‘25’ mile TT within a 20 hour period, after riding Birdwell Wheelers ‘25’ the previous afternoon.

Jim added, “Last year the winner was nearly seven minutes clear of me, this year that has been brought back to 4 minutes. Also I remember last year being caught by Blair Buss off 4 minutes and then had another 30 second put into me after the catch – a total of four and a half minutes. This year that margin, with Blair Buss, the top veteran is less than two and a half minutes. So some real progress is being made. Very pleasing considering my lack of race opportunities this season.”

Full results can be found at the CTT website and YCF website.