25/05/2026
Who fancies chancing their arm (or legs) at a time trial? Now’s the time.
This 50-mile race takes place on Sunday 28th June, with riders usually starting one minute apart to race against the clock rather than each other.
It’s hosted by Southend Wheelers and starts near Writtle before heading out through the Rodings on a beautiful scenic Essex route. Riders complete roughly two 25-mile loops before finishing back near Chelmsford.
The course itself has been around in one form or another for decades and there’s every chance you could have a great great grandparent whose name is sitting in the archives having ridden the very same roads.
There’s a trophy for the winner, of course, but I think the best way to see a time trial is as a benchmark against yourself. You’re not really racing everyone else — you’re racing the version of you from last time.
You’ll get a race number to pin on and, more importantly, a really enthusiastic and welcoming bunch of riders who genuinely want people to give it a go.
https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/events/42111-southend-wheelers-norman-wells-memorial-50
And just in case you’ve ever wondered why British time trials have strange names like “E9/50”…
It goes back over 100 years.
In the late 1800s, racing bikes on public roads in Britain was heavily frowned upon and often effectively banned. Cyclists still wanted to race, so they came up with a clever workaround:
* riders started one at a time,
* raced against the clock instead of each other,
* wore dark clothing,
* started at dawn,
* and used coded course names to keep events low-key.
So instead of saying:
“50-mile bike race through Essex Sunday morning…”
…they’d use a code like:
E9/50.
The code system stuck and is still used today.
* E = London East/Essex district
* 9 = a recognised course layout in that area
* 50 = the race distance in miles
So E9/50 simply means:
“the 50-mile event using the E9 Essex course.”
Very British.
Very confusing.
Very fast.
