This week we have two reports from members. We begin with Tony's description of the most recent sportive ride before moving on to Dean's summary of the end of season races ridden by himself and Hywel.
On Sunday 21st August, Gerald Stevens, Tony Rees and Paul Harries took part in the Prostate Cancer Tour of Britain Sportive. This event was held over the same course as the Tour of Britain stage due to be contested by the professional peleton in September. The full stage ran between Welshpool and Caerphilly at a distance of just over 100 miles. A shorter option covering the last 65 miles of the stage started in Builth Wells and due to transport logistics the boys opted for this. Starting with around 100 riders the Acme trio were part of a group that set the early pace. While not a race, these challenge rides are keenly contested and the boys soon found themselves in a small group of riders aiming to finish first.
After approximately 20 miles Gerald followed a lone rider in a breakaway move that stayed away to the finish. Paul and Tony stayed with the group as far as Brecon before riding away together on the climb to the Storey Arms and over the Beacons Road to Penderyn. The pair worked well together down the Cynon Valley, through Ystrad Mynach and into Caerphilly where they faced the climb of Caerphilly Mountain before a finish in front of the world famous castle. It was on this climb that Gerald distanced his long term breakaway partner to finish the event in first place in a time of 3 hours 35 mins. Tony and Paul crossed the line together in joint third place in a time of 3 hours 43 mins. All three riders enjoyed the event and were pleased to have finished in such high positions.
| This is a short round-up of a busy end to the season. September 11th Welsh Vets Road Race held on the Vale of Glamorgan course. The race started fast, setting off at speed from the Llandow circuit and headed towards Cowbridge and that deadly left hand bend onto the A48 slip road where I managed to get into a good position for a change. Up the climb and on to Crack Hill with no problems and easily managed Death Valley ( otherwise known as The Gulch ). At the start of the second lap there were two riders away with about a minute on the bunch. Max effort up onto the A48, no problems, then while trying to get my heart rate down and thinking how well I was doing, someone attacked half way up Crack Hill and caught me out a treat. Wrong gear,wrong cadence and chasing the bunch over the climb and into a fierce headwind. ( It was the weekend of the hurricane winds.) Nightmare, race all over. I caught another rider but pulled out passing the start/finish. Disappointed. First time I failed to finish the Vets championship. However there was a series of lung busting, point chasing circuit races for Hywel and myself to look forward to at Maindy track. September 14th : Cardiff Jif 4th Cat race. 30 minutes and ten laps. Very fast and a mad sprint where I finished 9th and picked up a point. Hywel just missed out on the points, coming in in 11th place. September 26th : Cardiff Ajax 4th Cat. 45 minutes and ten laps. Again the same max effort. Hywel was storming this week and missed out on a win by the width of a tyre, gaining 8 points while I finished 4th picking up 6 points, taking me to a total of 10 which now makes me a 3rd Cat rider. October 3rd : Cardiff Ajax 3rd & 4th Cat. Again the same format but with riders from Ystwyth in the west and Oxford in the east. Extremely fast, over 30 mph and riders attacking all the time. With 10 to go I found myself drifting ahead, gently gaining on the bunch who had sat up. With 5 to go I was thinking I should ease up because I'm bound to get caught !!! As I looked over my shoulder I found another rider had joined me so bit the bullet and did through and off, gaining a half lap on the bunch by three to go. The bunch now stepped it up as there were 3rd cats chasing points to get to 2nd cat status and were flying around the track. We buried ourselves for another lap and a half before we were chewed upand spat out of the back. Hywel put in another superb effort and finished 11th, just missing the 1 point he needs to get 3rd cat status. October 10th : Cardiff Ajax 3rd & 4th Cat race and last in the series. Again, riders from all over Wales and the west were chasing the last points of the season. On the back of a brilliant weekend with the boys from the Club I was running empty and couldn't keep up with the pace, pulling out after 35 minutes. A group of ten lapped Hywel's group so that was that, no points left to gain in this last race. Our understanding of the rules is that Hywel will keep his 9 points so only needs 1 point from the early races next season for his 3rd Cat licence. We are planning to use the Maindy track sessions through the winter to keep our speed work up.It will be an early attack on the events next year as the Olympics will disrupt the season. So there we have it,the end of the 2011 season. For me, over 20 events and 3rd Cat status. Some good, some bad but generally happy. Ahh, the joys of sport ! |