19th July

This week the club as a whole received this card with the following message.

” To the members of Acme Cycle Club.

With just under a week before I leave for Glasgow, I have been thinking back over all the years of training I have done.

Acme were the first cycle club I joined at the age of 16. Going out on 60/70 mile rides on a Sunday was the highlight of my week. I loved it !

I wanted to thank you for your patience, the pushes up Llantrisant bypass and the mars bars you gave me when I blew !

I am really grateful for your help and encouragement which has helped me to reach a level in sport that I am so proud of. The Commonwealth Games is like a dream come true for me and it is thanks to ACME that I am going.

Keep up the good work. I hope you continue to help youngsters to take up and enjoy cycling.

Thanks again

Carol Bridge.

Carol , from Llwynypia, will be representing Wales as a member of the Triathlon team. As a young club member she had to fit her cycling around swimming training, running and school work so had to be very dedicated and ambitious. She went on to spend some time in France where she was a member of a triathlon team and has been an elite triathlete for years, winning the female section of the Outlaw half ironman distance triathlon at Nottingham in 2013. It consisted of a 1.2 mile swim followed by a 56 mile bike section with a 13.1 mile run to the finish. This year she almost did it again when she finished in second place.

All our members will be cheering for her during the Games, not the least of them being Gwyn Humphreys who celebrates his 80th Birthday on Friday and will no doubt be remembering his own participation in the Commonwealth Games as a track pursuiter in his younger days.

In today’s 10 mile TT at Abergavenny, Dan Taylor was the fastest Acme rider, beating our club gold standard with his 21.33 ride. Kevin Bartlemore, finishing in 22.59 was strongly challenged by Dai Long who recorded apersonal best 23.01. Simon Kinsey, 25.27 finished within 30 seconds of Jeff Rees who pulled out all the stops to surprise with his time of 25.02, wishing he had gone just three seconds faster !

Meanwhile, the Acme colours are being displayed in North Wales where Dave Nelson, now back at home near Wrexham, took the opportunity to ride the climb of the Horseshoe Pass above Llangollen.He is pictured at the top where the blue sign refers to the descent behind him, not the climb just completed which is used in a well-known mountain time-trial. Unfortunately he didn’t have an Acme flag to plant at the summit and rename it Mount Acme.

Posted in 2014 News, July.