50 mile Reliability Ride
At 10.00am Sunday 2nd of February 2014 with a break in the terrible weather, Phil Andrews, Steve Williams and Dean Cummings set off from the Welcome Inn, Tonypandy, picking up Steve Bennett and Hywel Morgan a few miles down the Valley . A good tempo was set from the outset and all the riders were working together as they tackled Nantgarw Hill and headed in the Newport direction , Steve Williams had a slight issue with his rear mudguard as the group approached Newport but this issue was quickly resolved ( mudguard nil, bin 1 ). Quickly the riders set off hoping to beat the black clouds building in the distance. Sadly, as the group entered the Newport Flats, it rained, and rained and rained for the whole 12 miles . As they arrived at Newport Road, Cardiff, the sun appeared to lift the riders spirits and they negotiated the Cardiff traffic without any problems .
The tempo pace continued as the riders tackled the LLantrisant Road climbs. In-form Hywel Morgan turned the screw on the last drag past Dynevor Arms and gained about a 6 second lead on the chasing group of 4 . The Castell Mynach lights were thankfully green so moments later the bunch was together again for the run in to the Black Prince. All riders finished together in 2 hours 45 minutes, well under their target time of 3 hours . Everyone was pleased with their efforts, a true test of form at this time of the year.
