My entry to the Wales Velothon was booked for me as one of my Christmas presents – a lovely Surprise??   Yes, I was excited and a little nervous.  But as the month of April came I was panicking a bit. I wondered how Emma how decided what wave to put me in. Reply was, “I guessed and figured you would do it in under 5hrs”.  No pressure on then!!!

My good friend, and Acme member, Cae  Lovatt had also entered as he and Emma  talked about the event previous season. The training was stepped up and thanks to our good Club members who organised and ran the Hilly Fondo all was kicked off in the rain, but a lovely day and great company.

Thankfully I avoided any major injuries or accidents and entered into a few more sportifs which built me up to what I thought would be a great event. To be honest I wasn’t disappointed, the build up, the set up and then the atmosphere on the morning, it was so we’ll organised and marshals were so helpful, myself and good friend Cae were seen off by Emma at 8:20 an hour after a few of our more “Senior Club members” who challenged us to a faster time and be back in “spoons” for dinner at 2:30.  It was fingers crossed and off we went.

It was a beautiful morning in the capital and indeed it was beautiful the whole way around, great support from the locals got a little shower of rain at the bottom of Tumble but nothing serious. The Tumble itself was tough, the hardest part was making room for myself so I could keep a nice steady cadence and good rhythm.  Nice feeling going over the top and the large crowd cheered each and every rider up.  A quick look around and there my wee man Cae coming over the summit fresh as a daisy.  A fast decent down allowed time to recover before the legs got another burning,

We all have cycled up the Caerphilly mountain, from various angles, but after an 80mile ride it just felt like a bigger climb than I remembered.  Anyway it was head down and full concentration, and with a little push from my club friend Simon, we we’re at the top in no time!!  Enjoyed the atmosphere and chance to refill water bottle use the loos etc, A good day was coming to a end but not before a classic Welsh finish, great support from the locals and the crowd at the finish line.  A memory I won’t forget, look forward to next year already.

 PS,  Yes we met the “Senior Club ” members, but it was later than 2:30 lads.