15th April

Fiona Davies joined our club many years ago and rides the occasional club event but as a member of Rhondda Triathlon Club continues to compete in Duathlons. Never a person to brag about her abilities, she has been persuaded to give us a brief report of her most recent race.

On Sunday 6th April the University of South Wales hosted the Welsh Duathlon Championship at the Isca Duathlon, starting and finishing on the University campus at Caerleon. Having recce’d the bike course earlier in the week in rain and mist, it was good to wake up to a clear dry morning. The race has a “wave” start with a maximum of 10 in each wave; I was in the 5th wave and settled into the middle of the group as we tackled the hilly 4k run course. Then helmet on, quick shoe change and out on the 10 mile bike leg; a more confident descender came past me within the first 500m, but he then made a good target to focus on throughout the gently undulating ride to the White Hart at Llangybi and back. Finally the hardest part of any duathlon, the second run – “Shut up legs” and just get me round those hills again!

The wave format gave earlier starters a chance to watch some of the faster athletes coming in on the bike and doing their second run, including the eventual Welsh Champion Gareth Thomas of San Domenico, in a total time of 1:01:48. He was followed by Alexander Royffe of Newport Phoenix in 1:03:00 and Gareth Green of San Domenico in 1:03:46. The first lady was Fenella Langridge of Team Pro Motion Dynamics in 1:14:15, while I was very happy (and surprised!) to take the female Super Vets title in 1:27:06.

The following Sunday, Fiona took a break from competition to act as a marshal in our Bryn Griffiths Memorial 25 mile Time Trial in the Vale of Neath.

First rider off at 9.01 am on a bright but cool morning was

Simon Kinsey riding in his first open event. There was a little mist in the lower part of the valley at first but a gradually strengthening wind and rising sun soon dispersed it. Simon, a veteran, completed the distance in 1hour 13 minutes and 18 seconds and will no doubt be keen to race again.

All our club members who rode produced good performances with Dai Long improving greatly from last year with a great 1-01-31 and surprising himself. Those winter training runs under the leadership of Carl have certainly benefitted those who took part because Kevin Bartlemore, a top rider decades ago then finished in 58-43 and Steve Williams took minutes off his PB with an astonishing 1-00-19.

Dan Taylor riding his road bike with clip-on aerobars just pipped Kevin with his 58-35 while Neale Lewis somehow arrived at the start 40 seconds late, recording 59-06. His actual 58-26 would have just made him our fastest rider on the day !

The overall winner for the second year in succession was Kieron Davies, Team NBCC, with an outstanding 49-08, a winning margin of two and a half minutes.

We shouldn’t forget the performance of Roger and Margaret’s young grandson Ethan, now riding for Newport Olympic. In his first ever 25 mile event he recorded an amazing 59-51.

As always, our members and wives were out in force, erecting race warning signs from early morning, marshalling, pushing off, recording, or working at HQ to ensure a successful event. Just as important to the riders were the able team of ladies providing refreshments and always in the background. Thanks to one and all. We were congratulated again for providing such a well run event.

Some photos from the race can be seen in the Gallery and more will probably be added soon.

Also in the Gallery are photos taken by Jeff during the Hilly Trial.

3rd April

CLUB KIT

Anyone wishing to buy garments not currently available from club stock may be interested in the following offer from the manufacturer, Impsport.

Now that your Club Shop is fully functional we would like to encourage your club members to use the facility by offering 10% OFF for the next month on all orders of £50 or more, with free delivery on orders over £75 (offer ends on 30/04/2014).

If you intend ordering anything please contact Kerry first to obtain a Discount Code.

28th March

There has been a flurry of early season activity with our members participating in circuit and time trial events. Dai Long is seen here in one of the circuit races at Llandow and more action pictures taken by Chris and Kerry can be seen in the Photo Gallery. A number of members will be riding in our own open 25 mile time trial, the Bryn Griffiths Memorial event on 13th April and will be pleased to see other members marshalling the course and shouting encouragement. The following Sunday will be the Club Championship 30 mile TT, incorporated in the Bynea CC event so remember to get your entries in to the organiser ASAP. It would be good to see plenty of competition for these Club championships.

The 2014 reliability rides conclude with the hilly event or Fondo this Sunday, all riders starting at 09.30 from the Welcome Inn for a tough challenge.

The Sunday and Wednesday clubruns have been managing to avoid most of the rain but not the muck of the country lanes. The Wednesday runs, in particular, avoid main roads as much as possible, investigating a myriad of narrow lanes and interesting sites. The cafe stop is always looked forward to, of course !

Welcome to two new members. Ryan Evans and Jeff Rees. Both are past members with a strong racing tradition and keen to get involved again. Ryan was a good road man and TT rider while Jeff specialised in cyclo-cross and was a Welsh team member.

18th March

The racing season is now underway and Steve and Paul, having recently ridden his first circuit race switched his attention to his first open time trial in the Port Talbot 2-up 25 mile event on Sunday. Partnered by Steve he recorded a very creditable performance of 1-04-09 on a surprisingly windy day. Steve, on his new TT machine felt quite at home in the new aero position and the group riding practice experienced in the winter training rides meant they worked smoothly together.

Following them were Hywel and Dean on an interesting course which used the dual carriageway and the old road through the Vale of Neath, including the Rock and Fountain climb. Sticking to a traditional road position with no aerobars they recorded 1-08-14 and as can be seen in the Photo Gallery, certainly made an effort. Both teams were resplendent in their new-design kit which brought some approved comment.

The final team of Kevin and Carl rode in the old-design vests on this occasion but showed them off with distinction. Showing they still have a turn of speed they recorded 1-01-47 for 11th fastest in the field of 40 teams. Unfortunately, the poor surface on parts of the old road claimed a victim when Carl hit a pothole with about a mile to go, puncturing both tyres simultaneously, leaving Kevin to cross the line on his own.

Another rider benefitting from the winter training rides was Dai Long. Having only got into the oversubscribed Betty Pharoah road race as reserve, he stayed with the fast pace of the bunch until the last corner when he was tailed off in the surge for the line. Very pleased with his performance he commented that it was very different to his first attempt last year when, unused to the speed, he was dropped after eight miles. Well done everyone for a strong showing of our colours; you can all look forward to a promising year.

Meanwhile, the Sunday and Wednesday rides are available for anyone not racing, the mid-week ride being at a slower pace. This ride attempts to use country roads and lanes as much as possible. Numbers are growing and the group was joined recently by Wayne Howlett, making a “comeback”. Jeff Matthews has also started riding again following his operation but Dave Nelson is unfortunately having to recover from a dislocated shoulder. We look forward to your company again soon, Dave. All riders are welcome join in. Both rides leave the Welcome Inn at 9.30 am.

4th March

The Wednesday social run enjoyed a dry day last week and headed for Llantwit Major to inspect the damage caused by the recent storms. As can be seen here, the footpath in front of the wall is buried beneath tons of pebbles, rocks and broken tree trunks. There should be a bench under there somewhere ! Following tea and toast in the cafe, we rode over the railway bridge to St Athan where Chris stopped to complain about the slow pace. He said he preferred travelling at high speed and it took an effort to prevent him clambering over the fence into RAF St Athan and applying for a job flying jets. he said he could show his heavy goods vehicle licence and claims he is very computer literate so the controls would be no problem.