19th July

Posted on by

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.

6th August

Posted on by

The Commonwealth Games road race in the streets of Glasgow proved a real showcase for Welsh riders on a deceptively tough circuit. Combined with pouring rain it decimated the field of 139 riders with just 12 finishing. When you add 6th [Luke Rowe] and 10th [Scott Davies] places to Geraint Thomas’s gold it says something about the quality and mental toughness of our riders. No other country even had three finishers !

At club level, our own members continue to make an impact and push their own boundaries. In the last couple of months, Fiona in her occasional forays into time trialling has beaten the club silver standard for 10 miles to add to her earlier bronze at 25 miles. There is currently no female standard for 50 miles but she would surely have been close to it with her 2.31.14 in the 100 milers 50. Jeff, in his comeback season is producing 24 minute rides at 10 miles. His intention was just to get fit enough to participate in his beloved cyclo-cross again but he is so keen that he has purchased a TT bike. The secret of his improving performances has been leaked, however. It seems that Dan insisted Jeff would pay for the cakes after an event if Dan caught him before the turn. Petrified at the thought of unsealing his purse, he managed to hold off Dan until just after the turn, afraid to look over his shoulder ! Mark is believed to be contemplating a return to CX racing so maybe he should be threatened with ” Last man buys the teas ” at the cafe stops.

Simon, so keen that he is attempting all distances as well as completing a solo, non-stop ride from North to South Wales has already lowered his 25 mile time from 1-07 to 1-04 to claim a bronze standard. He has also beaten the bronze standard for 10 and 50 miles this year. Steve W, before his road bike was stolen had been mixing TT’s with circuit races and haven broken the hour in May, beat the bronze standard in the Bynea 50 with his 2-18-41. Dai Long, like Steve, has improved greatly this year, his improved confidence netting a 5th place at Llandow, breaking the hour at 25 miles and just missing the silver standard at 30 miles with 1-18-40 in the club championship. On 2nd August he also gained silver at 10 miles with his 23-34.

Kevin B is having a great season and pushing the younger riders with his two 57 minute rides at 25 miles, a 23 minute 10 and 2-08-47 for 50 miles. This weekend he rides the 100 Championship together with Simon and Fiona. We haven’t seen much of Gary this year, having spent some time working abroad and concentrating on training for the Tenby Ironman event. However, he has been riding many of the Merthyr club events in the Vale of Neath, where there seem to be more Acme riders than anyone else and has done a 59 minute 25. Tom has claimed a bronze with 1-05-17 at 25 miles and Rory has achieved 1-08-20. Having been keen enough to enter the Port Talbot 4-up where they clocked 1-04-32, next season should see big strides from them.

Steve B continues to show his abilities with two 55 minute 25’s one of which added the club 25 mile championship to the 30 mile title he claimed in April. Last month he also gained more points at Llandow with 3rd place in a field of numerous other 2nd Cat riders. Dan, already contemplating his return to cyclo-cross, has achieved gold standard at 10 miles [21-33] and 25 miles [54-24] since closely challenging Steve at 30 miles and has also turned out a 2-07 ride at 50 miles. A last minute decision to enter the Gateway to the Beacons road race at the end of July was a good one. Attacking early in the race, he broke away on a climb but his companion being unable to share the work, they were eventually hauled in. The race later split with Dan in the second group which worked hard and rejoined. He made another attack on the final climb and although he was caught, still ended up with 6th place, just pipped at the line for 5th.

Welcome to new member, Neil Mousdale, already known to many of us having ridden a number of our club events this year. He is keen to get seriously involved with racing next year and living on Penrhys should have no fear of hills !

15th July

Posted on by

This must be the Acme’s busiest racing season for many years. A resurgence of interest has seen riders active in circuit races, open time trials,club events and sportives. Although a time was given for Simon Kinsey in the Dragon Ride he did not actually finish on his bike. Due to a broken frame he eventually crossed the line on the back of a marshal’s motorbike where the bike’s timing chip recorded a time !

There was some confusion after the finish of the Bynea 25 in June with a number of finish times being adjusted. The final result shows Dan with 54-24, Neale 56-37 and Fiona 1-09-09.

Neale was back in action in the Real Team 10 mile time trial on 1st July when he recorded 22-29. He was joined by Kevin Bartlemore, enjoying a good season who finished in 23-05.

A number of members have been taking advantage of the Merthyr evening club events to record times over the standard distances. On July 2nd six of our riders competed in the Merthyr club 10 on the old road down the Vale of Neath. Rory Jenkins recorded 30-38, veteran Jeff Rees who is really enjoying his comeback season [and rapidly losing weight] was very happy with 29-58, Simon Kinsey 29-19, Tom Stoddard 27-37, Steve Williams 26-29 and Gary Flower 26-12. The following week was the Merthyr club 25 miler where Rory showed he is capable of taking two to three minutes off his 10 mile time by recording 1-08-20. Tom did the same by recording an excellent 1-05-17 while Simon was just a little slower in 1-05-34. Steve finished with 1-01-09 but was again trumped by Gary who got under the hour with 59-09.

Dai Long has been mixing his racing and recently was delighted to get some points with an 8th place at the Llandow circuit races having made a number of attempts to break away in previous weeks. Dan Taylor finished in 1st place on that occasion so other riders have been keeping an eye on him since then. On 9th July there were two groups of two riders out in front and Dan managed to bridge across to the second pair before taking a breather and setting his sights on the front pair. He was unable to bridge the gap and was caught by two riders on the finishing straight but was able to finish in 5th place and gain some more points.

The most recent action was in the Real Team 25 mile time trial on Sunday 13th July with eight of our riders competing. A huge entry meant only two of our riders got into the main event with the others in the overflow on a day when most competitors were slower than in recent events. Steve Bennett was again the fastest Acme rider with 55-27 with Dan giving him some competition with his 55-58. Neale was our quickest rider in the overflow event, finishing in 56-47 with veteran Kevin recording 57-15. Dai was delighted to break the hour for the first time with his 59-31. It was good news for some but bad for Steve who had mechanical trouble. Having stopped to take out his front wheel and remove the speed sensor he finished with a disappointing 1-02-52. Simon, however, improved on his Merthyr time with 1-04-32 and Jeff showed his improving form as he builds towards the cyclo-cross season with 1-07-44.

22nd June

Posted on by

There has been a resurgence in racing activities this season in both club and open events. June seems to have been particularly busy and provided some good results in various aspects of the sport.

The Bynea 50 mile Time Trial on the 8th June was transferred to the Vale of Neath course this year because of road works and provided an opportunity to achieve good times. Riding in his first medium distance event, Steve Williams was well within the Club Bronze Standard time with his 2-18-41. Dai Long, also in his first event at this distance, surprised himself with a well paced ride of 2-07-36 which gained him a Silver Standard. Dan Taylor was our fastest finisher in 2-00-15, wishing he could have gone 16 seconds faster to beat the gold standard !

Neale Lewis backed up his recent 25 mile times with a 22-03 in the Merthyr 10 on 14th June and the following day Dan rode his first 100 mile TT in the West Wales event held on a notoriously tough course between Brecon and Carmarthen where he recorded 4-27-59, well inside our 4-45-00 silver standard, despite being held up by traffic lights and several tractors.

The Club 5 mile TT was cancelled on Thursday 19th because so many members were riding the Port Talbot 4-up Team Time Trial that evening. The atmosphere was good with plenty of Acme colours in evidence due to the three teams we produced. The fastest of these,as expected, comprised Kevin Bartlemore, Dan Taylor, Steve Bennett and Neale Lewis with their 53-41 for overall 18th place. Kerry Lewis, Tony Rees, Mark Nicholls and Jeff Rees provided a veterans team which produced a 1-04-15 ride and was challenged closely by a combined team consisting of Simon Kinsey, Rory Jenkins and Tom Stoddart, all in their first racing season. In the absence of a fourth Acme rider they were joined by Michael Lawry [Bicycle Doctor] and went just seventeen seconds slower to finish in 1-04-32.

Jeff Rees, keen to compete in cyclo-cross again this winter, rode the 4-up on his cyclo-cross bike and subjected himself to another painful experience yesterday when he rode into a stiff wind on the first leg of the Bynea 10 mile TT, recording 26-48. Dan Taylor also rode and completed the distance in 23-02. Today he was joined in the Bynea 25 by Fiona Davies and Neale Lewis. We do not have a time for Fiona yet but Dan took three minutes off his personal best with 54-24 and Neale went even faster with 53-13.

Mark Nicholls used his new Planet X bike to good effect in the 4-up and has now placed his old bike on display to the public. Thanks to Ross Morgan for the photograph.

A number of our members took part in the Dragon Ride last month. Simon Kinsey completed the 140 miles of the Gran Fondo in 11 hours 19 mins 04 secs despite suffering from mechanical problems at half distance. The shorter but still long Medio Fondo saw Andrew Sheldon and Kevin Millard complete the 100 miles in 7-19-12 while Paul Harries and Phil Andrews finished together in 6-15-44 and 6-15-43 respectively and Ross Morgan in an excellent 5-54-10.

Photos from the latest hill climb event are now in the Gallery.

4th June

Posted on by

Good news on the racing front tonight. Dai Long has seen a big improvement in his performances in the Llandow circuit races this season, getting into breaks but missing out on the points. Tonight, however, he collected his first points when he finished in a very creditable 8th place. Dan Taylor, who last week was envious of Dai’s new ability, decided to do something about his own performance by breaking away with 5 laps to go and soloed to victory !

What a result for the Acme.

The placings in the club 5 mile and hill climb series are now listed in the results section.