19th July

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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.

15th July

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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.