September is a Mix of Distances for Acme Racers

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September got off to a wet and windy start at the Sportzmad 10 on the R10/17 Course between Abergavenny and Raglan.  Nadine Cannon was fortunate to have the first five miles dry but the rain and wind arrived for her return five.  Despite the unfavourable conditions Nadine posted a PB of 23:56.

Neale Lewis, with a later start, had to contend with the poor conditions in both directions.  His advice to members racing is to “pray to the sun god”.  In the end Neale posted a very respectable 23:23.

Taking no time off for a rest this month Nadine Cannon was again on the R10/17 Course to compete in the Cardiff 100   10m TT.   The weather was a bit wet at the start but she did see some sun towards the end of the ride.  The conditions certainly suited her and she used her knowledge of the Course to come in 3rd Lady and post a PB of 23:24.  It seems every time Nadine enters a 10 she is posting a new PB. 

Also riding this event was Club member Neal Lewis, he was targeting a long 22 in the wet conditions and eventually posted a 23:01.  This seems to complete Neale’s racing season as his target now is to “get fat and unfit over the winter then struggle to lose weight and get fit for May”.  He looks to have used this training programme before.

The third Club member to enter this event was Jeff Rees, leaving home in quite pleasant conditions he arrived in Raglan in the mist and rain.  This would be Jeff’s last TT of the season as he moves to the CX circuit.  His recent rides had been a mix of  roads, CX, MTB and a heavy roller session.  Hoping for a finish between 23:30 and 24 he was a little concerned about the mixed build up, however, they appeared to have made no difference to his riding as he posted a 23:52.  This is his 6th event on this course this season, which have all resulted in times between 23:48 and 23:53.

Two days later and Nadine is racing again, now with the carrot of two weeks in Benidorm in front of her.  This time it was the PTW 25 on the R25/3H Course based at Hirwaun.  Taking advantage of the unusually perfect weather conditions, sunny and very little wind, Nadine posted yet another PB.  In finishing as 4th Lady she finished in 57:01. Nadine’s first three 25’s this season were all just over the hour but as a result of hard work and determination she went under the hour at the end of July and has now posted four sub 1 hour  25’s.

Simon Kinsey really mixed up the distances during September,  after his WCA 100m efforts he dropped the distance down to 30 m.. This was a VTTA(South Wales Group) event on the R30/7 Course, you guessed it, based on Raglan and Abergavenny.  Conditions were ideal, warm with a little wind, and Simon reckoned he could complete in around 75-80 minutes, but quietly hoped to be in the lower part of the range.  Simon’s PB over this distance was 1:29:38 two years ago on a much tougher course, so his expectations were high.  In the end he posted an excellent 1:14:05 to put him the Club Standards range.  Simon would recommend this distance to other members who are regularly competing in 25’s as it is only a small increase and this new course is much quicker than the Bynea course.

Dean Climbs to Victory Once Again

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The Hill Climb Championship was cancelled in 2015 because or poor weather conditions on both days, weather for the 2016 event could not have been more different.  Under sunny blue skies on a warm September morning a mixed age range of Acme members fought out the Hill Climb Championship on the Barn Hill Climb between Tonyrefail and Penrhiwfer.  This is a difficult 0.6 miles which starts on the hill but does have a flat section to finish off.

Ever present time keeping duo Roger and Margaret Evans took charge of the event after signage had been put in place by Wayne Morris  and Chris Thomas. 

At the start line all riders were supported by Mark Nicholls before they had to go it alone and fight gravity. First off was Mike Bevan, coming out of retirement, and raced off up the climb.  Next off the start line, making a comeback to Club events after a long injury enforced break was Dave Roberts. Dave was followed by Rory Jenkins who, after a curtailed racing season, was up for this challenged.  Last off the start line was favourite and Hill Climb Series Champion, Dean Cummings.

When the results were read out Dave Roberts posted a very creditable 3:12, not sure what the Vets Std would be on this course.  Next best was the returning Mike Bevan with a solid 2:49  while youngster Rory Jenkins posted an excellent 2:10.  But leading the field was favourite and Hill Climb Champion for 2016 Dean Cummings with a time of 2:00.

The R&M Trophy was presented to Dean by Club Chairman Jeff Matthews, though Dean decided not to take possession and have to cycle home with his prize.

The Welsh Open 10 M TT Championship

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The Welsh Open 10M TT was promoted by Pontypool RCC on Sunday 14th August on the R10?17 Course between Abergavenny and Raglan.  On a dry day with only light winds two Acme Wheelers members we on the start line.  Gary Flower gained his second Club Championship of the season with a very impressive 22:01 on the day. Gary was not particularly happy with his time, his goal was to go sub-21:45, as it fell in the middle of his training for an up-coming Ironman event.  Gary had put in a big training session the day before and this was still in his legs.  Nevertheless, it’s congratulations to Gary on this 10M Club Championship.

Nadine Cannon put herself into the elite of Welsh women time trialists with her efforts.  Again disappointed with her time of 24:14 Nadine felt that she had given everything she could, and at some points thought she might have been able to run faster – a la Chris Froome.  Her time put her in 7th place overall in the Ladies Event and, if we take out the visitors from over Offa’s Dyke, sets her as one of the top 3 or 4 Welsh Ladies. A very impressive season which gets better and better.

Members Enter Summer Events

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With so many events to report in August this month’s report will take a different form. Instead  of reporting on races it will centre on Club Members, in no particular order.

Regular reporter Simon Kinsey has had a very busy and hard month of time trialling and continues to seek improvement in both his times and in the way he approaches events.  Simon’s first event was the Cardiff 100 Mile RC   50M TT event on Sunday 8th. .

His main goal at this event was not time based but the check out the R50/1B Course which will be used for the Welsh 100 M Championships in September.  On a clear and sunny day with some breeze Simon missed a PB by 6 seconds, finishing in a time of 2h13m02s.  The following weekend Simon was back up in Usk on the R25/7 course chasing a time under the hour on a course which didn’t include the Glynneath Bank. On a breezy but bright sunny day Simon posted a 1h02m44s.  Perhaps if he hadn’t been rum tasting in a Cardiff bar until the early hours of the morning then that sub-60 time would have been there.  Simon will certainly learn from that one.

Another weekend and another trip to the Glynnneath Bank for the RealTeam 25 (overflow event) on the R25/3H Course.  Simon is well aware of the vagaries of the weather in this area and he feels that a hard effort does not always result in a good time.  Again he was looking for a sub-1h ride. The day started wet but did dry up although the wind on the way to the turn made it hard work.  So near but so far in the end with Simon posting a 1h 00m 07s.

As has been noted in these reports this summer Nadine Cannon is having a tremendous season on the bike, but August was a quieter time for her in terms of event entries. On the 21st August Nadine was on the R25/3H Course based at Hirwaun for the RealTeam promoted 25M TT.  On a wet and windy day, Nadine realised that good times were not on offer so changed her focus.  Nadine used this event to work on her aero position which would be of benefit to her in future events.  The outcome was still a good time of 57:58 which gave her 5th Lady on the day.

Veteran member Jeff Rees begins to look to the winter season when August comes around and some of his races are geared to events later in the year.  Firstly, though, on the 21st August Jeff was entered in the Real Team 25 (Over Flow Event) on the R25/3H course.  This was a disappointing ride for Jeff as he had been looking to improve upon his season’s best, but on an overcast day with a bit of a headwind on the out section Jeff eventually posted a 1h01m37s.  And so to thoughts of the winter as Jeff entered the Gower Riders – Go Ride CX event based at Penyrheol Leisure Centre, Swansea.  Different format from the TT races here, as this race was 30 minutes plus one lap with Jeff expressing disappointment that no other Acme Members had entered this event.  Jeff started his first off–road CX event since December on a dry overcast day with the atmosphere being “heavy and close”.    Jeff was testing his equipment at this event as well as seeing where his own fitness was compared to others.  In the end Jeff came out 6th out of the 8 V50 entered and 6th out of the 11 adults entered.

Jeff wants to encourage more members to enter events during the winter for what are safe and good fun activities for winter Sundays.

Fiona Davies enters rather longer events than the “normal” time trials. Fiona’s preference is the hard world of triathlon and she entered two during the month of August. First up was the BRAT Triathlon (Birmingham Running Athletics and Triathlon Club) at Kingsbury in the West Midlands on 7th August.  This event was 47.2Km with 36.7Km of cycling, and is the Olympic distance event.  Fiona was using this event are preparation for a middle distance event later in the month. On a beautiful sunny day, her overall time of 3h02m10s gave Fiona much encouragement for the next event. While she felt that the swim was a little slow she was pleased with her run and the 1h23m59s bike ride. The venue, Cliff Lakes Water Park (http://www.clifflakes.org/) gets a big thumbs up from Fiona because of its beautiful surroundings, water based activities and a caravan site.  The Park is also near to the Warwickshire Cycleway.

 Next was the 113Km Cotswold Classic Triathlon based at the Cotswold Water Park (http://www.waterpark.org/) which included a 90Km cycle ride. On this day, 21st August, the weather in Rhondda was wet and windy but in Wiltshire Fiona was enjoying warm, sunny conditions.  Fiona had competed on this course in June and was hoping to use this event to improve her time over the course.  It was a long day with the event taking 6h21m48s to complete, Fiona was delighted with this result not least because the bike leg of 3h20m47s was 6 minutes faster than the June effort.

Fiona plans to put her bike and wet suit to one side for the rest of the year and concentrate on ultra runs starting with the Cumbria Way 73 mile run in September. We wish you well in that.

July Comes to an End

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The final two race reports for July come from, firstly, the RealTeam 25TT  held on the R25/3H Course based at Hirwaun.  This took place on the 24th July in very unseasonal wet weather. Simon Kinsey rode this event in the knowledge that he had the following weekend off from racing so that he could give this race everything.  Simon was hoping that his PB of 57:59 would be bettered.  In the event the mysterious wind took its toll on him and maybe he held too much back for the final few miles, he posted a 58:26. 

Jeff Rees  was not feeling at his best so was just keen to get around the course.  While it was wet Jeff seemed unaffected by what wind there was.  His 58:03 was not bad given that he was just “looking to get around”.

The final July report is the Bynea 25TT  held on the R25/3 Course, again based in Hirwaun.  Amid swirling winds Nadine Cannon achieved a very creditable 57:20 which is a PB at the time of writing this report.  On Nadine’s current form this could change in the coming weeks.  This PB comfortably achieves the Club Gold Standard for Nadine.  What a season she is having.