A Trip Over the Severn Bridge

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Across the new Severn Bridge for three of our Club members on Saturday 11th as they entered a team for the Giant CC 10m on the U7b course at Stone nr Bristol.  Simon Kinsey had gone over with high hopes of taking the team prize.  Expectations were lowered when they saw the PB of the South Bristol riders and entries from the Bristol Cycling Development Squad.  The roads were damp but there was no rain during the event on rolling roads which were not helping anyone get a PB. There is a good side to everything and Simon saw this in the cakes on offer.  The times were not the best for our members but they enjoyed the trip and took 3rd place Team

Simon 25:42  Jeff Rees  24:23  Ross Morgan 24:23

Celtic Series Roundup

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Four members entered the fourth round of the Celtic Series organised by Cwmcarn Paragons on the R10/16A course on 7th June.  Ross Morgan enjoyed the warm evening and while trying to improve on his time for the previous year probably lost a bit of concentration on the return ride.  Despite this and some nasty pot holes he managed a 23:43 to put him 21st out of 49 riders. 

Jeff Rees was happy with his time of 23:35, helped by the light breeze on the drag to the finish. He admits to feeling a little tired on the course and puts it down to recreational mountain bike rides.  His plan is now to rest up and eat cake to see if that helps. 

Neale Lewis was also back in action but was not particularly happy with his 24:18.  He tried to maintain a consistent pace but did not feel good during his warm up which he puts down to not eating properly before the event. 

Simon Kinsey had low expectations at this event because he had ridden the Dragon Ride the previous weekend. He was hoping to improve on his time of the previous year but realised that it was a mistake to enter by mile two.  With 143 miles in his legs after the weekend it was difficult to keep something back for the return leg, especially the difficult mile 8. A little disappointed with his time of 27:16, at least he knows where his boundaries are.

Well done to Ross, Jeff and Neale who took 3rd in the Team Prize.

Club members will see the R10/17 Course in Raglan as a second home with Round 5 of the Celtic Series organised by RealTeam on Thursday 16th.  Ross Morgan was keen to finish the event before he developed hyperthermia in conditions he described as more like winter.  He only gave himself a 3/10 for his finishing time of 23:04

Jeff Rees experienced four seasons in one race as weather conditions changed dramatically throughout his ride. After posting a 23:16 on this course a few days before he hoped for better than the 23:46 he finished with and cannot understand where the time went.  Jeff intends to have a week off the bike and take in the sites of Cardiff while having a few beers before resuming his race programme with the Bynea 10 at the end of the month.

The last race of June saw several of our racing members back in Raglan on the R10/17 Course for Round 6 of the Celtic Series promoted by RealTeam.  Ross Morgan found the conditions not to his liking with a cold wind and some showers.  Despite posting a creditable time of 23:24 Ross was unhappy with his efforts and was just pleased to get to the finish after a feeling a stomach bug after 3miles.  Ross now plans to take some time away from racing to give his legs a chance to recover.

In contrast, even though she described the conditions as “hot,cold,wet windy and smelly”  Nadine Cannon was delighted with her performance on the night.  On what she describes as a fast course Nadine posted a PB of 24:32 and was the 2nd Lady

Emily Rides to Amsterdam

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Between Sunday 5th June and Thursday 9th June new member Emily Kinsey will be joining a large group of fund raisers riding from Cardiff to Amsterdam.  The ride is a charity fund raiser for the “Stay Strong for Ows” appeal being spearheaded by Cardiff Blues for their former player Owen Williams, and the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust.

The ride is split into four stages ranging from 93 to 140 Km.  with the elevation ranging from a mere 304m in Holland on the last leg to a leg burning 1043m on the first day from Cardiff to Wiltshire.

This ride will be a challenge for everyone taking part, but especially so for Emily.  She has borrowed her father’s bike and four weeks ago her “long ride”  was a round trip from Rhondda to Radyr and back.  Her father, Club member Simon Kinsey, will be supporting her on the route and is looking forward to meeting up with Emily in Amsterdam on Thursday.

If you want to donate to Emily’s  ride click on http://www.justgiving.com/Emily-Kinsey

Hopefully we will have Emily’s thoughts on the ride soon.

Velothon Wales

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Velothon Wales is one of the largest Sportifs in the UK with around 12000 cyclists enjoying traffic free roads in five Local Authority areas. The riders set off from Cardiff  on a 140Km (87m) route, taking in the views of Newport, Usk, the Brecon Beacons, Pontypool, Newbridge and Caerphilly before finishing in Cardiff Civic Centre.

 The first group of five Acme Club members left the city centre at 7:15, an early start for Jason Dodd, Kerry Lewis, Mark Nichols, Jeff Matthews and Chris Thomas.  Each starting pen contained over 500 riders and it gave everyone the sensation of riding a road race.  When our call came it was along the castle wall into Castle Street for the start in St Mary’s Street.  Very quickly the younger legs of Jason, Mark and Kerry moved away from Jeff and Chris but there was plenty of company on the route with riders from all over Wales and England riding shoulder to shoulder. 

Once out of Newport the route took to the beautiful Monmouthshire countryside and its up and down roads were packed with cyclists.  Just before the feed stop in Usk the riders encountered one of the forecast showers, not too heavy but is lasted for a while.

At the Usk stop Chris and Jeff caught up with Kerry and Mark but Jason had decided to plough on alone, hoping to ride through the poor weather.  Despite being vigilant for other Club members there was no sign of Tommy Doherty and Cae Lovatt who had predicted they would pass the first group just after Newport, with a start time of 8:30 and an extra hour in bed. Tommy and Cae rode together and may have passed the others at the Usk stop on their way to a very respectable finishing time.

The showers passed over and the clouds began to break up, but the improved weather could not encourage Jeff and Chris to take the Tumble challenge and they took a left turn to reach Pontypool by a less arduous route.

From Pontypool it was “all downhill” to Caerphilly before the next real uphill over Caerphilly Mountain. Kerry and Mark were hindered on their way but a torrential downpour in Pontypool.  After a mixture of walking and riding Chris and Jeff reached the feed station on top of Caerphilly Mountain and were soon joined by Mark and Kerry, who had managed to ride up all the way.  After a couple of bananas the four sped down the mountain into Cardiff and after a quick chat to Robert Davies on Special Constable duties it was into the city centre for a foursome photograph crossing the line.

Velothon Wales is one of the largest Sportifs in the UK with around 12000 cyclists enjoying traffic free roads in five Local Authority areas. The riders set off from Cardiff  on a 140Km (87m) route, taking in the views of Newport, Usk, the Brecon Beacons, Pontypool, Newbridge and Caerphilly before finishing in Cardiff Civic Centre.

 The first group of five Acme Club members left the city centre at 7:15, an early start for Jason Dodd, Kerry Lewis, Mark Nichols, Jeff Matthews and Chris Thomas.  Each starting pen contained over 500 riders and it gave everyone the sensation of riding a road race.  When our call came it was along the castle wall into Castle Street for the start in St Mary’s Street.  Very quickly the younger legs of Jason, Mark and Kerry moved away from Jeff and Chris but there was plenty of company on the route with riders from all over Wales and England riding shoulder to shoulder. 

Once out of Newport the route took to the beautiful Monmouthshire countryside and its up and down roads were packed with cyclists.  Just before the feed stop in Usk the riders encountered one of the forecast showers, not too heavy but is lasted for a while.

At the Usk stop Chris and Jeff caught up with Kerry and Mark but Jason had decided to plough on alone, hoping to ride through the poor weather.  Despite being vigilant for other Club members there was no sign of Tommy Doherty and Cae Lovatt who had predicted they would pass the first group just after Newport, with a start time of 8:30 and an extra hour in bed. Tommy and Cae rode together and may have passed the others at the Usk stop on their way to a very respectable finishing time.

The showers passed over and the clouds began to break up, but the improved weather could not encourage Jeff and Chris to take the Tumble challenge and they took a left turn to reach Pontypool by a less arduous route.

From Pontypool it was “all downhill” to Caerphilly before the next real uphill over Caerphilly Mountain. Kerry and Mark were hindered on their way but a torrential downpour in Pontypool.  After a mixture of walking and riding Chris and Jeff reached the feed station on top of Caerphilly Mountain and were soon joined by Mark and Kerry, who had managed to ride up all the way.  After a couple of bananas the four sped down the mountain into Cardiff and after a quick chat to Robert Davies on Special Constable duties it was into the city centre for a foursome photograph crossing the line.

Everyone enjoyed the experience of riding traffic free roads, but there are mixed feeling about registering for next year.

Everyone enjoyed the experience of riding traffic free roads, but there are mixed feeling about registering for next year.

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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.