The Gallery now contains Jeff’s photos from Hillclimb1last week and Kerry’s photos from TT 1 this week. Those of you who missed Kerry’s slide show at the clubroom recently now have an opportunity to see in the Gallery his images of the Giro Team Time Trial in Belfast.
23rd May
If you think that Acme has no characters left, think again. The Wednesday group included a visit to the remains of Ogmore Castle this week and when Chris Thomas was asked to pose for a photo by the river Ogwr, this was the result. His comment afterwards ? ” My feet are nice and cool now, they will soon dry out.” He was wearing his shoes and socks at the time!
The first event of this season’s 5 mile TimeTrial series appeared doomed by the rain showers throughout the day but a window of dry and relatively calm weather provided ideal conditions for the eager competitors at the start in Porth.
First rider to face the start timekeeper, Margaret Evans, was Fiona Davies. Having recorded a personal best time of 26-42 for an open 10 on 17th May, she also set her best time on our 5 mile course, finishing in 14 mins 59 secs. Tom Stoddard, who used his lightweight build to fly up the Bwlch last week and win the hillclimb, found it more difficult to compete against beefier riders on flatter roads but still recorded a very good 13-19.
Several riders are in their first year of racing so Andrew Sheldon should be pleased with his 15-08, Rory Jenkins with 14-28 and Ross Morgan with 13-47.
Kevin Millard, unable to ride much in recent weeks, performed well to finish in 13-35 and was challenged closely by ever improving Simon Kinsey’s 13-41. Ryan Evans, making a comeback and keen to do well, then pipped Simon by 10 seconds with his 13-31. Steve Williams, a much improved rider this year, broke the 13 minute barrier with 12-29, following on from his recent PB of 24-16 in a recent Merthyr club 10. Kevin Bartlemore, full of confidence this year, just beat Steve with 12-27 to challenge for the lead. Neale Lewis, however, enjoying his riding this year, was just a fraction faster, passing finish timekeeper Dave Roberts in 12-14 to take the win.
The atmosphere at the start and finish was uplifting, with all riders and spectators applauding the achievements of each rider. Watching the event and enjoying the experience, was our newest member, Alec Morris from Penygraig, who looks forward to competing in the next event of the series. Welcome to the Acme Wheelers, Alec.
Thanks go to all who helped with the event, especially Chris and Kerry for marshalling and erecting warning signs around the course. We all missed the presence of our usual timekeeper, Gwyn Humphreys, who is unwell at present. We all wish you a speedy recovery, Gwyn and look forward seeing you at the roadside again soon.
12th May
The Club 25 mile Championship,
incorporated in the Welsh Championship was contested by six members. Simon Kinsey, riding in the overflow event was now getting into the swing of things, improving by a huge 5-31 to finish in 1-07-47. First Acme rider off in the main event was Steve Williams, also setting a new PB and going under the hour for the first time with his 59-15. Kevin Bartlemore was next, improving with each ride and recording 57-46 to update his best in the last three seasons. Dan Taylor, who had been suffering with a sore throat all week was unable to produce his expected performance but still got around in 58-31. Neale Lewis, always a good performer in time trials, improved to 56-45 and then waited to see the time of Steve Bennett who started three minutes behind him. He didn’t have too long to wait as, true to form over these short distances, Steve pulled out all the stops to cross the line in 55-25 and add another Club Championship to his collection.
Meanwhile, Kerry, Chris and Tony have been out in Ireland watching the Giro so we can look forward to seeing some spectacular photos, if the haven’t sampled too much of the Irish brews !
On the subject of photos, Tony Gammon has supplied another six images from the early 60’s including, unusually, one of himself. Tony’s photos are in the Photo Gallery.
27th April
The Club 30 mile Championship was held on Sunday 20th April, incorporated in the Bynea CC event. The usual course on the Llanwrda, Llangadog, Llandovery circuitwas again unavailable because of roadworks south of Llandovery, riders having to use the A40 to Abergwili, near Carmarthen and back, which includes some long drags.
With a field of 41 riders it was pleasing to see Acme represented by five riders competing for our championship. Unfortunately, Kevin Bartlemore was, however, unable to start because of illness.
A very keen Simon Kinsey, in his first year of racing, completed the 30 miles in 1-29-28, pleased with his first ride over this distance. Dail Long, also riding his first 30 and enthused by his personal best in our open 25, was only just over a minute outside the Club silver standard with his time of 1-18-40 for 17th place overall.
The competition to become Club 30 Champion was intense with defending champion, Dan Taylor, taking almost two minutes off his PB with 1-13-26 which gave him 9th overall. However, Steve Bennett, a previous champion at this distance flashed across the line in 1-13-08 to take 8th overall and the 2014 Club Championship. It couldn’t get much closer than that !
Next weekend sees more competition with our 25 mile Championships to be fought over in the Welsh Championships.
Meanwhile, Neale Lewis and Steve Williams were disappointed in the Ogmore 25 this morning when the course was shortened by a couple of miles. Neale finished in 51-35 and Steve in 53-48. IF ONLY !
The Gallery now has lots more photos from our Open 25.
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.
