Welsh TT weekend

[Jon H]

I'd been thinking of riding the R25/3 course for a while, as it's supposedly one of the fastest 25 courses in the country. This is largely due to the fact that it starts on top of mountain that you don't have to ride back up. So, as there was not much on locally this weekend I sent in my entry. Stories of 45mph+ down the hill led me to buy a cassette with an 11 tooth sprocket for the occasion. Arrived at the HQ with plenty of time to spare, in fact 3 hours to spare. So, how to kill a couple of hours in a Welsh valley village on a Saturday afternoon? All the pretty sheep were already taken, but a drive round the course and a SuDoku did the job and it was soon time to race. Headed down the hill looking forward to some super speed, but topped out at 37mph. As I got onto the flat part of the course I discovered why, it was blowing a headwind up the valley which meant a battle for the next 10 miles at around 22mph. Eventually got to the turn and headed back at a more respectable speed to finish in 57:20. Not quite what I was hoping for, but it's my second fastest 25 ever, so shouldn't grumble.

To make the long drive worthwhile I'd also entered a 50 on Sunday morning. Looking at the course description in the handbook it seemed like it was a fast course all on the A40 dual carriageway. So when the start sheet arrived I was a bit peeved at discovering it had been changed to less than half on the A40 and the rest on a rolling unclassified road. I caught my 2-minute man within a mile, but he was a 74 year old, and I later discovered he'd packed after 2 miles. Apart from him, the only other rider I saw was my 3-minute man ahead of me at about 16 miles, and it took another 16 to eventually catch him. I was getting tired by that stage, and he came back past me a mile later so I dropped back and eased off a bit, keeping him 100m or so ahead. At 45 miles I started putting more effort in, and caught and passed him again. Finished in 2:06:31, again not what I was aiming for but OK for a slowish course the day after a 25.