Port Talbot Wheelers 25 - 11 September

[SteveD]

I decided to have another crack at the R25/3L in South Wales this weekend. It seems everybody else did as well as both the main event and the overflow, ladies and juniors events were full (240 riders in total). It turned out I was too slow to get into the main event where the slowest time was 55:00 so I ended up in the overflow event where the overflow riders (not including women and juniors) were all inside 57:45! This meant the overflow riders had LTS times within a 2 and 3/4 minute range!

The forecast for the day was appalling which probably accounted for around 55 non-starters in the overflow event (which was first off) and 45 in the main event. As it turned out the weather was in fact appalling - cold, wet and VERY windy. The earlier starters had to put up with frequent heavy showers but when I started the rain had eased off to leave very wet roads which meant I was even more tentative on some of the slip roads and roundabouts than last time. The local geography and layout of the course meant the first few miles were okay but as you went down the hill you gradually turned into the wind until it was a full block headwind for about 10 miles to the turn. The return was nice and fast and as it was drying up I thought I was going to get away with it until, with around two miles to go, the heavens opened and I was soaked to the skin within seconds and the roads awash within minutes. This meant a very dodgy last roundabout and braking all the way around the final slip road to the finish. Despite all this I ended up with 58:21 which says something about the course. I was caught for 5 minutes by the winner of the overflow event, Luke Cornish, a junior, with a 52. Hutch won the main event with 47:47!

All in all a crazy day out.