PTW

Your man in the field reporting in...

Not quite a road race this one, rather a 120 mile sportif around Abergavenny, Gospel Pass, Llandovery, Penderyn, Methyr and back to Abergavenny. However, with the best of the Endura, Pendragon, Raleigh and Rapha boys turning up to contest it I felt it deserved a race report. There are Premier Calendars that don’t get fields with this much quality.

From the Squadra we had myself and Tank, and our man on the inside Rhys Lloyd (Pendragon). Setting off from Abergavenny we settled in with this elite group and to warm up we hit Gospel Pass almost straight away. The pace was ramped up and the group split over the top, with Disco hanging in, punching well above his weight. Tank got gapped at the final section but did well to stay in and the group reformed on the run in to Brecon after a much needed feed stop. By the time we started hitting the rises through the lanes to Defynog we had picked up an impressive peloton of about 30-40 riders, all looking to hang on some coattails. However the road soon started to kick up again and as we climbed from the Brecon Valley and the group was whittled back down to 10 -12 riders, all of them pros. (and Disco!) It was at this point that Tank sat up, hoping to get back on at a later stage. However with a strong pace at the front being set by Lloyd there was no chance. No sooner had we dropped down to Crai it was back up again and a hefty climb and pace was set all the way to the bottom of Devil’s elbow. By now the group was just a handful of riders and as we hit the bottom of the Elbow I lost contact with the group. I kept them in sight and going over the top I managed to get on the wheel of Ian Wilkinson (Endura) and we chased until the second feed stop where we got back on.

A hot tempo was set all the way to Talybont where the relentless hills at the 85 mile mark finally cracked me and I waved goodbye to the group. I grovelled back over Llanydir and the back of the Tumble before collapsing in Abergavenny town centre absolutely spent. Approx 7hrs of riding with some of the UK’s best pros, I’m happy to have hung on as long as I could. Tank took a little shortcut so ended up beating me back to the car park but his mileage must have been about 100 -110 so no easy ride for him either.

In short, a great event and to be recommended.

Til next time…

Given that my team DS runs the event I thought I'd better put a shout in. Real quality day with an early start at Aber rugby club. Me, disco and tank left port talbot at 7a.m taking in a good deep breath to set us up for a punishing training ride.

The port talbot boys put in a really good showing against the elite of British road racing, with the likes of endura and rapha in awe of disco's ripped legs and tanks ability for such a big man and i'm not taking the piss. It was a very hard day indeed and I believe many of port talbot's club men would enjoy the event and prehaps have a go next year and ride with some of the UK's finest and see where you are in the scheme of things.

Then to cap it all off me and james racked up a 200mile weekend including a race around llandow all be it not winning but ripping everyone's legs off to come home 2nd and 4th respectably. I'd look for some good showing's from the port talbot boys over the next few weeks.

Rhys