PTW

Your man in the field reporting back from today's event at Llandow.

Two words could be used to describe today - Cold & Popular

It was real brass monkey weather with the temp barely above freezing. This in its self would have been ok if it hadn't been so popular. I rode over from Porthcawl, getting there about 10am thinking I had an hour before the race. However, by the time I got there the car park was already full with a queue out the door to sign on. It took 45mins to sign on & get my number, no fault of the guys who were doing a sterling job getting everyone signed on, it was just the sheer number of people wanting to race.

The junior races had the largest fields I can remember seeing which was a brilliant sight, the under 16 in particular was very competitive and bodes well for the future. It was a full field of 80 in the 4th's and that was my first race of the day. Due to the cold I kept my jersey on for as long as possible before the start. Too long as it turned out as I was struggling to get it off when the race started, leaving me struggling at the back. We went clockwise around the course and the first chicane demonstrated just who had raced before and those that hadn't. That was the start of things to come as there was lots of sudden braking, coming up the inside/outside of bends and sudden changes of direction. In fact everything you'd expect in a 4ths race! It was the chicane that was to effectively end my race. About 10-15mins in and in a good position in the top 15, the rider in front decided to not bother turning and instead cut the corner. This would have been fine had he not seen the cone at the last minute blocking such a move and cut back into the field. I'm not sure how I stayed upright but it was enough for me to see a group of 20-30 disappear down the road. I gradually caught a few up in the remaining laps and was leading my own peleton with the others obviously too polite to take over at the front. All that is bar 2 who decided to sprint for 20 something place, well done to them.

The 3/4's was an equally busy affair but felt a lot better with some more experienced riders. It was also a lot faster, leading to a split quite early on. After my earlier exertions I just didn't have the legs to chase back on to the main group and rode round in a group of 5 and for a change keeping well away from the front. Curtis Stacy, in his new Forza kit, was in what was to be the winning break and looking really good. Unfortunately, he didn't stay away and finished in the pack.

It was far too cold to stick around to watch the rest of the races, so, I rode home, hoping for a better performance next week!

Well done for testing yourself Mike and nice write up.

Brilliant Mike! Great to hear you're getting stuck in!

I went out training yesterday and I'm afraid the only comforting thought in those temps was 'at least I'm not at Llandow' where the temperature is always 10 degrees below the rest of the country!

I'll probably be at the 10th March one, I'm in no rush to race but hopefully we'll have a full squardra soon!