PTW: General Discussion » Bynea 50 June 7th

Author	Post
Les Thomas	#0 Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:55 pm
Administrator	Hi All Heres your man on the coal face with Squadra Chrono reporting on the events of the day. The R50/4 goes from Llandovery, Along the A 40 skirting just to the north of Llandeilo on to Carmarthen and return. 25 Miles out and back, the course is known to be a tough track and that in conjunction with an 8:00 Start in the middle of nowhere meant there were 46 entries and only three riders from PTW. When we got to the HQ at Llanwrda village hall there were the usual grumblings of "We must be Mad" as there was strong winds, a lot of rain and it was cold. Very Cold. Anyway Skippy was up first off number 12, I was up second on 22 and Andy Evs was off on 29. There was a little banter as clearly we were all going to meet up on the highway somewhere. The outward leg was indeed fast aith the wind helping up some of the sharper inclines as we left Llandeilo and neared Carmarthen. Then we turned...... When your legs are spiinning and you have a great tail wind, you don't seem to notice things going on around you in the same way as you do when you are grovelling your way back up some incline into a thunderous head wind. Your hips Ache, your Legs Ache the noise of the rain hammering on the plastic aero helmet is deafening. What have they done to this road surface. How Close are these cars? Not even catching Skippy just after the turn was going to make the return leg any easier because after catching him, I could see that Andy Evs was not far behind me. The one thing about time trialling is there is no shelter, no relief you just have to keep going. Andy caught me just after Llandeilo on the return leg Come on that's only 7 minutes, stay with him, get some shelter, but no, as we climbed towards manordeilo (and believe me it is a climb) very soon he was a flourescent dot in the distance. To Show how hard the day was, only two riders managed to break the 2 Hour barrier, Andy recorded an excellent 2:05:06, I got home in 2:14:22 and Skippy got round in 2:36:00. Paul Dring of team Echelon Spiuk won the day by around 5 minutes with a spectacular 1:54:55
Davey C	#1 Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:14 pm
Member	Another great write up, and well down to all. Next stop the 100!! _______________ The Force is strong in this one...
andy_Evs	#2 Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:23 pm
Member	Nice one Les, I thought the hardest part of the ride was passing the HQ after 4 miles on the way out and with 4 to go on the way back!! took some serious head work to stay on the bike I can tell you! Then I took a beating for about 5 miles just before llandeilo roundabout on the way back - I'm sure it was only raining and blowing a gale around me! cos I could see you for ages and was getting nowhere fast! roll on the welsh CA 50 next week!
Les Thomas	#3 Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:21 pm
Administrator	andy_Evs wrote I'm sure it was only raining and blowing a gale around me! cos I could see you for ages and was getting nowhere fast! roll on the welsh CA 50 next week! Thanks Andy, Haven't you noticed you only catch me on the uphill bits as gravity helps me when it goes down hill..... roll on the WCA next week.......... don't forget the 100 the week after......

#0 Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:55 pm

Administrator

Hi All
Heres your man on the coal face with Squadra Chrono reporting on the events of the day.

The R50/4 goes from Llandovery, Along the A 40 skirting just to the north of Llandeilo on to Carmarthen and return. 25 Miles out and back, the course is known to be a tough track and that in conjunction with an 8:00 Start in the middle of nowhere meant there were 46 entries and only three riders from PTW.

When we got to the HQ at Llanwrda village hall there were the usual grumblings of "We must be Mad" as there was strong winds, a lot of rain and it was cold. Very Cold.

Anyway Skippy was up first off number 12, I was up second on 22 and Andy Evs was off on 29. There was a little banter as clearly we were all going to meet up on the highway somewhere.

The outward leg was indeed fast aith the wind helping up some of the sharper inclines as we left Llandeilo and neared Carmarthen. Then we turned......

When your legs are spiinning and you have a great tail wind, you don't seem to notice things going on around you in the same way as you do when you are grovelling your way back up some incline into a thunderous head wind. Your hips Ache, your Legs Ache the noise of the rain hammering on the plastic aero helmet is deafening. What have they done to this road surface. How Close are these cars?

Not even catching Skippy just after the turn was going to make the return leg any easier because after catching him, I could see that Andy Evs was not far behind me.

The one thing about time trialling is there is no shelter, no relief you just have to keep going. Andy caught me just after Llandeilo on the return leg Come on that's only 7 minutes, stay with him, get some shelter, but no, as we climbed towards manordeilo (and believe me it is a climb) very soon he was a flourescent dot in the distance.

To Show how hard the day was, only two riders managed to break the 2 Hour barrier, Andy recorded an excellent 2:05:06, I got home in 2:14:22 and Skippy got round in 2:36:00.

Paul Dring of team Echelon Spiuk won the day by around 5 minutes with a spectacular 1:54:55

andy_Evs

#2 Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:23 pm

Member

Nice one Les,
I thought the hardest part of the ride was passing the HQ after 4 miles on the way out and with 4 to go on the way back!! took some serious head work to stay on the bike I can tell you! Then I took a beating for about 5 miles just before llandeilo roundabout on the way back - I'm sure it was only raining and blowing a gale around me! cos I could see you for ages and was getting nowhere fast!

roll on the welsh CA 50 next week!

PTW

Port Talbot Wheelers

Bynea 50 June 7th