PTW

"Light rain and a gentle breeze"

That's actually the summary for the entire day so fingers and toes are crossed in the hope of some better weather as race time is showing sunshine and showers and not constant light rain.

R10/23 ‘BACK ROAD’ COURSE DESCRIPTION

R10/23 START on the B4242 Old Vale of Neath Road at the entrance to F.E. Chick just north-east of Rheola Pond. Proceed south-west on the B4242 to Resolven junction. Continue south-west on the B4242 passing through Abergarwed village and Ynysarwed village to the ‘Rock and Fountain’ hill, climb and continue to TURN with care at the break in the dual-carriageway opposite the Groundhog factory at Ynysgerwen, SA10 8HH (5.0 miles).

Descend hill and retrace route north-eastwards along the B4242 through Ynysarwed village and Abergarwed village. Continue north-eastwards through Resolven junction and past Rheola Pond to FINISH directly opposite the start.

2021.08 by Alf Williams, on Flickr

I'm seriously impressed that ten riders started on a rainy evening and, thankfully, it was warmer with just a hint of a breeze and almost everyone went quicker than last week. That's right John Shehan, quicker!

Emma Davies got us underway with her first club event of the season and sprinted impressively towards the finish line to take a minute off her modest pre-race target time. C'mon, aim higher Emz! First back though was young Dylan Sage with a sensational 23:37 (remember, this is the back road) to finish fourth and Dylan will be seeded much higher in future weeks to really get the competitive juices flowing (btw I've rejected the appeal from Emma Davies that Dylan sat on her wheel for two miles either side of the turn). Next home was John Deeley who looked as if he was fading coming into the finish, but the clock doesn't lie and John went forward by a huge 50 seconds. Nice one John and keep wearing your Rossendale skinsuit! Also going forward was Mike Broadbent with 21 seconds shaved off last week's time but it was Graham Rogerson who took the midfield win, the road bike points and lopped a useful 24 seconds off last week's time.

Our top three seeds finished in a slightly different order this week but all three went forward. Rod Hicks finished in third place but made an 8 second improvement over last week whilst Neil Seaward made a 10 second improvement to finish in second place and just 1 second ahead of Rod - you can't get a Rizla paper between these two at the moment! Whilst last week's win was close, Nicky Morgan showed that it wasn't a fluke by winning again this week and by a more comfortable winning margin of 18 seconds. Well done Nicky - a fine win! But for Alfie's 'man of the match' we'll go right back to the rider off second tonight, that's Dylan Sage who is going to be a bit of a disruptor in future weeks on this course I feel.

Thanks to Dai for time-keeping and also to Gareth Davies for marshalling at the turn. I must mention that not only did the Howells also go to the turn but that John Shehan also offered when he'd decided not to ride. Fabulous team spirit there guys - thank you.