PTW

"Sunny intervals and a moderate breeze"

Suddenly we find ourselves into the second-half of June and the recent good weather should hold firm for the last of our mini-series of back-to-back 13's before we take a one-week break (next week should have been our 4-up team time-trial).

COURSE DESCRIPTION

START on the B4242 Old Vale of Neath Road at unused entrance just south-west of the new Health Centre in Glynneath. 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 (6.5 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.

The ride to the start is 3.2 miles or 15 mins at a 13mph plod.

2021.12 by Alf Williams, on Flickr

Good weather last night although there was a bit of wind variously described as a cross-wind and/or a headwind back. So it was one of those nights where some went forward and some went back but, overall, it was a good night's racing.

Alan Griffiths, riding his Cannondale Quick hybrid, was first off... but last back. Least said, soonest mended. Our first rider back though was Clinton Evans who stayed on his bike this week but went back a touch which shows just what a good ride he did in the wet conditions of last week. Emma Davies, representing the Porthcawl Riviera, just loves chipping away at what she has done in previous weeks and that trend continued with a 36 second beating of her time from last week and also getting her below the '40' mark thanks to a spirited sprint finish. On a rollercoaster night for Porthcawl cyclists Paul Naysmith went back half-a-minute but did take the road bike win! Rob Lucas did well to dip under the '37' mark and take a whopping full minute off his SB. Nice one Rob!

Stephan Wilcox went back a bit from his last outing from two weeks ago and was almost caught by a fast-finishing Hollie Labunsky who impressively beat the time she did when riding in a 2-up last week. Bill Gannon leapt forward by over a minute from last week and took 6 seconds off his SB set two weeks ago. Les Thomas, also representing the Porthcawl Riviera, suffered a saddle slip issue that pushed the downward angle of his saddle well below UCI regulations but, thankfully, he stayed upright to safely ride back to the car park. Mike Broadbent trimmed 8 seconds off his SB to take the midfield win whilst Dan O'Connor shredded a full minute off last week's time to finish 4th on the night.

Our 1-2-3 had a slight twist this week with Rod Hicks finishing 3rd with Mike Hall taking 2nd with a breakthrough ride to get him under the '31' mark and shrugging off any heavy legs from riding the West Wales 100 in the heat just a few days earlier. Neil Seaward took the win with a 29:42, slightly down from last week but that's two back-to-back wins now for Neil. As mentioned, it was a rollercoaster night for Porthcawl riders (Emma up, Paul down, Les literally down) but Alfie's 'man of the match' award redresses the balance by going to Mike Hall. Well done Mike!

Many thanks to Dai for time-keeping and to Gareth and JD for keeping an eye on you at the turn and at Resolven. You were 'snapped' by Will - thanks Will!