PTW

"Sunny intervals and a gentle breeze"

With the bonus of it being 23C too!

At time of writing we're unsure of what course we're using. We've had the good news about the cones on the DC but, on Tuesday evening, the cones on the large 'top' rbt were still there. I know we've raced before with one lane closed on that rbt but please let me see it for myself on Thursday morning and also see if I can get a cycle event sign set up under the rbt.

Update! At great personal risk I have managed to get down the overgrown steps and hack my way through the brambles to put up the largest CYCLE EVENT sign we have so tonight we will be on the R10/22A dual-carriageway. Please be advised that there are cones around the large rbt above the DC so 'own' the lane before breaking off back down to the DC. Have a safe ride!

The essentials;

1. We meet up at the Neath Canal Car Park in Resolven for signing on from about 18.00hrs and closing at 18.45hrs for a prompt 19.00hrs race start.

2. You have to be member of the PTW or a second-claim member of the PTW. There is no 'single race' fee - you have to join the club as a first-claim or second-claim member.

2021.15 by Alf Williams, on Flickr

Scorchio! And some of those rides were scorchio too! With us switching back to the dual-carriageway there'll be no comments on SB's (that's obviously a given) but I will try to add a bit of context from last season (LSB) which, you'll remember, was quite a short season of only 8 events due to you know what.

Anyway, Emma Davies was off first catching her minute man and posting a long '26' that was not far off a full minute better than her LSB - it was a real breakthrough ride that was the talk of the Resolven Canal car park. Stephen Morgan recorded 27:15 on his first outing on the DC and will be targetting a '26' of his own in the near future. John Shehan was happy to be on the DC and can look forward to getting a short '25' to match his LSB and this applies also to Rob Lucas who recorded 26:00 so needs to find almost a full minute to beat his LSB. Clinton Evans wasn't with us last season but knocked out a very competitive 22:48 to finish 7th. Hollie Labunsky recorded 25:49, again about a minute off her LSB set last August when we had a couple of good nights in succession.

Jeff Rees probably waited for us to get back on the DC before coming along (wimp!) and his 24:42 set a benchmark for himself for future weeks perhaps with an eye on bettering his 23:40 from 2019. Bill Gannon was 8 seconds slower than Jeff and was another about a minute off his LSB. With Stuart Evans not starting our next rider off was Kyle Blackmore who was set off out of position and to be fair to Kyle he did try to tell me! Anyway, Kyle absolutely romped through the field to record a stunning 20:38 to take the win and become 'scratch' on his next outing with us. Well done Kyle and welcome to the Thursday night gang.

Mike Broadbent recorded 24:13 but with no LSB we can just allocate a target time of a '23' before July is out. Mike was narrowly pipped by John Deeley whose 24:10 leaves him a full 80 seconds of his excellent 22:51 set on our very last club event of 2020. Very close to both was Graham Rogerson whose 24:17 last night was on a road bike and almost two minutes slower than his LSB set on a TT bike. Just saying! We haven't seen John Aspell in recent weeks but his 23:51 took the midfield win although it still leaves him about a minute off his LSB. Darren Edwards took the road bike win with a 22:44 to finish 6th on the night but 40 seconds slower than his LSB.

Mike Hall was just 3 seconds off getting a '21' but his 22:02 netted him 4th place on the night and was just 15 seconds off his LSB. Rod Hicks recorded a 22:12 to finish 5th on the night and was another rider about a minute off his LSB. We haven't seen Nicky Morgan for a few weeks due to his shift pattern but he was shifting last night to finish in 3rd place and his 21:49 was only 10 seconds off his LSB. These comparisons with last season really does showcase the great improvement made by Neil Seaward as his 21:13 last night was a full half-a-minute faster than his LSB and only a second away from his 2019 best time set on a real float night. With four out of our top five last night all coming from the wider Maesteg area it leaves the question as to what do they put in the water up there?

But for Alfie's 'man of the match' we go right back to our first rider off and the award goes to Emma Davies.

Thanks to Dai Triggs for time-keeping, Will for the essential warning whistle and for taking snaps and to Gareth for looking after you all at the turn. See you next week!

I was pretty disappointed with that ride. I mean, 24:50? Sure, I was slower last August, but that was after not competing at all.

But then you put it in context, and now I don't feel too bad. It seems quite a few of us are in the same situation. That's what makes it a group effort. Will I manage to take a minute off it before the season runs out, or will I spend too much time on holiday getting fat and unfit?

What I did notice is that when I updated my rankings table (basically the best time at the 10 distance) the average difference between back road and DC was about 2 mins and 20 seconds.