PTW

Light cloud and a moderate breeze - Race Time Temp 16C

You'll see rain on Thursday morning but don't despair as it should all be gone by mid-afternoon. There's only four Thursday evening TT's left now and they're all on the DC so make the most of them!

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.

2021.20 by Alf Williams, on Flickr

Not a bad night really but the wind must have been just a tiny bit kinder for the first two-thirds of the field... because that's where the magic happened folks!

Anyway, Emma Davies got us underway with her hair neatly tied with a bobble borrowed off Tony Howell (I've seen him in Claire's Accessories) but Emma's still searching for a new SB after setting the bar very high for herself back in mid-July. There were no such problems for Stephen Morgan though who smashed through the '27' barrier with a 26:54 but our first rider back was Stephan Wilcox with a near two minute beating of his PB - a fantastic ride and it was not all about the disc either.

Ethan Morgan was a bit off the pace tonight finishing 21 seconds behind his SB. Clinton Evans has been a good barometer of conditions in recent weeks and his 22:52 was just 4 seconds off his SB and was good enough for 4th place on the night. Hollie Labunsky took 20 seconds off her SB and there's loads more to come me thinks. John Shehan took 1 second off his SB to finish on 26 dead to become the founder member of the 'Even Number Club' alongside Bill Gannon and Mike Hall.

The long awaited comeback by Dai Abbott was delayed by component failure when his saddle abruptly slipped and it must have looked bad as a motorist actually came to the finish line to tell Dai that one of "your boy's in trouble out there". Well that applied to many of you! But not to Brad Davies who knocked out a new SB as did Matt Jones who really wasn't far off from a '23'.

Even closer to a '23' was Bill Gannon who recorded 24 dead a nice 40 second beating of his SB and giving Bill that little bit of end of season motivation as we move into Autumn. Very much the same applies to Jeff Rees who recorded a new SB with his 24:06 and can target a '23' over the next three weeks. John Deeley has been a bit poorly in recent weeks but was happy enough with his ride. Stuart Evans was 25 seconds off his SB whilst Les Thomas was 24 seconds off his SB but felt a bit happier. The very consistent Mike Broadbent was 13 seconds off his SB with a 24:01. That crazy notional zone called 'midfield' had a different shape to it this week with a couple of riders promoted (against their will) and, from a tightly packed midfield, the win goes to Brad Davies - well done Brad!

John Aspell had another solid ride and was just 1 second away from his SB finishing 5th on the night. With the road bike competition in the bag, it was great to see Graham Rogerson on a TT bike and he was about two minutes quicker to finish 3rd on the night with a 22:10. Tandem next please Graham! Mike Hall finished 2nd and his 22 dead was only 9 seconds off his SB on a less than perfect night. Neil Seaward took the win with a 21:25 which is 19 seconds off his SB - close enough to shoot for a '20' on a better night. Well done Neil!

For Alfie's 'man of the match' there was no contest really and the award goes to Stephan Wilcox for a huge PB and here's hoping that Steph builds on this breakthrough ride. Well done Steph!

Thanks to Dai for time-keeping, Will for the whistles, Gareth for looking after you at the turn and to JD for recovering the unlucky Dai Abbott (although he's lucky not to have damaged the crown jewels after his saddle slipped). Sorry JD but attending the Club 10 does not count as "taking the wife out"

Well, Neil Seaward only has three more chances to get his score for the season up to the perfect 300. Currently it's only a paltry 298.

For bonus points, who can tell me which other sport also has a perfect score of 300?

In other trivia, that is now the 3rd time this season John Shehan has finished one place behind Hollie Labunsky. Last week he got within 5 seconds. Can he do it? Tune in next week.

I had to Google it Bill.

Well, my answer was going to be 'ten pin bowling'. So predictable, but my wife said "the show-jumping round of Modern Pentathlon".

Wow. Not only is that a correct answer, but it is also a pointless answer, and therefore adds 500 virtual pounds to our daily jackpot. I'm so proud of her.