PTW

Sunny and a moderate breeze - Race Time Temp 21°C

Your Bastille Day treat is another '10' on our regular dual-carriageway course and it's a tidy weather forecast with a good chance of either a SB or even a PB and especially for newcomers.

Anyway, here are 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 a 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.

Course Description

START on the Vale of Neath Supplier Estate service road opposite Lamp Post No. 18. Proceed eastwards along the service road to the Resolven Roundabout (0.458 miles). (Safety Notice:- Do not cross the centre line of the road on the right hand bend). Take the 1st exit left along A465 dual carriageway westbound to the 1st exit left (4.862 miles). Continue up the loop to the small Tonna Roundabout where take the 1st exit to the large Aberdulais Interchange. Take the 4th exit (5.505 miles) to proceed down the slip road to re-join A465 dual carriageway. Proceed eastbound to the Resolven Roundabout where take 1st exit left to FINISH at the access road to the Canal Car Park on the cross-valley link road (10.006 miles).

A bit of a swirling wind made it a tougher night than last week but there were still some good rides last night starting with Stephen Morgan's comeback ride after a long break that saw him just 18 seconds off his SB. Adam Roberts stayed on course this week and will blast through the '30' barrier next time around whilst Emma Davies knocked out her third '26' in the space of nine days. Diane Wilson-Evans (aka 'Biker Chick') was just 9 seconds away from a new SB and both girls can get a '25' before the season ends. John Shehan was happy enough with his 25:48 and was closer to Hollie Labunsky than in recent weeks whilst Hollie herself was well short of her SB but probably still has her heroic hundred hiding in her legs.

Off at No.7 but 2nd rider back was Clinton Evans who is in consistent good form and finished 3rd on the night with a 22:01. The Stacey family continued their comeback with Mark improving by 16 seconds from last week to get a long '23' to finish 6th whilst Curtis took another win in the roadbike category to leap up to joint 2nd place in that competition. Bill Gannon was back on a modern bike this week and his legs showed no sign of having to re-adapt as he knocked out his first '23' of the season to finish 7th. Steve Holloway is a bit short on race time but has set a nice benchmark on the dual that he'll surely demolish in future weeks.

Mike Broadbent's short '25' seems a long way away from his early season '23' as does Stephan Wilcox's 24:51 but I'm sure both will get back there before the end of the season. Graham Rogerson continues to be old skool by riding to the event and racing on his road bike and his 24:25 is probably two minutes slower than if he was on a super duper lo-pro. With a clear separation between the 21 & 22 group I'm bringing David Wilson-Evans back into midfield and his 23:46 gives him the midfield win.

Our final three riders were a good barometer of the conditions as all three were down on their SB's but I do sense that Neil Gregory is improving as he was only 7 seconds down on his SB to finish 4th on the night. Mike Hall finished 2nd but was 42 seconds down on SB and Neil Seaward was 32 seconds down on SB but took the win and gives every indication that a '20' is there on a better night. Well done Neil!

With no real stand out performance this week then Alfie's MOTM is based on trajectory and goes to Mark Stacey for improving on last week (despite it being a worse night) and also getting a '23' whilst it's still very early days in his return to racing. Nice one Mark!

Thanks to Dai for time-keeping, Will for the (essential) whistles and to JD and Joan for covering the turn.