PTW

Scorchio!



It's back to the dual for the remainder of August and with a forecast wind speed of about 7mph conditions look very favourable for a SB or even a PB. Hope so!

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).

Overall, it was a good night for racing and the average improvement on SB was 8 seconds boosted by some very impressive leaps forward by a select few and it did seem to be the case that the 'gainers' were in the top half of the result board. Thankfully, all of you coped with the exceptional heat and thoroughly deserved a cold pint of Erdinger or whatever tickles your fancy.

First off, and first back, was Diane Wilson-Evans who was 23 seconds off her SB and, at the finish, Diane was firmly in the sights of John Shehan who was similarly 24 seconds off his SB but quite content with that as he doesn't like the heat. Emma Davies was 43 seconds down on SB whilst Romain Sacre (on a road bike) was 10 seconds off his SB despite putting out more Watts. Hollie Labunsky was 29 seconds off her SB perhaps due to her engine being tuned towards endurance at the moment! One of the more expensive training tips is to follow the example of Clinton Evans and go to the Algarve for two weeks (without taking your bike) and then come back and take 14 seconds off your SB to finish 3rd!

We've not seen Heath Williams this season and he seemed content with his 23:33 but was less happy with the idiot bus driver who pulled out in front of him causing him to unclip. Mike Broadbent was 34 seconds down on SB whilst John Deeley was the first of our big improvers with a 41 second beating of his SB and, with his trajectory in recent weeks, we really shouldn't rule out a '22' before the season ends. The surprise package of the night was Hugh Pascoe who slashed a full two minutes off his SB to record a new PB of 21:31 and finish 2nd. Wow!

John Aspell bounced back to good form with a 22:21 taking a full minute off his SB to finish 6th - that's better John! As always, Karl Rees was on his road bike and took 35 seconds off his SB to take the road bike win and a cheeky two points in the road bike points competition. David Wilson-Evans snipped a tidy little 17 seconds off his SB to finish 7th and take the midfield win. Stephan Wilcox knocked out another '23' in what has become his breakthrough season and has a cunning plan for the 2023 season that involves the number '22' but I can't reveal more as I'm sworn to secrecy...

Darrel Williams finished 4th with a 21:57 that took nearly half-a-minute off his SB whilst Graham Rogerson took a more modest 5 seconds off his SB to finish 5th and take him to within striking distance of a late-season '21'. Neil Seaward is still chasing that outstanding early season 21:04 but got to within 7 seconds of it last night to take the win and Neil definitely has some momentum taking him towards a possible late-season '20' but not next week as he's on holiday... in the Algarve!

Alfie's MOTM is a no-brainer this week and goes to Hugh Pascoe for a two-minute beasting of his previous SB and for finishing 2nd on the night - a real breakthrough ride.

Well done Hugh and well done everyone. It's not very often we get four riders under the '22'. Thanks to Will for the whistles, the Howells for marshalling (and bringing club kit and organising our last supper) and also to Dan for taken a couple of signs down that meant I could get the result in front of your hungry eyes!

Alfie wrote

was 10 seconds off his SB despite putting out more Watts.

I never thought I’d see the day that you would unironically mention watts in a race report Alf! Next Will is going to be complementing carbon fibre frames and discussing aerodynamics 😳😳