PTW

Your man in the field reporting...

A full 'squadra' assembled for the 2nd of the Abergavenny Handicaps in Raglan today, consisting of me, James 'The Tank' Lewis, Charles 'Boyo' Reynolds and Andy 'The Legs' Evans. Being a handicap we were sorted into groups, Andy in the first group, Charles and I in the second group, setting off 5 minutes after them, and James in the last group setting off 4 minutes after us (it is worth mentioning the late addition of two super strong Rapha Condor riders to the group - and they would have a cataclysmic effect on the speed of the race!!)

With a drop of the flag we were off. Despite having ridden a distinctly average '23' the day before, I knew my legs would be stiff for a little while, so I picked out a nice sunny spot on the back of the bunch and sat there for a few miles. Charles, ignoring my advice to take it easy to start with, got stuck in and was soon going through and off at the front like Jan Ullrich on speed. After a while my legs warmed up and I started to help.

We soon reached the 'turn', affording us our first opportunity to see whether we were catching the others, and alarmingly, we weren't! Even more alarmingly, we could see the scratch group bearing down on us at a rate of knots! (minus one James Lewis, who found the pace a bit too hot) We decided to up the tempo and started to work hard on the second lap. Coming past the finishing hill for the second time Charles decided enough was enough and sat up, leaving me on my own, just in time for the elites to catch us.

A bit of through and off, and some strong attacks soon whittled down the bunch to a few committed souls and we pressed on to catch the front group with 5 miles to go. After dodging past a fat Forza rider who looked decidedly familiar we set about winding it up for the sprint. It was now down to Andy and I to defend club honour, with Andy doing a good turn a few kms to go. The sprint wound up the hill and I put my head down, crossing the line in 7th place.

Charles rolled in a few minutes later, having got into a good chasing group, and the 'squadra' were reunited in the car park for a much deserved latte.

So, a good day out for PTWCC, me finishing alongisde some Rapha pros and plenty of smiles all round at the finish.

'til next time!

PS - gallery here:

http://www.davidphotos.co.uk/

Some great shots of the boys in white and red in action!

Nice report Davey and well done the lads!, looks like the photographer took a big shine to James!.Does that mean a win in 6 weeks Davey, after that 23 min 10 projection and going just over on the day, me thinks you could be on to something . Just a couple o'questions, what group was that Amy sort in? and who's the " familiar fat Forza rider"?

Nice one Davey and well done to the PTW squadra for having a go.

Results:

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/roa/road_results.asp?evt_cp=1&evt_mode=2&evt_id=%7B0F3D2949-35D9-4678-A7A2-C3658BF3F180%7D&evt_seriesid=&evt_myevents=No&RefID=&RefType=&evt_year=2009&evt_month=5&evt_kw=&evt_regions=Wales&evt_disc=Road+Racing&evt_class=&evt_cat=&evt_series=&evt_resultspp=20

Fair play, those Abergavenny boys did well - as did young Rhys Gravelle from the Bynea.

A better and more objective report than mine! :

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/roa/EventReports2009/20090503_Abergavenny_Handicap.asp