PTW

Your man in the wet, windy and miserable field reporting…

4 brave souls comprising the ‘squadra composition’ took to the start of the Etape de la Defonce 3 stage, 2 day stage race on the weekend. The Team roster was Andy Evans, myself, Jeremy Rees and Steve Thomas.

With grey skies and the constant threat of rain 80 riders set off, with strong Abergavenny, London Dynamo, Cwmcarn, Forza and Surrey League teams to contend against we knew we had a battle on our hands. Within minutes of starting the rain came down, the wind picked up and the pattern for the day was set.

The aim of the day was to stay near the front, and as we hit the coast around Ognore by Sea and Southerdown it the brutal cross winds ripped the bunch to shreds. Gaps opened up and those unfortunate enough to be at the back were out of the race. The treacherous conditions also meant that there were crashes aplenty on the descents. By now both Steve and Jeremy had gone pop, and only Andy and I remained in the battered bunch. A second time around the coast and the survivors took another hammering as myself and a few others tried to split the bunch over the Southerdown hills and through St Brides Major. Unfortunately it was not to be and we the bunch regrouped on the run in to Llantwit Major, with the long climb up to the top of Cowbridge bypass to finish the stage.

A couple of hardy souls took off and quickly opened out a big gap, and in it’s depleted state the ‘squadra’ was not about to volunteer to chase. Regrettably nobody else seemed to want to chase either and as we came to the bottom of the climb it was clear that we were now racing for third place. Attacks went from the bottom and quickly distanced the bunch. Sensing the danger, but not wanting to blow I upped the pace, finding myself pulling away from the fragmented bunch. Seeing the 1km to go banner I upped it again and overtook all of those in front of me, and got 3rd on the stage, 50 seconds behind the two leaders. Andy came in with the bunch and a depleted squadra retired to the HQ for a well earned hot shower and lunch.

With our GC ambitions intact it was now time for the ‘race of truth’, the Team Time Trial…

YES AND............... WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

After riding 55 miles with a loose seat in the mornings RR, the TT went something along the lines of this.....The route - start in Cowbridge on the slip road, continue down the A48 to the new round about prior to Fords then re-trace up Crack hill to finish on top of the 1 mile climb to the petrol station above cowbridge. With the weather described as changeable to say the least, we got to the start amidst horizontal rain, gales and zero visibliity. Remembering Dave's words of encouragement from the morning 60miles saying that I was "going well" and "looking strong", I said to Dave I'll start as i'm the big hard experienced tester, you just hang on roadie!!! I must have been dreaming. I mashed on through the rain and hail for what felt like a life time... must have been a full minute at least! then Dave took over and that was the end of me. I grovelled all over his back wheel for the rest of the race and only poked my nose to the front when the road tilted downwards. It was an experience I'll not forget for a while. I'm sure he was whistling Hi ho Hi ho when i had my heart in my mouth going over crack hill! After a super fast decent before the final climb (please note, I was actually on the front here and the only bit I enjoyed) Dave continued to do the Times crossword while he waited for me. We crossed the line approx 2 minutes behind the leaders who had a full team of 4, and in the process beat off a few notible squads including the "Forza elite Squadra" Our performance on the day put Dave in the top 10 and me hovering in the mid 30's another minute back.
Unfortunately, on sunday the Squadra was diminished again as some unforseen parental duties came my way during the night that prohibited me starting the day's festivities, so It was up to Dave to fly the PTWCC squadra flag........................................

Andy does himself a disservice! His powerful blasts along the flat and downhill sections of the course kept us in the race!

Anyway – with the TTT out of the way we were free to concentrate on the ‘Queen’ stage, taking in the foothills of the Bridgend and Rhondda valley, a stage feared by many.

Overnight however, things had taken a turn for the worst for the squadra. The rules state that a team must have three riders to count for an individual to count on GC, so by virtue of the fact we had lost two members both Andy and I had our GC positions erased! Further, Andy (who had made extraordinary efforts to do his club duty) finally had his parental responsibilities catch up with him which ruled him out of starting on the Sunday.

At 7.00am the rain and wind was BATTERING South Wales, and a glum, depleted peloton lined up in the car park for the off. Fortunately the ‘Noah friendly’ conditions lifted in time for the off, and the sun even teased us for a brief moment with an appearance. The apparently solar powered London Dynamo, who by now were in yellow following an impressive TTT took off in the first 10miles and lined the race out all the way to the bottom of Brynmill climb. Despite this, overall contender Crispin Doyle chipped off at Pencoed common with another and quickly built up a lead. Hitting the climb we moved to the front and going over the top I managed to get what a place in the prime. I seemed to be climbing well.

So followed the rest of the stage, ducking and diving, trying to follow wheels and moves, staying at the front out of trouble and generally enduring a very tough stage.

As we hit the final drag up to Cowbridge service station the pace ramped up to a painful speed, and 200m from the line the attacks started to go. I tried to follow as best I could, but I suspect my early eagerness over some of the climbs came back to haunt me, and I slipped back through the bunch to finish in the seriously depleted peloton, fortunately in the same time as the others. My non-existent GC position was safe!! 

Crispin Doyle managed to stay away the whole day, and despite the efforts of the yellow jersey, who had seen his team disintegrate after 10miles, he lost the yellow jersey in the final 10 miles.

So all in all, a tough, tough weekend, but a good showing from the battle ravaged PTWCC in arduous conditions.

Should give us all some form for the Presidents!!

Well done Davey, and after James,s efforts in CASTLE COOMBE as well, on Thursday and Sunday not forgetting Charles of course,we have, I hope a fully "charged up" (legally)squadra for the Presidents on Thursday

Davey,


Your efforts were not in vain... it appears a blip on the computer ("computer says no!" left you and Andy missing after the TTT.

The note says riders starting as 2-ups were penalised 30 secs for not complying with race regs - I would have thought it was enough of a penalty to start as a 2-up against full 4-ups

Anyway, well done for finishing the weekend - guess the Club Sec had better return my application - 25th Overall with dwindling team support is an excellent result - less than a minute off getting in the top 10

Steve

Cheers Steve. Ah well, a big 'what if?' for us then! Nevermind, I had a great weekend and if it hadn't been for you, Andy and Jeremy I wouldn't have had a ride at all, so thanks are due!

See you at the Presidents!