PTW

You man in the field ‘oop north reporting…

With a scarcity of Welsh races the squadra of James ‘Tank’ Lewis and I travelled to the West Midlands on Sunday to contest the Wrekinsport summer road race. Well as we woke up and saw/heard the rain hammering at the window on Sunday morning we began to wonder whether we could sue them for misrepresentation!! Nevertheless, we battled through the wind and the rain, employing teamwork, helping each other out through the bad patches, sheltering each other from the rain and after a couple of hours we finally reached the car to take us to the race. Yes, it was that bad.

Arriving at the HQ, we duly signed on and were busy pining our numbers on when the commissaries burst into the changing room and announced the race was cancelled, before giving me a sympathetic glance in my undressed state and muttering, “poor lad … well I suppose it is a cold day.”

Secretly I was relieved, a trip to the M6 services and a hot latté beckoned. But no, as I was accompanied by younger and more energetic cyclists (James and Hefin Price of CMC) they had soon located a crit on Darley Moor just outside Derby. Reluctantly and with the rain still lashing the car I agreed and off we went. We soon arrived, and can I point out, it truly is grim up north. The rain continued to belt us and the temperature felt about 2C. We rugged up with every bit of cycling clothing we had and set off for an hour’s crit with 30 other double hard northerners. (who, as you would expect were racing in short sleeves and shorts). Half an hour in and I had lost all feeling in my legs and hands, and was no longer able to change gear. The rain and spray meant I couldn’t see, and the 4 foot puddles on the course ensured that absolutely every part of you was saturated at several times a lap. After and hour of this, some attacks and chases it was time for the sprint. James moved to the front to try and wind it up, but I was going nowhere. Legs frozen I rolled in with the bunch, as did the other Welsh boys.

Then followed an hour of uncontrollable shivering and shaking as we tried to get warm again and set off back to sunny South Wales.

I know it’s grim up north but I didn’t realise it was THAT grim. I’m not sure if that is a normal summer’s day for them but one thing is for sure, it’s the last time I’ll complain about a little shower at Llandow…