Another good night’s racing. Andy Newby, Chas and Gareth rode in the youngsters’ race – sorry I don’t know how they did, maybe one of them will post a comment – I know Andy said he worked hard in various efforts to get off the front but was frustrated that there was no organisation and he didn’t manage to get away.
Graham, Kevan and I were in the oldies race. After riding the first kilometre at snail’s pace the race suddenly picked up on the A535, and then one rider fell badly, which split the peleton – I ended up behind the crash so had to burst a blood vessel to get back to the main group, and a few riders behind me were dropped at this point. Then a break of 3 got away, followed by another break of 2 – Kev left it too late to follow them, and then tried really hard to reach them but he was on his own – he got within 20 metres at one point but he had no support and ended up coming back to the group, which failed to make any headway, largely because of a lack of organisation.
I enjoyed being in the bunch, trying to keep up with the constant change of pace and frequent moves at the front, most of which involved Kevan. All the time this was going on, Graham was keeping his counsel at the back of the bunch and both Kev and I were convinced he’d do his normal trick of sprinting past Kevan on the line – instead Kev went off the front of the bunch with a good kilometre to go and held the gap, coming in first of the bunch and 6th in the race – Graham and I finished in the bunch.
Vital stats from my bike computer (which includes the 1km slow ride in at the end): 28.2 miles (we only did 5 laps because it was getting dark), average 21.3mph, max 34.2 mph, riding time 1.19 hours.
As normal it was good to see lots of WVCC support: Nick, Dave A and Alan were marshalling, Richard was supporting and Martin and Mark did their normal great job as organisers.
For anyone who’s dithering about entering, the fact that there’s great home-made cake afterwards might entice you!
Eleanor.
Well done Kev and El and all the other Weaver Valley riders. Chas didn't ride so I don't think we had any represntatives in the 40+ race.
Under 40's won by Steve Fidler (Crewe Clarion and one of those 3 strongmen on the Llanberis weekend) on a lone break for 3 laps, 40+ John Eddols of BNECC and 50+ won by Gordon Wallace from Keith Jones (both of Deeside)who had dropped their 3 breakaway companions.
Last night was much tougher than the week before with attacks from the very start. I think at about only half a lap in, the field split and after a tough sprint I managed to join the back of the leading group. And this is where I stayed, clinging on to all of the attacks that never seemed to relent. It came as such a relief when the final lap bell rang a lap early. Not too sure where I finshed (I guess inside of the top ten) as it got really confusing as we caught the over 50's race just before the line. Our average speed was 24.9mph, though not sure about the other stats, and am yet to sample the cake!