Welsh Road Race Champs, 58 mile, Vets, Juniors and Women

Sunday 22nd May 2005

Myself, Keith and Samantha rode the Welsh Champs down at Drefach in mainly dry (apart from one downpour) warm conditions.

This was my first Vets road race so was unsure what to expect, the field was also made up of ten juniors plus two women riders, Sam being one of them. The course consisted of a 9 mile stretch (mainly downhill) out to a circuit which had one climb on it covered 3 times, then 9 miles back to the finish (mainly uphill), total distance 58 miles.

As soon as the flag was dropped junior rider Dafydd Dylan (Ystwyth CC) jumped away from the bunch. With not much reaction he soon built up a lead of over 2 minutes! Keith and I tried many times to get away but our attacks were well marked. On the 2nd lap, about half a mile before the climb, with about 25-30 mile to go I attacked hard and soon opened up a gap. It was time then to switch to time trial mode! After a further 5 or 6 miles I caught Dafydd Dylan. At first he worked well with me but then his previous effort started to take its toll and he sat on. At the end of the 3rd lap our advantage was 2 minutes. We then turned right into a headwind to ride the last mainly uphill 9 miles to the finish. As soon as the road started to climb Dafydd lost contact and I was on my own. With 1 kiolometer to go I was given a time check of 2.12 so the victory was mine.

Welsh Vets RR Champ 2005!! (I won the senior race in 1989!!) Looking back down at the finish line I could see Keith winning the sprint for 2nd place, a Deeside one,two. Keith had marked every move and then come up with the goods in the sprint, Cheers!

Sam was not so fortunate as she lost contact with the bunch on the climb to the finish and finished 2nd in the ladies section, if she hadn't been full of cold then the outcome could well of been different, roll on next year!!

As far as the senior race goes (83 miles) Stephen Lloyd finished 12th, John Skaites 18th and Andrew Windsor 23rd after puncturing or it may of been a broken spoke. Andrew Martin was unfortunate enough to crash after he overshot a bend and hit an imaginary curb which resulted in him sitting in a phone box!! No serious injuries just the usual cuts and bruises. Keith and I are still baffled as to which curb he hit, no doubt he will do a report of his own after he has read this one!!

Thanks to Norman Hughes for this report

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