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Road Racing & Wiggle Dragon Ride

In the past few weeks I have entered 3 road events with almost no MTB riding done, apart from a DH day at Cwmcarn to test the new Rocky Mountain Slayer ready for the Mega Avalanche.

The first road event was a criterium race at Aberystwyth, which was a support race to the Tour Series that is on TV at the moment. It was an exceptionally windy day and as a result many of the races were cancelled or delayed. The 4th category race was shortened to just 15 minutes, which is little more than a sprint! The pace was quick throughout and a group of 5 or 6 of us formed at the front. I stayed at the back until the last lap when I started to move up. Going into the first corner a rider ahead crashed in front of me, which lost me about 20 seconds to the sole rider ahead who managed to avoid the hold-up. Coming into the finishing straight in 2nd place I had a rider on my wheel and he managed to out sprint me on the line. I picked up my first ever points from the race, as I have only done a handful of ranking races in the past.

On the following bank holiday Monday I entered the Tour of Carmarthenshire road race, which is an annual event held near me. The course changes every year and this year there was a summit finish on the Black Mountain. Not only would a mountain (in the loosest sense, being 500m elevation) summit suit me but it is a road I know extremely well and do a fair chunk of my training up there. I know exactly how long a climb takes and I really wanted to do well in such a local race. At just over 4 miles long and with 400m of vertical elevation it is one of the longest climbs in Wales and a really nice, scenic one as well. It was a rather damp start to the race with constant drizzle when we set off.

In the run up to the race I had changed a few parts on the excellent Focus Izalco to make it even lighter, faster and race focused. The 3T pro kit was upgraded to the slightly lighter 3T Team parts and a set of Rolf tubular wheels were fitted with Schwlabe Ultremo HT tyres. It is the first time I have ever used tubular tyres, so I was stepping into the unknown slightly but from a few practice rides I had done with them I knew the wheel/tyre combo were super fast and extremely stiff. Even the braking, which is something most people complain about on carbon rims was excellent (at least on a par if not better than aluminium rims)using the Swissstop yellow pads. The bike was right on the weight limit for races to give me every chance on the long climb.

Before the climb up the Black Mountain there would be almost 60 miles of rolling A-roads to get through. I knew that I wouldn’t have a chance in a long break away on the flatter terrain, so just stayed quiet in the bunch until the pace started to ramp up with 10 miles to go. A few bunches had managed to get away, with a 1-2 minute lead. I know the roads well, so a mile before the point where the road kicks up I moved towards the front and into second place in the group and then as soon as the road kicked up I moved to the front of the group and set the pace. At first I was alone, but soon had a line of riders behind me. I kept my pace constant, just as if I were doing an interval which was fast enough to start dropping riders fairly early on. By the half-way point where the road opens up to open moorland I looked behind me and only 10 or 15 riders were still there and all the riders who were in the breaks were visible ahead, the first on the road maybe 30 seconds ahead still.

On the first hairpin bend 2 riders took the lead and upped the pace. I followed the wheels for as long as I could but slowly drifted off. 3 other riders ahead slowly moved past, including current Welsh RR champion Gruff Lewis. All the time the pace was high and my HR was bouncing close to its threshold. Approaching the second hairpin everyone from the breaks, except one had been caught and the gaps to everyone ahead was still quite small, but everyone was maxxed out so bridging a gap would have been impossible. Crossing the line in 7th position I was really happy as, considering that I have no form following the 24hr UK/Euro champs and the quality of the riders. The winner had travelled from England and was the only person to survive from the break-aways, with everyone else moving up and on the long climb. The points gained from the race were enough to push me up to the 3rd category for road races.

The following weekend it was time for the Wiggle Dragon Ride, the biggest Sportive in the UK. Last year I went quite well and had the 9th fastest time, but this year I was hoping to do a little better than that. The sheer number of people riding the Dragon make it a special event, cyclists really do take up the whole roads and it is a great sight. I set off in the second group of riders at 8:02am without any other quick riders in the group I took up the pace myself and decided to try and catch the first group 2 minutes up the road. The roads to start were rolling with a few hills but nothing too major. I picked my way through the riders ahead and at 20km mark I caught the first group on the road which included a familiar face, a rider called Veli-Matti Raikkonnen who was one of the riders I rode with last year during the same event. I knew he was a good rider, especially on the climbs and capable of a quick time. In total there were 5 others in the front group.

The pace was fairly slow, so I tried to push it on a bit. After a bit of yo-yoing from a few in the group eventually there were just 3 of us as we hit the bottom of the first Bwlch ascent. The pace was solid, although I was taking far more time on the front to try and keep the pace up. The Bwlch is a really long drag, starting all the way in Port Talbot but the last few kilometres is where it really kicks up. The wind on the open parts was quite fierce and made it slow going at times. At the top we had dropped the third rider, so eased up and waited for him then made our way down the Bwlch and through Treorchy onto the Rhigos climb. I stayed on the front for the whole climb and with a slight tailwind kept it in the big 53t gear all the way which felt great.

After another fast descent it was onto the more rolling hills through Glyneath and Ystradgynlais. I know these roads quite well so was able to keep the others in the loop as to what to expect next and try to spur them on. It was a little disappointing that we didn’t have more people in the group like last year (group of 6/7 last year) as I felt the pace was a little slow at times, especially the flats. Just before the 100 mile mark we came into Neath and the Cimla climb, which although is fairly short it is quite steep and can be hard work on the legs after so long in the saddle. Safely over that and still feeling good the only major climb left was the Bwlch for a second time, the same familiar route up through the Afan valley. I wanted to keep the pace high, keen to get a fast time and stayed on the front most of the time. As the road kicked up and then opened out the pace went up slightly and Veli-Matti and myself went clear together. We were well matched and rode well together and a quick pace. It didn’t feel as windy going up as the first time, but as we reached the top it started to rain and this made the following descent quite tricky, especially when there were riders from the shorter distances on the roads and several cars stuck between riders. A few chances were taken to get by, but we both made it down in one piece.

From the bottom it was slow for a while, passing through the narrow villages before hitting another short climb and the short but nasty descent that followed. Then it was mostly flat and straight forward so we pushed hard and drilled the last 15km or so to the finish line. I finished in a time of 6 hours, 4 minutes coming in with Veli-Matti who would have been 2 minutes slower. Ben Simmons clocked a seriously impressive 5 hours 54 minutes and I believe he was the fastest on the day and I believe I was the second fastest. It was another top event and I really enjoyed the ride, thanks to everyone involved in what is a seriously big event.