Un-official South Wales climb thread

Mark Alexander

A new P.b tonight at MD7. I was 27.12 but am now a 25.05. yep, I'm happy

Mark Alexander

Steve,

It looks like you got me by 19 secs on MD7 and I suspect you'll jump up in the overall standings. I'm expecting to drop from 42nd as I suspect a fw may b hitting their 5 races.

SteveR_100Milers

it's the last one I'm doing, on hols for the last one. Only doing the Topp 10, our clubs 50 this weekend, then our club are promoing a 10 on the 10/22 in september. Thats me done for this year. Your times have come down massively this year - should be good for a sub hour next year! I can't see how I can go faster than I was in May, I was 20 secs slower for MD7 :roll:

BY the way, I havent got the result yet, they are not on the WCA website.....have you had them?

Mark Alexander

20 secs slower? show off! 8). Thsnks for the confidence boost. I'v dropped a full 3 minutes 42 secs. for my 10.
Have a good Holiday. I'm hoping for some non-starters as it's a 20

will you be doing that 10/22? i haven't anything planned for Sept but i may be training for th hill climbs, oh and praying for dry days.
I have an aero helmet and am swapping to Look shoes soon. :twisted:

BeaconRuth

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

it's the last one I'm doing, on hols for the last one. Only doing the Topp 10,

Have you got a start sheet for this yet? I hoped mine would come this morning but it hasn't.

SteveR_100Milers

BeaconRuth wrote:

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

it's the last one I'm doing, on hols for the last one. Only doing the Topp 10,

Have you got a start sheet for this yet? I hoped mine would come this morning but it hasn't.

No nor me either...I was going to give it till this eve then ring the organiser, I assumed i wasnt in.

BeaconRuth

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

No nor me either...I was going to give it till this eve then ring the organiser, I assumed i wasnt in.

Is it likely to be a full field then? (I don't know the course.)

SteveR_100Milers

Mark Alexander wrote:

20 secs slower? show off! 8). Thsnks for the confidence boost. I'v dropped a full 3 minutes 42 secs. for my 10.
Have a good Holiday. I'm hoping for some non-starters as it's a 20

will you be doing that 10/22? i haven't anything planned for Sept but i may be training for th hill climbs, oh and praying for dry days.
I have an aero helmet and am swapping to Look shoes soon. :twisted:

I did an interesting analysis for you: I always list the closest riders at the start of the season and track my times against theres. I have overtakne one of the older vets to whom I was 30 secs slower, now 15 faster. Another rider from abertillery whrs was over a minute faster is now only 19 secs, etc etc. Now interestinglly you have gone from over a minute to just 15 secs or so behind me, which means you have put huge gains into most of the other established riders. I'll send you the template for the spreadsheet I use to track all of this if you like. I find it useful motivationally after a slower time to quantify whether everyone else went proportionally slower as I did.

chrisw12

Where am I, where am I?????? On your radar Steve, have I improved???

I do something like you said, but in my head. People are very inconsistent though, I rekon that the South Wales tt scene is riddled with drugs.

In all seriousness, I like it when my trainning buddies race against me as I'll know exaclty where they are in relation to season and goals. It's very difficult to compare with unknown people so be aware.


and Steve you'll be in the lead for a while on Sunday, looking forward to it? Should be a good day on a fast course with good weather. Don't use my times to compare though, I'm in a big mile phase.

SteveR_100Milers

chrisw12 wrote:

Where am I, where am I?????? On your radar Steve, have I improved???
I do something like you said, but in my head. People are very inconsistent though, I rekon that the South Wales tt scene is riddled with drugs.

In all seriousness, I like it when my trainning buddies race against me as I'll know exaclty where they are in relation to season and goals. It's very difficult to compare with unknown people so be aware.


and Steve you'll be in the lead for a while on Sunday, looking forward to it? Should be a good day on a fast course with good weather. Don't use my times to compare though, I'm in a big mile phase.

Sorry, and unsurprising no you're not, because you're too far ahead at the moment...I rode our club 10 tonight and went 5 seconds faster than the one in the beginning of May. So, 5 seconds in 4 months....pretty impressive huh? :shock:

As for Sunday, I reckon I'll be in front for about a mile, then Colin will be pass me like I'm stationary...

Ruth, I got back too late, havent called organiser, no one knows if its on, but the postal strike that is supposed to be taking place may have slowed things somewhat. The R10/4 IIRC is the one its on, isnt a speedway as far as I know....

Mark Alexander

I said that I was comming up short for races in Sept but am considering the 50 on 16/09. it's on the R50/3c. has anyone tried the course,? is it on the old road or the dual carriageway?

chrisw12

You're lucky, Just done the Merthyr 10 tonight and I was 30 secs slower than best time, early season, same conditions!

As said, put lots of miles in this week and it seems to have blunted any speed that I didn't have. Might throw some short 4 min intervals now instead of more miles, getting a bit confused tbh.

Ruth, are you doing the Welsh 100 now. If you are, give me a training plan for next week.

Mark Alexander

Steve, I would appreciate that spradsheet if you can. :P

BeaconRuth

chrisw12 wrote:

Ruth, are you doing the Welsh 100 now. If you are, give me a training plan for next week.

No, sorry, I very very nearly entered but came to my senses just in time. I need to concentrate on the British Time Trial Championships and not get distracted with lesser priorities.

As for a training plan - I did just one short ride in the week before the Nat 100, and a 30min spin on the turbo the day before. The best preparation in the week before is rest.

chrisw12

Lesser priorities? Did you forget to add a smiley at the end of that one?

Welsh Champiom or that uci drug infested competition. I hope your bike complies with the rules

BeaconRuth

chrisw12 wrote:

Lesser priorities? Did you forget to add a smiley at the end of that one?

Welsh Champiom or that uci drug infested competition. I hope your bike complies with the rules

Sorry Chris - I'm suffering a sense of humour failure after riding my first ever 21 last night (a PB, course record and club record on our local not-that-fast-course) only to arrive at the finish before the timekeeper got there. The performance can't stand.

And too many people think all cyclists must be on something for me to laugh about the BTTC being 'drug-infested.' My humour also fails me when I am tested myself - as I was last year at the BTTC - it's not a pleasant experience.

Sorry - I can take a joke usually.

SteveR_100Milers

Mark Alexander wrote:

I said that I was comming up short for races in Sept but am considering the 50 on 16/09. it's on the R50/3c. has anyone tried the course,? is it on the old road or the dual carriageway?

All the routes are on www.welshcycling.org

Sundays 50 is either on that or the 50/1 I cant recall. I have ridden it before (the WCA 50) and it is fast, just that I wasnt (winning time was a 1-49)

Mark Alexander

they used to be on welsh cycling but the site has bee re-built and they aren't there anymore. I had a look on the CTT website. thy are on there at last som of them have been added but the link to the description hasn't

chrisw12

The 50 in Sept. is on the Glyn neat area courses and should be

Loop 1: Macdonalds to first roundabout (the end one for the r10/22) turn around and go back to mac.

Then go on old road right to the top (similar to outbound r10/23) then back onto the d/c and return all the way back to mac's.

You do the old road d/c loop three times in total.

It's a bit confusing tbh, the first time I did it I wasn't clear and went up to far at the start.

Also if there's still roadworks then the start will be moved to the old road and a small loop is added there instead of the loop 1 above.

Tbh my feeling is that this is not as fast as the Abergavenny based courses. The Sept event could be a nice season ender though.

SteveR_100Milers

BeaconRuth wrote:

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

No nor me either...I was going to give it till this eve then ring the organiser, I assumed i wasnt in.

Is it likely to be a full field then? (I don't know the course.)

Ruth ang the orgniaser today, its definitiely on, and asince I'm in I'm sure you will be. HQ is the community centre in Raglan. Its easy enough to find, as Raglan is pretty small. See you there.

SteveR_100Milers

Start sheet waqs in the post today.

Chris, somehow I have been persuaded to ride the WCA100....If its not too late... :shock:

BeaconRuth

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

Ruth ang the orgniaser today, its definitiely on, and asince I'm in I'm sure you will be. HQ is the community centre in Raglan. Its easy enough to find, as Raglan is pretty small. See you there.

Yes, ta Steve. I rang yesterday to confirm I was in and got the start sheet this morming. A disappointing turn out from the blokes but 8 women isn't bad going.

I'll see you there if I can work out who you are!

SteveR_100Milers

I'm afraid I can't ride it, so good luck anyways! My first DNS of the year

SteveR_100Milers

Chris, what's your target for the 100? I would be chuffed to beat 5 hours, but am not sure its possible...I have never ridden such a long distance on the flat, and not at any pace - its always been a hilly sportive or touring route...

chrisw12

Steve I think that 5hrs is a great target as it's bang on 20mph so it could be easy to pace. I'd certainly give yourself a number to aim at and then a mph to work from, I personally find it quite motivating, I know others will dissagree. The first one I did three years ago, I used 20mph as a target. Then again, this course is much quicker, have a look at your time tomorrow and use that to get a better estimate perhaps.

I'm aiming for 4:25 as that's our club's gold standard, anything else will be a bonus, I've kind of given up on a good place in the(Welsh) bar(like top 5) but a good 100 and then a good 12 should see me at least in the top ten.

I've got bit of a dilema tbh I had intended to cut the miles down totaly next week and taper but with the 12hr only 4 weeks away, I don't think I can afford to sit back next week. I'll see what happens tomorrow, good luck by the way.

BeaconRuth

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

I'm afraid I can't ride it, so good luck anyways! My first DNS of the year

I saw the "DNS Apol" on the signing on sheet so didn't waste any time looking for you. An interesting course that I'd ride again. I've no idea how Ceri Pritchard managed a 20.35 on it - very very impressive. And very friendly folks down in Wales!

SteveR_100Milers

Well ceri won our club 50 this morning in an obscene 01:48 ish IIRC. I was first off and the breeze was just picking up, it wasn't quite a floater, and certainly not by the time he was on the road.

What time did you do Ruth?

BeaconRuth

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

Well ceri won our club 50 this morning in an obscene 01:48 ish IIRC. I was first off and the breeze was just picking up, it wasn't quite a floater, and certainly not by the time he was on the road.

I thought long and hard about riding the 50 as well but decided against it in the end. How did you get on today Steve? Got any other times for any of the fast guys?

What time did you do Ruth?

I did 22.41 and secured my invite to the WCA dinner.

SteveR_100Milers

There were a few under 1-55, alun owen wasn't far behind Ceri as I recall. as for me i only managed to improve by 40 odd secs since the welsh champs, as I got severe back pain after about 30 miles. I should have taken more time in setting my bike position up beforehand, so I learnt something. Chris did a good ride, 2-02 IIRC.

MartinL

As this is a thread about climbs in S.Wales ...

On Tuesday (7th Aug) Abertillery Wheelers are holding their club hill climb comp on the A465 Heads of the Valleys road at Blackrock. The climb starts at the foot of the Clydach gorge at the turning for Llanelly hill and then climbs on the A465 towards Brynmawr. At the RAB, take the first exit to another RAB where you also take the first exit onto the B4248 towards Blaenavon. Finish just before the first cattle grid. The course record is 12m 05s for the 3.4 miles

Everybody welcome, you don't need to be a member or have pre registered to ride, only costs a quid. The first rider will be off a 7pm. Meet in the car park at the foot of the climb (Llanelly Hill turning) around 6-30pm