Ras De Cymru

Pross

So is anyone on here doing the Ras this year? HQ is on my doorstep and I'm going to get out and watch on Saturday and Sunday so give us your race numbers and I'll give you a shout as you pass. Llangynidr Mountain will be fun if the weather is still like this, really wish I was doing it

oldwelshman

Would not mind riding it one year but this weekend doing the masters at newport so you wont see me struggling hauling my fat censored up Llangynidir

jibberjim

I'm there, and I'll probably be giving regular race reports to the race reports thread of my hopefully mid pack performances!

Toks

jibberjim wrote:

I'm there, and I'll probably be giving regular race reports to the race reports thread of my hopefully mid pack performances!

Oh dear, written without a wink. Race positively Jim you may suprise yourself.

tomb8555

Good Luck Jim!!!

Pross

What number are you Jim? I'll give you a shout - hoping to make it to the three prime points on Saturday and the start and finish on Sunday.

Toks

Pross wrote:

What number are you Jim? I'll give you a shout - hoping to make it to the three prime points on Saturday and the start and finish on Sunday.

37 Jim Ley Kingston Wheelers 3
38 Maryka Sennema Kingston Wheelers 2W

jibberjim

So I weighed in this morning at the heaviest I've been for 18months. But the good news given that is that due to roadworks the prologue TT has been changed, it's now a flat, tailwind 5miles down the A48... I do appear to be one of the fattest people here!

Thick Tester

jibberjim wrote:

So I weighed in this morning at the heaviest I've been for 18months. But the good news given that is that due to roadworks the prologue TT has been changed, it's now a flat, tailwind 5miles down the A48... I do appear to be one of the fattest people here!

Best of Luck......
Hope you don't become to familar with the Chief Comm's car passing you on the more undulating and mountain top finish days.

robbiedont

VC Norwich have a team in, so give them a shout

jibberjim

jibberjim wrote:

So I weighed in this morning at the heaviest I've been for 18months. But the good news given that is that due to roadworks the prologue TT has been changed, it's now a flat, tailwind 5miles down the A48... I do appear to be one of the fattest people here!

Okay, it wasn't flat, it was rolling (700m at 5% and 800m at 4%) did a mid 11 or so, I'll do a full report later, I wasn't fastest, or slowest of that I'm sure. Probably somewhere in the middle as per my prediction

jibberjim

Okay, so I was equal 20th, a little above where I expected, full report in the race reports thread...

Pross

Well done Jim. Don't worry, keep an eye out at the weekend and you'll see a properly heavy cyclist at the side of the road There seems to be the usual ringers from the IoM in there. Well done to Maryka also, leading woman at present

Tough little climb on today's circuit but reasonably short. Hopefully my clubmates can repeat the race earlier in the season on the same circuit where they finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd :shock:

jibberjim

Pross wrote:

Tough little climb on today's circuit but reasonably short. Hopefully my clubmates can repeat the race earlier in the season on the same circuit where they finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd :shock:

todays circuit was pretty flat really, the hill was tough, but at 2 minutes, and followed by the cross wind descent and long tailwind section it wasn't really going to be significant, I stopped trying to get position after the first 2 times up it when it was clear the field wasn't going to split.

Top 20 or so again, 2 were away to gain about 30seconds, I was pretty well placed for the sprint, but a slow moving sprinter weaving across the road with 200m to go made me sit up enough to lose a top 8 from the bunch. At least I avoided the crashes and punctures. Full report a bit later

Pross

My club are doing OK at the moment, 9th in the TT for one of them and 5th today for another. I like the way they have Sunday listed as flat with mountain finish

lemon63

** My club are doing OK at the moment, 9th in the TT for one of them and 5th today for another. I like the way they have Sunday listed as flat with mountain finish **

Hi Pross - who is your club ?

Pross

Abergavenny RC, just rejoined after too many years away although I'm also in Newport these days.

SteveR_100Milers

Pross wrote:

Abergavenny RC, just rejoined after too many years away although I'm also in Newport these days.

OT I know, but when is your racing sec going to publish the results of your club 10 on your website??!! Its been a week! Poor show from the self-proclaimed "fastest growing club in Wales"

Pross

They are up in the forum I think, they don't tend to post them on the main page but I'll have a word to see if it can be arranged (with slow times left out to protect the innocent ) - and it's the "no. 1 ranked club in Wales" based on topping the regional rankings last season I'll have you know so no "self-proclaimed"

Pross

Stages 4 and 5 routes and elevations are here although as usual with Map My Ride the climbs are a bit flattened out and the final climb doesn't register due to its length!

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/caerleon/629127806120212435

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/abergavenny/120127806262218288

Pross

Stage 5 today won by Tim Rose of Abergavenny RC from a break of 8 beating the yellow jerseys team mate who hadn't been working Jibberjim was in one of the 2 main groups despite punturing in the 7 mile neutralised zone and then taking a tumble between the first 2 climbs. Didn't see Maryka finish but she was on her own between a couple of small groups after the second climb. Hopefully she got in with a few others and safley defended her lead in the womans race Nice to meet you Jim, have a good ride tomorrow.

jibberjim

Pross wrote:

Didn't see Maryka finish but she was on her own between a couple of small groups after the second climb.

She hit a mad labrador on the first descent, which took her out of the first of those groups! fortunately a low speed strike but a complete lack of a tow from the following car which seemed a little unfriendly left her unable to get back on, and she finished with the 2nd group there to defend the lead, although everyone who finished behind has now been eliminated on time gaps and she is now the lanterne rouge, so hoping to improve on that position tomorrow!

Yep, good to meet you, not the greatest of stages for me, and even in the laughing group it was a little strange with people attacking, people unwilling to work, why not just get to the finish! Up the final climb, 2 guys attacked, which to me is just rude, does it really matter if you're 9:03 or 9:13 down? I could've gone with them, but I decided it was much better just to lead the bunch who helped us hold it to 9 minutes over the line.

Most annoying thing was seeing had I not crashed, we probably would've been up into the top 5 teams, which really makes me feel I let the guys down.

Pross

Can't do much about a crash, they won't be blaming you. I was surprised to see 10 or more riders so well dropped on the first climb considering the bunch was so well grouped and it didn't look like thet'd been pushing things. I guess that's the effect of 3 days racing beforehand which we don't get at that level any other time in this country.

Pross

Well done to everyone who finished. Today's stage was horrendous. Strong wind all day that was gale force in their faces up the final 3 mile climb of Llangynidr mountain driving rain. I went up after a gentle 35 mile ride and got brought to a standstill by the gale 50m from the line :oops: . Even after 5 days of hard racing I couldn't keep up with the racers going back to the HQ! Thanks to Jim's helper for letting me cower in his car when I was drenched waiting for the finish on the moor, it had been warm and sunny when I left so wasn't best prepared for autumnal conditions in the mountains.

maryka

Yep, glad that one's over though I dare say I actually enjoyed the last stage, rain and wind notwithstanding. Was quite happy to stay with the bunch all day and more importantly I never felt over my limit so felt like I had a successful day in that sense. After a tough couple of days previous, it was great to have good legs finally!

And I managed to overtake a few guys on GC and finish 81st (i.e., not in last place!)

Pross

Loads of photos from the Ras here http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/page8/