Before the Ras I'd only ever twice ridden my bike in south Wales before. Once over the Gospel Pass towards Hay-on-Wye from Crickhowell (very beautiful ride) and then a quick burst up the mad mountain road behind my hotel - which turned out to be exactly the mountain we were finishing up on today, Llangynidr. Its a brute of a climb, long, unforgiving and very exposed higher up. The race newsletter today urged us, in all seriousness to 'please (do) not collapse on the road. Use the verges for this purpose.'... I was really concerned about racing it - in fact I lost a lot of sleep over it, or more exactly over my stoopit lack of anything bigger than a 23 sprocket. Its a deal of work keeping bikes going smooth over a few days, remembering bits, checking, fixing, swapping out, cleaning, you all know the script. The bikes had done fine but I had forgotten the 12-25 and it was worrying my tired mind on a sunday morning, M&D Cycles of Abergavenny being shut. Sod it, onwards, last lap, last gasp. Today it was WET. Very wet.
Racing was easy for starters but picked up to a really painful speed pulling back an early break. Cooke was active, she loves to attack, really relishes it and is a powerful presence at the front of the field, missing nothing. I'm a little way back a lot of the time, frankly I'm exhausted by all the racing - I feel old today, I mean I am (relatively) old but don't yet have to dwell on it much but today, with several days continuous racing in my legs, I'm whacked. I'm not the only one suffering today, Pooley spends a good deal of time on my wheel (and thanks me for it later - bless) as I struggle to close gaps. But as the rain returns on the run-in to the mountain the pace drops as we are just one big bunch of 40 at the head of the race, a situation which nobody expected - thus the Llangnidr will decide. As I said, it's a brute, a steepening haul that doesn't even bother to hair-pin for the bulk of its lower slopes though higher up it tacks horribly left and over onto exposed slopes of moorland. A brief descent and then it rears up again, steep and bad to the summit.
Emma Pooley smashed it, putting 32 seconds between herself and Jack Adams the next finisher, she is a phenomenal climber and I felt privelidged to experience her riding away from me whenever the road reared up. A magnificent sight.
My ride was OK given that I started at the back of the bunch. I plugged away, picking through the field, a great determination filled me - and all of us I am sure - maxed out but going crazy for the line and the finish and an end to what had been a tough few days. I was 25th on the day - all I could do, all I could do.
So I enormously enjoyed riding the Ras; the company, the racing, the organisation, that justified whooping swoop downhill to the valley from the finish - it is as serious and committing a bike race as I have found in these islands for a humble, 3rd cat road racer. The racing was consistently hard but I didn't ever feel completely out of my depth though I had to adopt a low-key, damage limitation style of riding to survive intact to the end. The standard of riding was high and I have very few complaints about fellow riders - all were fit and focused and fair. There were undoubtedly a few outstanding riders in the field, male and female, young and old, who are destined for great things (like rainbow banded shirts and pure gold medals!) but the majority were just toughing it out and, like me, were into uncharted territory come the 4th day. It was an enthralling taste of the all-enveloping world of stage racing that I'm proud to have been part of. The organisation of the race was amazing, with every detail taken care of by a remarkable group of people. From the South Wales NEG motorcycle outriders to the Caerleon Campus canteen ladies, from race organiser Simon Bray to the many marshalls, pushers off and behind the scenes administraters - these people made sure the racing happened in a healthy, safe and high profile manner. They really did everything possible to allow us riders free reign to race, a phenomenal situation to find yourself in - I am truely grateful to them all.
So the overall race was won by canny Tim Carter - who has been South African TT champ in his time - he is also a vet (over 40) - which pushed me into second spot in that grizzled category. So I ended up 26th on G.C. which isn't special but was hard fought - but I'd love to go back next year as part of a drilled Scottish team of attacking nutters - we could really do some damage down there in 2009. Have a think about it.
Listening to: Galwad y Mynydd - 'un cynnig olaf' (one last chance)
Full results
http://www3.newport.ac.uk/
http://www.cobrecordsbangor.
http://www.sports-pictorial.
http://sports-centre.newport.
other reports
http://www.britishcycling.org.
http://www.
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