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« on: July 02, 2019, 06:52:06 AM »
Big thank you to Harpo and Stephen for pulling together a team of four so we could take part in this event. Sorry this write up is quite long but it was a 12 hour event!
The Cyclone24 Twelve Hour is a four person team challenge, a 12 hour relay to see who can cover the furthest distance in the 12 hour time frame riding from 9am to 9pm. At short notice Harpo managed to fool: me, Stephen Chapman and Mark Crawley to join in. I did the maths four team mates riding over twelve hours that's only three hours each, where's the challenge in that? I had a feeling there must be catch...
I was the last to arrive at the velodrome in Carmarthen on Saturday morning, thankfully Stephen had thought ahead and brought some camping chairs and a parasol. Our understated base camp was set up in between the turbo trainers, gazebos and banners of the other clubs taking part. We were sandwiched between one of the many Tri Clubs that had entered and Merthyr CC, which I think in hindsight Harpo had planned all along as the “friendly” banter between the two clubs fueled our competitive spirit.
We decided beforehand that we would do 20 - 30 minutes each on the track. So we needed to complete 9 x 20 minute efforts each to complete the 12 hours, simple. I was on first at 9am.
My first effort destroyed any plan I had to take it steady. It was a 95% effort from the start and after 20 minutes at 25mph (about 310W) I had had enough, and I was getting off the track. I swear I had seen Harpo waiting ready for the change over but when I pulled in he was nowhere to be seen. My fault, luckily it wasn't too long before Harpo came into view and swapped the timing chip over and we were off again. Harpo did his turn winding up the group as they went around yawning and gesticulating to the other riders if he thought the going was too easy. Meantime I was sitting with Stephen and Mark building team confidence letting them know how much I had “enjoyed” my first turn. Second changeover was smooth thanks to Mr Bees stepping in to help out. Mark seemed to be playing the long game and paced his first lap well keeping his nose out of the wind he was nicknamed “Draughty” by the boys from Merthyr CC. Chapman up next looking smooth and setting a good pace helped by shouts of “encouragement” from Harpo. Before I knew it I was out again. Second time out I knew what to expect, I put in a similar effort. It was just a waiting game now to see if I could maintain the intensity.
In between our time on the track we exchanged banter with the competition and began to formulate our team tactics on the fly. After a few more turns each we found ourselves sitting in second place behind the T-Birds a team comprised of strong riders from Cwmcarn Paragon and Merthyr CC.
At the halfway point Harpo was looking solid. Mark seemed to be cruising through each effort and looking stronger as the race progressed, his new nickname didn’t stick as it was obvious Mark was a bit of a dark horse by now. Stephen had pulled the short straw and found himself chewing his handlebars covering the wheels of the team in first place, he was doing a top job putting in a couple of what looked like really hard turns. I was feeling the effects of going out too hard and started to have a bit of a wobble.
As the day progressed the rest in between turns seemed to get shorter. Our conversation had shifted to working out how many turns we had left, and realising that most of the clubs participating had at least two teams entered and were benefiting from having extra teammates on the track to draft. Although it was challenging we were having a good laugh at the state we were getting in. We were all in the same boat, we were out on our own on the track just giving it as much welly as we could.
At about three-quarters of the way through I think everyone was feeling it. I had managed to eat quite well and after half a litre of orange juice and a Topic my legs were on good speaking terms with my brain. The T-Birds had pulled away with a comfortable lead, we were in second position but now third place had started to close in, we only had a 2 lap advantage. We decided to dig in and start clawing back some laps to defend our position. All we had to do was follow the oppositions wheels for a couple more turns each and maintain our advantage. At this stage in the race we were getting on well with the boys from Merthyr and we managed to work with them on a couple of our final turns. It was a treat to have a decent wheel to follow and it made all the difference for me. In a masochistic way I really enjoyed my last couple of times out on the track with them. Mark finished off the last turn true to form making it look easy for the last effort of the day. Gary rang the bell to signal the end of the race and a couple of the guys shook hands after they crossed the finish line. What a relief it was over.
We maintained or second place with and extended our lead to a four-lap advantage in the end, great result and a cracking day out spent with Harpo, Stephen, Mark, Dave Bees, and Merthyr CC/Cwmcarn Paragon.
It would be great if we could put a couple of teams in for next years event. The great thing about track events like this is that there's plenty of time to socialise between turns on the track, and this event could easily accommodate an Amblers, Chasers and Pacers team. Anyone can take part on a road bike. The Velodrome is in a great position in a well maintained park behind the Tesco Extra in Carmarthen town centre, so family and friends could come along for a day out too. I can’t recommend it enough. Nice one Harpo for setting this one up!
Ta
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