The 3rd of June saw me and Tom head over the bridge to Wales for the Tour of Carmarthenshire organised by Bynea CC who have rad Banesto style kit.

This was going to be an interesting race because of a climb up Black Mountain slapped on the end of the race, not the norm for UK racing.  I have climbed part of it before but not at race pace, turns out the legs didnt have the oomph to climb it at race pace in this case either. More on that later.

There were a lot of strong riders on start sheet fresh off good results in the Welsh Championships.

The route was two large loops followed by the ascent of Black Mountain.

The weather was foul and only let up for small sections.  The roads where drenched and I spent a lot of time swallowing filthy spray off the road.  Goggles where rendered useless in these conditions.  I ended scraping a substantial amount of grit out of my eyelids after.  The conditions alluded to diffifculty when one poor chap crashed in the roll out. After probbably less then 100 m, with no one around him.  I looked back and he was lying on the pavement.  Luckily this did not set the tone with only one other crash all race, the speed at which someone shouted out and the bunch moved around them was swift.  Good call preventing a major pile up.  The communication and bunch skills are noticably higher in the 2/3/4 compated to the 3/4.

I  felt comfortable in the bunch.  There were nice descents on the route with a good bit of climbing.  A nice punchy climb to the hill prime in Landeilo and the rest undulations.  There was only one sketchy corner at the back of the circuit but sensible riding meant everyone negotiated it hassle free.

I felt strong approaching the base of the final climb, this itself was a drag going up a 1/2% incline.  A fair bit of jockeying for positon occured and I probably did a bit too much moving up round the outside in the wind to advance myself, it was interesting to see how some of the more experienced guys moving up without having to do this.  There is a lot more road craft to be learnt in 2/3/4 races.  

There was already a break of around 6 riders up the road including super strong Luke Dunbar and Alec Baskaya (they would go on to take the 1 / 2).  As we hit the climb Tom took the initiative to push on the front which strung it out, shelling a few riders. Zig zagging our way up the wind started to pick right up, I’m pretty sure it was blowing straight down in the first section.  Unfortunately I was one of the guys who suffered because of this.  As i slipped off the back I made an attempt to rejoin but my legs just werent having it.  HR says I could have pushed it more but it wasnt to be.  This was the longest race I have completed, nearly 110 km by the end and it could just be that which was my undoing.

As the finishing group got further into the distance I engaged high cadence mode and made my way to the top.  I was pretty sure that was my potential small victory of first 4th cat dissapearing as well. The finish was actually closer then I expected, due to such low visibility and poor conditions on the mountain they had to move it down.  This is clearly apparent in the video from Welsh Cycling below;

One thing I was glad of was Tom’s girlfirend bringing the car to meet us at the top.  A 12 mile ride back to base would have been a bridge too far for me I think.  As we tried to load the bikes on the car roof I began to get nasty kideny ache and the serious shakes.  On the way down we saw people still heading up as well, cyclists certainly have strong resolve.  There was also one guy who had ridden in bibs and ss jersey on his was down, either rock hard or a bit stupid, not sure!

Overall I took a lot out of the race, a bit of redemption after the Bristol South Road Race and my best showing in a 2/3/4 so far.  I still think I can learn to make myself suffer a bit more though, something to work on.