TransWales report: Day two

TransWales report: Day two (Matt Skinner)

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Volley after volley of soul draining rain drowned both the trail and the riders’ spirits and turned the 67km linking stage into a non-stop battle of attrition, guts, and reserve.

Out of Cilycwm the riders headed west along the black top before diving into the woods to grind upwards on firetrack. It wasn’t long before the rain began beating down hard making climbing even more mentally tough – not many riders revel in hard climbing, but throw in a downpour every so often and the number drops to even fewer, particularly when the trail just keeps on pointing up.

Eventually the riders zipped up and dropped back down to the tarmac: yet even this wasn’t easy. If riders didn’t want to freeze to the bone soaked through by both rain and road spray, there was no option but to stick it into the big ring and keep the legs turning hard.

Finally riders clawed and scraped their grateful way to Brechfa Forest and its rich vaults of new school singletrack. Built by UK downhiller Rowan Sorrell, the Abergorlech trail is stuffed with berms, table tops, rollable doubles and high speed lines that will give any rider a lesson in flow.

Due to the rain and the physical pummeling that riders had endured just to make it to the linking stage’s end, the special stage was shortened to 7.5km. But for many riders this was still a bridge too far: sitting it out meant that a rider would be automatically allocated the time of the slowest racer in their category from the special stage, plus two minutes. For riders here for the challenge and the experience, such penalties are purely hypothetical and an easy price to pay for rest and recuperation. But for those revved up for the title race, this would be a pivotal stage to lay down their claims or see their chances begin to slip through their muddy fingers.

In the USE Men’s Solo category competition intensified as the favourites were joined in the fray by new faces who were determined that things wouldn’t go to script. TransWales’ 2006 pairs winner, Ryan Bevis (RAM Bikes) was again the early pace maker, followed closely by last year’s TransScotland Solo Men’s winner Andy Barlow (Whyte Bikes); but pipping both riders to the top spot of the podium in a blisteringly fast time of 16:59 was Belgian Frans Claes (Connection Granville). Frans’ time was a clear 32 seconds up on Bevis’ second place time, with Barlow 6 seconds slower in 17:37. The only other rider to go sub-18 minutes was fourth placed Ewan Thorburn (Fat Tread Bikes) with a time of 17:52.

Elsewhere in the Niner Bikes Singlespeed category TransWales and TransScotland veteran Matt Carr (69er Collective) had a proper race on his hands with Henry Richard Lansdown (Bike Shed Wales) taking 17 seconds out of him on the special stage to snatch the category lead in the general classification (GC) by just one second.

In the USE Veteran Women’s Solo category Mary-Rose Cross convincingly beat Anne Dickins (Cloud 9 Trails) into second to take both the Brechfa special stage win and the overall GC. However, USE Solo Female leader Fi Spotswood (Iron Horse/Extreme) stretched her lead in the GC by simply starting the special stage as Angela Carpenter – her nearest rival – sat the stage out. Fi then went on to win the stage by just under five minutes from second placed Amy Baron-Hall (trio25.blogspot.com). 

Similarly, in the USE Solo Veteran Male category enduro stalwart Steve Heading (Whyte Bikes) began to creep clear of second placed Kerry Graham (BAD CC) in the GC with over a minutes cushion. Bryan Singleton (Ride On/Buff) came in third to keep the GC unchanged.

Tomorrow sees the riders saddling up for the biggest linking stage yet: all 75km and 1950m of climbing of it.

Special Stage Two – Brechfa - Results

USE Women’s Solo Category

1 – Fi Spotswood (Iron Horse Extreme): 21:12

2 – Amy Baron-Hall (trio25.blogspot.com): 26:21

USE Men’s Solo Category

1 – Frans Claes (Connection Granville): 16:59

2 – Ryan Bevis (RAM Bikes): 17:31

3 – Andy Barlow (Whyte Bikes): 17:37

USE Veteran Women’s Solo Category

1 – Mary-Rose Cross Anne Dickins (Cloud 9 Trails): 26:46

2 – Anne Dickins (Cloud 9 Trails): 28:37

USE Veteran Men’s Solo Category

1 – Steve Heading (Whyte Bikes): 18:54

2 – Graham Kerry (BAD CC): 19:43

3 – Bryan Singleton (Ride On/Buff): 20:21

High5 Mixed Category

1 – David Evans & Lily Mathews (Team 8): 20:13

2 – Meggie Bichard & Ed Kerly (Team Chance): 20:18

3 – Paul Hoogenboom & Alieke Griffeon (Peptiplus-Bikezone): 22:23

Ergon Veteran Men’s Category

1 – Simon Jepheart & Gary Cousins (phasenineclothing.co.uk): 21:29

2 – Carl Hutchings & Stuart Lockear (London Phoenix Vets): 21:51

3 – David Wood & Tom Jones (Team Dysynni): 24:03

Buff Female Category

1 – Irene Lachner & Alice Lund: 31:22

Gore Bike Wear Male Category

1 – Ifan Richards & Richard Purt (Revolution Bikes RT): 19:26

2 – Steven Franzoni & Craig Sterrett (Outdoor Escape): 19:33

3 – Ben Jones & Andy Jones (Clee Cycles / KCNC): 20:08

Niner Singlespeed Category

1 –Henry Richard Lansdown (Bike Shed Wales): 19:32

2 – Matt Carr (69er Collective): 19:49

OVERALL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER SPECIAL STAGE TWO

USE Women’s Solo Category

1 – Fi Spotswood (Iron Horse Extreme): 11:46:30

2 – Katrina Brown (Deeside Total Endurance): 11:47:53

3 – Amy Baron-Hall (trio25.blogspot.com): 11:59:14

USE Men’s Solo Category

1 – Ryan Bevis (RAM Bikes): 11:37:28

2 – Frans Claes (Connection Granville):11:37:50

3 – Andy Barlow (Whyte Bikes): 11:37:53

USE Veteran Women’s Solo Category

1 – Mary-Rose Cross Anne Dickins (Cloud 9 Trails): 12:00:30

2 – Anne Dickins (Cloud 9 Trails): 12:00:51

3 – Kim Williams: 12:08:22

USE Veteran Men’s Solo Category

1 – Steve Heading (Whyte Bikes): 11:40:31

2 – Graham Kerry (BAD CC): 11:41:57

3 – Bryan Singleton (Ride On/Buff): 11:43:45

High5 Mixed Category

1 – Meggie Bichard & Ed Kerly (Team Chance): 11:43:42

2 – David Evans & Lily Mathews (Team 8): 11:44:06

3 – Paul Hoogenboom & Alieke Griffeon (Peptiplus-Bikezone): 11:51:40

Ergon Veteran Men’s Category

1 – Carl Hutchings & Stuart Lockear (London Phoenix Vets): 11:46:48

2 – Simon Jepheart & Gary Cousins (phasenineclothing.co.uk): 11:47:01

3 – Enrico Pizzorni & Marco Zanetta (Ruotequadre Italy): 11:53:06

Buff Female Category

1 – Irene Lachner & Alice Lund: 12:05:07

Gore Bike Wear Male Category

1 – Ifan Richards & Richard Purt (Revolution Bikes RT): 11:42:03

2 – Steven Franzoni & Craig Sterrett (Outdoor Escape): 11:42:32

3 – Ben Jones & Andy Jones (Clee Cycles / KCNC): 11:43:42

Niner Singlespeed Category

1 –Henry Richard Lansdown (Bike Shed Wales): 11:42:33

2 – Matt Carr (69er Collective): 11:42:34

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