WELSH NATIONAL 25 CHAMPS - Usk - Monmouth - 15th August 2021

 9th Overall; 5th Vet; 1st Age (Welsh Gold) 🙄

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Not one of the best known rivers, but the Usk, a renowned salmon river, has its estuary at Newport (into the Severn) flows through Abergavenny, the Brecon Beacons, including Brecon and has its source near Llandovery in the Black Mountains….and of course meandering through my base for the weekend, yet another idyllic setting in the small town of Usk itself….known as the “Town of Flowers”, winning the ‘Wales in Bloom’ title multiple times, also renowned for the historic arch stone bridge and castle (but I won’t mention the prison!)…..anyhow, a lovely place…add it to your staycation list 😊

And as it happens, the start of the Welsh National 25m TT Champs….with a flying 12 mile tailwind down to Monmouth but the inevitable ‘wall of wind’ on return….hitting halfway at well over 31mph average (50 kph) - optimistic for a for ‘sub 50 min’ finish (30mph), but on return agonisingly watched that average speed slowly but surely dissipate 😩hitting the chequered flag at 29.8 mph avg….equating to 50m 41secs - not bad, but I drove home a tad miffed with misen’ - anyhow 9th overall, target was top 10…I can’t complain, much….and some age related award, but of course, I don’t do those 😉

Must mention though Tom Ward again, the 27 year old won in a new course record of sub 46 mins, be interesting what he could do on one of the super fast courses….in fact a few of us reflected on how standards inevitably have rocketed in the last 10 years with the sudden popularity of cycling, but also it is noticeable how Covid bizarrely has taken it to another level, where group participation sports have been generally restricted, TT became the only competitive option, suddenly we have new ‘names’ smashing out super performances, often young guys who would normally road race, but also current pros stretching their legs but also including participants from other sports, such as triathlon.

All healthy and rosy for the sport of course, but not healthy for my (now official) national ranking, hitting the dizzy heights of an A7 (A to E, 1 to 20) in 2019, but now an A14 but racing no slower, clearly illustrating that increased strength in depth at the sharp end…💪