Tour of Pembrokeshire Cyclosportif - 7th June 2009
Report by Peter Munn
As per usual on events I enter it was raining heavily for the start with forecast fine weather at about the scheduled finish time. Of course the week prior had been wall to wall sunshine so making it doubly frustrating. Karen did try her hardest for us to forget about the whole thing but foolishly I insisted that we should go through with it, it would be good character building. Yeah right….
At least making our way to the start we saw loads of early starters and on arrival were greeted by a group of tri club members. Too late to drop out now so our group of Ellie, Ian C, Dr. Dick, Elspeth, Ian Hipkins, Claire Williams, Dazza and ourselves set off and it was raining profusely. I decided to take the lead early obviously being selfish as it meant less tyre spray but that lasted all of 4 minutes until the first hill when nigh on all our group screamed past me. It was dodgy on the down hills with lots of care being shown and for the first of many times I thought that the 115 milers must be on a hypothermia mission, they’re nutters.
Did not really know the first 15 miles so it was quite challenging with lots of undulations and it was here we came across the cruellest sign……40 miles to go. That really cheered me up but at least it had stopped raining and was actually quite pleasant. The roads were rough though and whilst on my drops going over a series of pot holes my handle bars decided to loosen and swing forward. I thought I could make it to Newgale as I’d recently passed 2 guys who had called the mechanics so knew it would be a long wait. It got steadily worst until I had to stop at Roch as the allen bolts were very loose. I was faffing around with my phone when this old gent appeared at his doorway. I shouted over asking if he had any allen keys when Kazzam he produced a full set and before you could say ‘Folly Farm’ I was on my way with only 10 minutes lost.
The rest of the ride ranged from pleasant to murderous with shoulders and neck aching heavily not to mention my thighs and calves which went through various stages of terminology I cannot repeat on a family forum.
Karen pushed the pace from Pembroke and we overtook quite a few although it was a hell of a last 5 miles, but it was such a relief and joyous moment when the finish loomed. The soup hit the spot and what superb value the massage was. If I’d had another fiver handy I’d have gone in for another go. Everyone looked well and the results were coming through fast with some impressive times from club members. I even managed to get on the podium with a bronze, mind you I would have to have been a 78 year old woman to get a gold with my time!! There was a glitch for 45 mins with the timer so if I have missed you or your time tough.
The event was brilliant with excellent organisation. Great venue, excellent signage, foodstops and I would highly recommend the short (Ed - er!) route.
Results for Club members
64 mile route
| Name | TIme | Award |
| Luke Cornish | 3.55.53 | Gold |
| Darren Evans | 4.17.01 | Silver |
| Ian Cooper | 4.18.25 | Silver |
| Elspeth Thompson | 4.23.58 | Silver |
| Richard Thompson | 4.24.00 | Bronze |
| Ellie Jones | 4.27.56 | Silver |
| Alex Dempster | 4.32.10 | Bronze |
| Malcolm Clash | 4.35.25 | Silver |
| Julia Hill | 4.36.55 | Silver |
| Karen Corcoran | 4.39.22 | Silver |
| Peter Munn | 4.39.23 | Bronze |
| Ceri Jones | 4.59.01 | Bronze |
| Ian Hipkins | 5.00.00 approx | |
| Rhodri Phillips | 6.13.20 | |
| Roger Caygill | 6.36.36 | |
| Jane Stubbs | timing fault |
115 mile route
| Name | TIme | Award |
| Rhiannon Ace | 8.02.43 | Silver |
| Alex Ilyat | 9.04.39 | Bronze |
| David Astins | 9.04.43 | Bronze |
| Steve Pryke | 9.04.43 | Bronze |
| Nicola Mills | 9.08.45 | Silver |
| Mark Jones | DNF |
If I have missed anyone off please let me know!