Monday, 15 April 2013
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
Welsh XC MTB Series - round 3 practice
I am looking to set up a chance to go and practice the course for the next round which is in Builth Wells on Sunday 21st April.
I have spoken to Matt Page and he is available to lead a group around on the Saturday afternoon before the race - I suggest that we meet at 12pm. If you are interested please let me know ASAP on carwyn.towyriders@gmail.com
I have spoken to Matt Page and he is available to lead a group around on the Saturday afternoon before the race - I suggest that we meet at 12pm. If you are interested please let me know ASAP on carwyn.towyriders@gmail.com
Friday, 22 March 2013
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Savoury Ride Snacks...
I recently discovered from a friend of mine a fantastic recipe and method for a savoury ride snack. The idea came originally from Garmin-Slipstream's team
physiologist, Dr. Allen Lim. So, if it's good enough for a Pro Team then it's got to be good. Besides, I just fancied a change from the usual oat Flapjacks and the energy bars that I usually consume whilst on a long ride. They taste great and I've had no issues with digestion on a ride following consumption.
Ingredients (for 9x9 tin)
2-3 x fresh eggs.
1 x (dry) cup sushi rice (approx 200g)
3 x slices bacon.
2 tbs Soy sauce.
Parmesan cheese (Optional).
Salt to taste (Optional).
Method
1. Scramble and cook eggs in frying pan, breaking them up thoroughly into small pieces then set aside.
2. Thoroughly clean through the rice with water. Cook the rice according to directions (Only use Sushi rice otherwise the cakes won’t hold together). I found that the Sushi Rice I made took approx 30 mins to cook. For the 200g of rice I used approx 300ml of water (there was no requirement to drain the rice as the water gets fully absorbed).
3. Fry bacon or pancetta in frying pan over a medium heat until done (thin-sliced pancetta crisps up very quickly, so watch it carefully) – if using bacon, blot thoroughly on paper towels.
4. Crumble pancetta or bacon into small pieces and fold into rice along with eggs. Add soy and parmesan to taste.
5. Transfer to a shallow baking pan (9×9) and, using a spatula, firmly press down on mixture. As an option I transferred the pan to the grill just to brown off the top which then provides a nice crisp texture. Let cool, cut into bars sized portions to slip into a jersey pocket and wrap in foil. Refrigerate.
Start with smaller batches like this until you know how many cakes you can eat in a few days of riding. It's best to consume within 3/4 days!!
VARIATIONS: Try omitting the bacon and cheese and creating a “sweet” rice cake using honey or fruit jam instead of soy sauce. Experiment, have fun.
Ingredients (for 9x9 tin)
2-3 x fresh eggs.
1 x (dry) cup sushi rice (approx 200g)
3 x slices bacon.
2 tbs Soy sauce.
Parmesan cheese (Optional).
Salt to taste (Optional).
Method
1. Scramble and cook eggs in frying pan, breaking them up thoroughly into small pieces then set aside.
2. Thoroughly clean through the rice with water. Cook the rice according to directions (Only use Sushi rice otherwise the cakes won’t hold together). I found that the Sushi Rice I made took approx 30 mins to cook. For the 200g of rice I used approx 300ml of water (there was no requirement to drain the rice as the water gets fully absorbed).
3. Fry bacon or pancetta in frying pan over a medium heat until done (thin-sliced pancetta crisps up very quickly, so watch it carefully) – if using bacon, blot thoroughly on paper towels.
4. Crumble pancetta or bacon into small pieces and fold into rice along with eggs. Add soy and parmesan to taste.
5. Transfer to a shallow baking pan (9×9) and, using a spatula, firmly press down on mixture. As an option I transferred the pan to the grill just to brown off the top which then provides a nice crisp texture. Let cool, cut into bars sized portions to slip into a jersey pocket and wrap in foil. Refrigerate.
Start with smaller batches like this until you know how many cakes you can eat in a few days of riding. It's best to consume within 3/4 days!!
VARIATIONS: Try omitting the bacon and cheese and creating a “sweet” rice cake using honey or fruit jam instead of soy sauce. Experiment, have fun.
Sunday, 3 March 2013
WMTB – round 2 at Coed Y Brenin.
Coed y Brenin visitor centre (old site) hosted the second round of the Welsh MTB league and again Towy Riders/TRCC were well represented in all of the categories. Once again racing commenced with the under 8’s, followed by the under 10’s and then the under 12’s, who raced the lower section of the technically stony and rooty course.
To all that have never been to Coed Y Brenin, it was the first forest to be developed for the sport of mountain biking and to this day retains its reputation as the sports premier location – therefore the course was guaranteed to be not for the faint hearted. It was truly MTB racing at its best. This was especially true for the under 8 and 10 course which saw them race on a proper mountain biking course – not like the cyclocross course that was in Margam a few weeks ago.
In the under 8’s we saw Garan, Freya and Cian battle with a very testing course with a podium position going to Garan as 3rd boy whilst Freya and Cian battled on for 5th placed girl and 8th placed boy respectively.
For the under 10’s Heledd was the only Towy Rider to brave the trip up to Coed y Brenin and came away with a well deserved 2nd place.
In the under 12 year category there was again only one brave Towy Rider, Iwan Evans, who battled the bigger and tougher under 12’s course and secured a podium position with his 3rd place finish in a very well fought contest.
Youth and Juvenile riders set off at the usual time of 11 o’clock accompanied with the women, sport male, veterans and grand vet racers, all tackling the full gruesome and extremely technical full course, with its rocks, stony descents and challenging drop offs.
Wayne Davies and Wayne Jones took 13th and 17th place respectively in the veteran category with Craig Godfrey in 10th position in the Sport category.
Nicholas Jones finished in 3rd position in the Youth category with Tanwen completing the course in 3rd position of the Youth girls.
For the Juvenile girls category Jessica, in another outstanding race took the 1st position.
For the junior boys Carwyn Davies and Geraint Godfrey raced hard and fast to complete the race in 4th and 6th positions respectively.
Overall – a great day of demanding racing and no mud in sight. Got to be a first for me. All we need now is to get some of our ladies out racing MTB and we will be represented in all categories.
To all that have never been to Coed Y Brenin, it was the first forest to be developed for the sport of mountain biking and to this day retains its reputation as the sports premier location – therefore the course was guaranteed to be not for the faint hearted. It was truly MTB racing at its best. This was especially true for the under 8 and 10 course which saw them race on a proper mountain biking course – not like the cyclocross course that was in Margam a few weeks ago.
In the under 8’s we saw Garan, Freya and Cian battle with a very testing course with a podium position going to Garan as 3rd boy whilst Freya and Cian battled on for 5th placed girl and 8th placed boy respectively.
For the under 10’s Heledd was the only Towy Rider to brave the trip up to Coed y Brenin and came away with a well deserved 2nd place.
In the under 12 year category there was again only one brave Towy Rider, Iwan Evans, who battled the bigger and tougher under 12’s course and secured a podium position with his 3rd place finish in a very well fought contest.
Youth and Juvenile riders set off at the usual time of 11 o’clock accompanied with the women, sport male, veterans and grand vet racers, all tackling the full gruesome and extremely technical full course, with its rocks, stony descents and challenging drop offs.
Wayne Davies and Wayne Jones took 13th and 17th place respectively in the veteran category with Craig Godfrey in 10th position in the Sport category.
Nicholas Jones finished in 3rd position in the Youth category with Tanwen completing the course in 3rd position of the Youth girls.
For the Juvenile girls category Jessica, in another outstanding race took the 1st position.
For the junior boys Carwyn Davies and Geraint Godfrey raced hard and fast to complete the race in 4th and 6th positions respectively.
Overall – a great day of demanding racing and no mud in sight. Got to be a first for me. All we need now is to get some of our ladies out racing MTB and we will be represented in all categories.
Monday, 18 February 2013
2013 Welsh MTB Series – round 1 at Margam Park – Port Talbot.
By Lee-Michelle Jones
The 2013 Welsh Mountain Bike Series got under way this weekend
at Margam Park on verywet and blustery welsh winters day.Racing started at 09.30 with the under 8’s, followed by the
under 10’s and under 12’s battling on the lower section of the muddy, and very
technical course.Garan Jones and Freya took second boy and girl in the under 8’s
with a steady and controlled race, while Cian put in his usual gutsy skillful
performance.
In the under 10’s Gruffydd Daniel raced his way to complete his
first WMTB race with a solid performance and is now looking forward to the next
battle of the series. In the under 12’s, Iwan Evans, Cian Roberts, Iwan Godfrey, Adam Thorne & Tom Butterworth all braved the blistery rain and mud to battle the longer lower section of the
course to gain 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th & 13th respectively.
Racing started for the longer course riders at 11am – with the
women, vets and gran-vet riders braving the 3.5kms muddy swamp. As the course
preview stated … there were some muddy wet areas but overall the course was
riding well. As a spectator, there were a number of “over the handle bar falls”
and looking at the state of the competitors – it was clearly mud, sweat and
tears!! Clearly a tough course physically with little way of rest and certainly
with some muddy challenges!
In the veteran race both Wayne Davies and Wayne Jones battled
the mud well to complete in 14th and 16th positions
respectively. In a spectacular race, Nick took the youth A win completing a
speedy second fastest first lap of the race on the full course, with Matt
Thorne finishing in 10th position. Both boys met the mud well
following “over the handle bar” falls and still came out smiling. Hefin also
braved the full course in the youth A category but sadly retired following a
puncture.
In the juvenile male, Ioan Thomas also had to retire due to a
mechanical problem soon after the start, so will eagerly await the next round.
In the Youth A female category, Ffion James from Abergavenny
took the overall win, with our own Tanwen coming in second position with an
outstanding ride knee deep in mud, sweat and smiles.
In the second race of the day, which started at 1pm – we saw the
junior racers battle the mud with Carwyn Davies completing the challenge in a
respectable 5th position and Geraint Godfrey taking a superb 9th.
There were clearly some serious challenges out there today, with
the rain, mud and the challenges did not stop there. For I am sure some washing
machines also braved the onslaught, cleaning the kit ready for the next round
of the WMTB series.
All Photos : Courtesy of Craig Fawkes (Follow this link to view more)
All Photos : Courtesy of Craig Fawkes (Follow this link to view more)
Thursday, 14 February 2013
MTB racing - A young riders view!!
By Matthew Thorne
The weather was as usual wet, cold and windy and signing on may as well have been in a different country! It was so far away from the car and the marathon of a walk was made twice as bad by the fact the road leading up to it had more water on it than concrete! Resulting in people and bikes dodging about the whole length of it. Enough of the moaning for now! The racing was fantastic and the atmosphere was great considering the amount of mud and water that seemed to get absolutely everywhere! The course was very muddy which made it a lot more technical to ride. On the first lap, before the field had spread, it was just a line
of riders strung out on the first climb up the singletrack. The first bit of
technical descent was a straight rocky section which wasn't particularly steep
but had enough loose rocks to give you something to think about! Having the
bonus of a full suspension MTB with powerful brakes is that there's no need to brake
too early, but obviously the spectators standing at the bottom of the descent didn't know that when they all scrambled to the sides with a look of shock on their faces - when I started screaming at the bloke in front who decided he wanted to stop and walk the last bit! The last sections of the course was just mud, mud and you guessed it, more mud!! On the first lap a rider came flying face first past my shoulder and straight into a wet, gooey puddle of mud and I laughed, probably loud enough for him to hear (ooopsy)!! But Karma got me back on my second lap as I suffered the same fate as he had and went straight over the bars and got a face full of dirt! overall a fantastic race!!!!!
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