On Friday 3rd August Maindy Flyers made their annual pilgrimage to North Wales for the TYWYN NATIONAL CRITERIUM CHAMPIONSHIPS and this year their trip was turned into a real fun/training camp as they were busy on the Sunday at THE BRITISH SCHOOLS CYCLING ASSOCIATION MOUNTAIN BIKE CHAMPIONSHIPS AT COED-Y-ARIAN; read all about the five glorious days in this report from their chairman Alan Haycox.

Fresh and enthused from their experiences at the TDF London Grand Depart, Maindy Flyers sent representation to Tywyn for what is rapidly becoming a festival of cycling. An advance party was despatched on Thursday, to claim territory that would be the team camp for Maindy Flyers for five days. The Ynysmaengwyn camp site is about a mile north of Tywyn and is run by Rita Blunden of Dysinni Cycling Club, www.dysynnicc.com Rita and her team always go out of their way to make us welcome and this year they added a barbeque and quiz to the itinerary of events as well as inviting us to ride their club 10 mile time trial on the Tuesday evening.

Some of us were housed in caravans but many ‘roughed it’ in tents. Roughing it is far from what we actually do as year on year a competition has ensued to see who can bring the biggest tent and/or most luxurious camping accessories. This all came about after a certain family arrived with a tent that resembled an aircraft hanger and according to the label, slept 8 persons, the fact that there were only four of them, added weight to the suggestion that they were showing off. Ashamedly the Maindy Flyers Chairman; yours truly, felt a bit outdone; after all surely the chairman should have been afforded a less humble abode than most committee members. There has been much prediction as to where it will all end and the whole debacle has been the source of many laughs; these are best enjoyed when a suitably sized audience are gathered. Last week I’d been outdone by the rival family who in addition to their tent of hanger sized proportions had also invested in a large gazebo (totally unnecessary as far as I’m concerned as these gazebos are both as cheap and tacky as the Garden Gnome and the Welcome to Chez Barker sign that adorns the tradesmen’s entrance at the rear of their tent/hanger).
One evening when the time was right I asked the question: “Has anyone got a good torch?” a few exclaimed things such as “hang on I’ll get mine” and “I’ve got a big one” but here was my chance, a chance at last to show this lot that I meant business, the chance to show them why my offspring are not using top grade components on their bikes. I made my way through the not inconsiderable annex and towards the back sleeping quarters of my tent, I picked up my two million candle powered ‘Search-Light’ which I had bought from ‘Focus’ and made my way through the dining area and annex towards the main entrance. The light is all of 8 inches in diameter and according to the instructions the beam should not be aimed at anyone as it gets very hot. The weapon had been charged on a ‘hook-up’ all through the day. I’ve heard that the light attached to the South Wales Copper Chopper can melt the road surface if switched on before take-off so being the responsible person I am and not wanting to scorch a hole through my rival families tent, I carefully pointed the lens towards the sky so that it didn’t damage anything and pulled the lever to unleash the ‘laser’. To my horror, the light came on faintly for just a split second before totally fading and leaving me wishing I’d spent the money on a not so tacky after all gazebo.

Last year we met up with members of Mossley Cycling Club who are based in and around Manchester, they had only brought 1 young rider but they were so impressed when they saw the fun that the Maindy Flyers had, they promised us some more competition as they would be bringing more riders next time. True to their word they turned up with 10 this year.

The Tywyn Criterium Races took place on the Saturday afternoon, starting with a short and very low key fun race for beginners, suitable for anyone including those only just able to ride without stabilisers. The course is well marshalled and appropriately lined with barriers and where necessary straw bales. The start and finish is beneath a scaffold construction on the promenade and the route takes riders out around a housing estate and back into the town to rejoin the promenade. There is a commentator to add to the atmosphere and give an accurate account of how the race is going way before the general public get sight of them entering the home straight.

With about an hour before the scheduled start of the first race Team Maindy left Ynysmaengwyn accompanied by many grown ups, for some of the young riders this was the first time they had ridden the road into Tywyn, for others it was ‘old hat’ as they had got the t-shirt been there seen it and done it three or four times already. As we got nearer the town the pavements became more densely lined with people, many of which were making their way to their favourite viewing point. It must make Coach Alan Davis very proud to see all the spectators watching his charges riding in the well known blue and yellow kit.

Word of mouth about the success of the weekend meant that entries received had doubled on last year. The afternoon was a great experience despite the damp mist coming off the sea which got through to the skin of some of us and was then cooled by a strong breeze. As the young riders finished their races the medallists were called to the podium. Amid the applause hands were being shaken whilst others hugged and patted each others backs. It’s refreshing to see that as soon as these ‘competitive rivals’ have done battle so many of them take a few moments to show their respect to each other. The children’s play area situated right next to the start/finish gantry was a hive of activity with youngsters from many different cycling clubs all enjoying meeting some new faces. It’s amazing to see how many can you get onto a roundabout? The cafeteria in the grounds of the play area must have done very well as did ‘The Buccaneer’ just a short walk away, from where burgers and hot-dogs, teas and coffees were being brought to the side of the course.

Maindy Flyers had two in the Under 8 race Josh Hinchley and Grace Bennion who managed 5th and 8th places. Then 17 riders lined up for the Under 10 race and the flyers saturated things; with the podium steps being filled by Emily Haycox, Harry Lock and Amy Hichley, we took 5th through Megan Barker, 6th was Nathan Llewellyn, 8th Jack Broadley (or Jock Bradley as the commentator announced him). 13th was Ffion Llewellyn, 14th Bethan Manley and 16th Rebecca Ball.
Robbie Westwood had the Under 12 race sewn up when entries closed and of the others Geraint Manley made sure he didn’t chase down his team mate and followed him home in fourth place, just ahead of Taylor Preece who took a highly creditable 6th with Martyn Merridew and Rowan Miller being the other flyers to complete.
The Under 14’s was far more competitive with the first three placed being from New Brighton C C who worked well as a team to hold off Maindy’s Elinor Barker who took 4th just ahead of former Maindy Flyer now M & D Cycles/Specialized Jack Llewellyn. It was good to see some ‘old friends’ such as John and Tina Holt with their lads Adam and Joe, formerly with Bynea C C they moved to North Wales and they’re now with Energy Cycles.

The Under 16’s saw our former member Peter Merridew (now Cardiff Jiff) who has struggled with an injuries ride a gutsy race to take 2nd behind Sam Harrison of Cwmcarn Paragon Road Club.
Sprinter Rebecca James of the Pinerello Racing Team looked at one point as though Maindy’s Ruby Miller had got too far ahead of her but with nobody else prepared to do a tap at the front the pace eased and the gap between them closed in time for James to recover and take 5th leaving Miller in 8th place. Other friends to note are Ruby Ellis now with Bristol Cycling Development Squad who came in 11th and Oliver Drake who only took up cycling a few months ago finishing 12th. Oli is a member of Cardiff Ajax.

Former Maindy Flyer and now Cardiff Ajax rider Michael Webb rode a splendid race in the E/1/2/3 category event; Michael found himself one of three who got away from the bunch quite early on and despite being so much younger than the other two he took second place behind David Bees Forza Cycles with Liam Demery of Bush Health Care in third and many experienced riders behind him. Young Webb is certainly one to watch and yet another ex Maindy Flyer we’re all proud of.

The 3rd and 4th category race was a pleasure to watch with young Sam Harrison who had already won the Under 16 race; battling it out at the front. Young Harrison was by far the youngest rider in the field of 10 and had he not already raced would probably have beaten Dave Robson of Yasumitsu Shlapp who narrowly deprived Sam of his second win of the afternoon.

Sunday 5th August 2007 started with bright sunshine from daybreak and after a good breakfast everyone made their way inland and towards Nant-Y-Arian Mountain, famous for its Red Kite feeding area. This dramatic spot was the venue for the Welsh Schools Cycling Association Mountain Bike Championships. Many of those who had decided not to take part in the Mountain Bike Races set off to ride the 45 miles from the camp site to Nant-Y-Arian, much of the route is undulating and there is a particularly arduous climb that starts at the foot of Nant-Y-Arian and goes on for about 5 miles. Taylor Preece was identified as a boy with a future after staying on his bike getting into a rhythm and riding all the way to the top. Young Preece has only been riding a little over a year and is another we can expect to see on the podium after a good winters training. Of others to note; there were great rides from Taylors’ father, Geraint as well as young Cardiff Ajax rider Tom Ashworth who had not been able to ride the criterium race around Tywyn, having succumbed to a bought of ‘Tonsillitis’, however after a good nights sleep Tom appeared to enjoy the scenery along the way. Tom’s father Martin; a member of Cardiff Byways also rode and forced the pace on the front for well over 30 miles. It’s my understanding that he paid the price and didn’t relish the climb to Nant-Y-Arian.
The riders once at the top were greeted by the remainder of the group and were lucky to be handed cups of tea. I use the term ‘lucky’ as although we’d thought to take the Maindy Flyers Club Camping Stove, we’d omitted to take the kettle and ended up borrowing a saucepan from another outfit.

Well here at the top the mountain gave our “Off Road” specialists a chance to shine and from Maindy Flyers there were wins from Nathan Llewellyn and his sister Bethan Llewellyn, older brother Jack was plagued with technical problems after crashing very early in his race. Emily Haycox was deprived of pulling off two wins in two days after being baulked at the start and getting stuck in ‘the traffic jam’ that ensued. Abergavenny rider Ffion James took full advantage and rode away to win without ever being troubled by another rider. The afternoon brought continuous fantastic weather and a chance for everyone to sit and watch whilst enjoying the rare site of Red Kites flying above and below the level of the elevated visitor centre.

The following day; arrangements had been made to get as many as possible out on bikes for a road ride to suit their capabilities. Two separate rides went ahead and both met up at a café way up in Snowdonia. The riders enjoyed light refreshments before setting off again around the lanes that took us past picturesque lakes and mountains.
Maindy (Parents) Flyers are never shy of a bit of competition and true to form the ride back degenerated into a bit of a burn-up. The ‘Steady Group’ consisted of Coach Alan Davis, Elinor Barker, Megan Barker, Graham Barker, Justin Merridew, Martyn Merridew, Taylor Preece, Rowan Miller, Ruby Miller, Emily Haycox and yours truly; her fat father. The group turned at the predetermined point and started back at a comfortable pace. Word spread that as soon as the ‘quicker group’ went past the other way, we were to start ‘chain ganging’ and give them something to chase.
I can only presume this instruction was misinterpreted as “When the other lot go past wait till they’ve gone out of sight and then ride like Beelzebub himself is after you”.
Going through and off wherever we could we eased off the gas about 2 miles from the camp site, you could be forgiven for thinking fancy having all that lactic acid in your muscles with just two miles to go but that’s not the case: We weren’t going straight back to Ynysmaengwyn, for between the camp site and Twywn is an ‘Ice Cream Factory’ and that was the finishing point.
The quicker group caught sight of us with less than three quarters of a mile to go and the shout went up, they could be heard getting closer and closer and as the first few of our group neared the entrance to the ice cream factory the game was up.

With close on 40 bikes stacked in the car park, the riders made their way into the factory shop, where their chairman had already taken up his place at the front and was ordering his ice cream.

Eventually after much struggling to fix enough cones together using some of my insulating tape and cable ties; the finished product was ready and I handed over my £10 allowance which the missus had given to me prior to leaving the camp site. I was so excited at the sight of my monster sized ice cream extravaganza that I almost forgot my 1p change and on turning round to face the young riders; I was confronted with looks of disbelief as well as two children who were already crying and exclaiming that there could never be enough ice cream left for everyone to have one.

Shrugging off the situation with my usual carefree abandon, I ventured outside to sit on the wall near the huge slate triangle that formed the centre of the sun dial that was soon adorned with happy children who had been calmed by the words of the shop owner who had told them not to worry as there was plenty of ice cream now that the machines had been started up again.
The ride back to the camp site was a far steadier one as for some reason I felt a bit sick. We spent the evening at the barbeque which was held in a marquee on the camp site, this was followed by a quiz for those of us who were still awake.

Tuesday dawned and after breakfast another road ride ensued. In the afternoon bikes and tandems were prepared for the Dysinni Cycling Clubs’ 10 mile time trial. Alan Davis had already worked out who was going to ride what when and where. Michael Davis would pilot a tandem which would be stoked by Emily, stoking was nothing new to Emily as she’s pushed her dad up hills a fair few times although she’s probably never gone this fast for so little effort before. They went off first and returned to take the chequered flag in 26.50
Andrew Davis and Megan Barker had started a minute behind and they took just 59 seconds longer to complete the course. Tom Ashworth was by now looking a lot better after recovering from his sore throat and came back in 25.28 a time that proved just 27 seconds slower than the fastest and gave him the third quickest of all the rides that evening. Peter Merridew set off like a scalded cat and recorded a time of 28.01
Elinor Barkers ride was the first time she’s done a solo road time trial so her father Graham thought he’d follow her to make sure she was alright. Graham would then ride a faster time on his own. The truth of the matter was though; Elinor returned a 29.33 having only seen her dad at the turn. Graham had struggled to keep up and had to decline the chance to better his daughters’ time.
With just three minutes between finishing and setting off again (just enough time to change pedals and raise the rear seat) Micheal Davis was back up the road with Taylor Preece on the back. Andrew Davis was similarly sent packing again with Rowan Miller cadging a lift. Another pair that had only ridden a tandem into Twywn and back was Peter Merridew and Oliver Drake, after their maiden voyage they had commented on the response they had got from members of the public, especially the young ladies of Twywn who may well have thought they were on set for an episode of Little Britain.
Mike and Taylor flew the course 5 seconds faster than Mike had done with Emily and all in well under the hour. Andrew brought Rowan back in 28.08 and they were 11 seconds faster than Tom’s dad Martin. Geraint Preece who just commutes to work and back as his training did a 29.38 and was only 5 seconds behind Ruby Miller who clocked in the second 29.33 of the evening.

Peter and Oliver (Little Britain) together were 10 seconds off Ruby and Elinors’ solo efforts. Robbie Westwood recorded a 29.42 with his father in close attendance. Oliver Drake decided enough was enough and went out on his own this time to score a 30.04
Carol Miller shot round in 33.30 and Martyn Merridew beat his dad Justin by one second with a time of 35.54

At one point during the week most of us made our way to Twywn and onto the beach, I cannot remember when it was exactly and I went to sleep whilst others flew kites, played on body boards or generally did what people do at the sea side.

On Wednesday morning the sun shone again as tents were packed away and bikes loaded onto the van. As the last few items were being shoved into the van, a group consisting of Andrew and Michael Davis, Peter Merridew, Tom Ashworth, Elinor Barker, Rowan Miller, Emily Haycox and Megan Barker set off in the direction of Llanidloes, some 50 kilometres over the Cambrian Mountains. Once happy that the area we had occupied was nice and tidy, the cavalcade of support vehicles set off to follow the intrepid group of cyclists up through Happy Valley whish is a particularly beautiful part of the route. The two smaller girls were collected on the outskirts of Machynlleth and taken through the market town which was bustling with traffic and pedestrians.

Once at the other side of town they were put back on their bikes and the group was complete again. The terrain is very undulating and there was some speculation as to who would be pulled back into a car at what point. The seven riders made it all the way to Llanidloes in less than two and a half hours and were rewarded with food and drink at the aptly named Travellers Rest.
>From Llanidloes they completed their journey home by car.

If you want to know first hand what sort of time Maindy Flyers had on their North Wales training/bonding camp; just go straight up and ask them and remember Maindy Flyers is free to join and everyone is welcome. There is one thing for sure though………………… you’ll naturally get faster with Maindy Flyers.

Alan Haycox