Monday 18 March 2024

Port

 

PORTHMADOG TILL I DIE..

A great club, lovely people, great welcome aye nice words from the football family about my hometown club but  the club is facing relegation to the depressing depths  of Tier 3 – the second time in 3 years.

How has a club who were founder members of the original new all Welsh league in 1992 ended in this situation – again?

The board, management and the players must ALL take responsibility for this ridiculous situation.

Local

There is also an inherent problem with the local population of the town – Port is a footballing town – fact, the world local comes up in numerous conversations , the apathy amongst the people who deem their from the town stems from the fact that not enough local players wear the red and black striped shirt.

When I started going down the Traeth in the late 60’s early 70’s the teams were a mix of local and scousers, they were great servants with a certain Steve Woodin representing New Zealand at the 1982 world cup, how many clubs can boast that. Port were a very successful team in the 90’s, we had a manager from Penygroes  a team with a sprinkling of Port lads with lads from the Caernarfon area – there was no apathy from the locals, a successful team makes it all right and what is local, is it the town the region, district, answers on a post card.

We then had three former professional footballers as managers Mickey Thomas, Ian Edwards and Clayton Blackmore- they weren’t local.

The final hurdle

Now we find ourselves in this horrible situation, but to be honest as a team Port has done nothing for a few years with what I’d perceive very good teams, ‘always fall at the final hurdle’ was a common statement from the loyal Traeth fans. The other problem is that whenever we have a decent player they will certainly move to a club who plays at a higher level, it was Bangor City and now it’s Caernarfon Town – you can’t blame the individual for trying to better himself but sometimes you felt why didn’t you stay till season end, but that’s football.

Promise

Onto this season which promised so much when the board backed the manager 100% with six excellent singings from Llandudno and we beat Caernarfon Away in the Welsh cup - all looked good for a top 4 finish and a decent cup run – I think this is what we expect, I don’t expect us to runaway with the league or lose meekly to Buckley in the Welsh cup. There were also rumours of a dressing room bust up and one of our best players of recent times left the club and is now plying his trade at Llanrug -did these situations contribute to the disaster which has unfolded?

Clubs like Guilsfield and Ruthin manage to compete in Tier 2 so why can’t we?

WE changed managers in January and despite 2 away wins the losses have kept on coming, I’m sure the new management team at Porthmadog are as disappointed as ALL connected with the club.

Many great players and occasions have graced the Traeth, them days are a long way off, Tier 3 will be no walk in the park as clubs will see Port as a major scalp – the board and management team have a very important decision to make regarding the future of the club, at the end of the day it’s a results business.. C’mon Port. Porthmadog till I die...


Wednesday 15 July 2020

Everesting


Everesting
I’ve been cycling and have been watching the Tour de France on TV since I was a kid; I bought a Bianchi bike in 1998 and did the Etape du Tour in 2002 after my dear wife said you can’t do that!
I then did 6 days in the Alps in 2006 followed by numerous trips abroad to the Alps, Dolomites, Pyrenees and one awesome climb in Chile, thus fast forward to 2020 and a planned trip to the Dolomites was cancelled in June due to Covid19.
So months of training and many miles in the bank were going to waste until I heard of the new craze of Everesting. I did hear of it last year actually when a mate of mine said that two cyclists were cycling up and down Stwlan doing an Everest, I thought I can’t do it - no interest!

Records

But recently it was in the news with pro cyclists attempting and breaking records, I tentatively went on the Everesting website and there’s a calculator there to work out how many laps you have to do. I looked at two local climbs and mentioned to Paul French my regular cycling buddy and he replied oh I’ve thought about it and thought of Pen y Pass from Nant Gwynant lakeside.
Now to regular cyclists Pen y pass isn’t a really tough climb, it has a steep part early on and then it’s 3/4/5% until you turn for the top of the pass, again nothing to steep but a nice gradual climb, but the calculator came up x30.5 to gain 8848mts or 29,029ft.
I firstly told the wife, again she said, you’re mad you’re too old etc.... right I’ll prove you wrong again. I did some research went on the Everest facebook page, contacted some who’d done it and the overwhelming advice was take it easy and eat enough.
Whatever I attempt it’s always to finish, at my age time doesn’t bother me but I dreaded being on the bike for 26 hours or more, I did have a time in my head of 20 hours I’ll be happy and advised Paul to change our start time of 04.00 am to 02.30 to try and avoid finishing in the dark.
I contacted members of our club to ask if they fancied doing a few laps, and got my daughter on board to come to the bottom of the climb with refreshments.

Stress

So the week leading up to the event I was stressed, really y stressed... I managed to buy all I needed, power pack to charge the Wahoo (GPS) plenty of water, food, lights, I did 30 minutes light spinning on the turbo on the Wed , this was after a tough 100 miler the Sunday before with nearly 8000 ft of elevation.
I stayed away from the climb leading up to the challenge, I’ve climbed it enough to know it well, it’s approx 3.8 miles and then I realised that to do the 30.5 laps would be near 240 miles.... oh dear, I did the Mark Cavendish sportive a few years ago which took me about 10 hours with over 10,000 ft of elevation but this was a serious challenge and I knew it.
I’ve cycled with Paul for many years and will admit for many of them years he’s been stronger than me, but even he was out of his comfort zone as he rarely does big mileage. We have a laugh but we’re pretty much on the same level.
So 18.00 Fri night I went to bed after preparing everything , I went to sleep at 19.00, well there was no sleep, I just tossed and turned until 01.00 am until I couldn’t take anymore, stress eh.....
I had told Paul. I’m taking it easy; I’m keeping my heart rate low and we’ll stop every 6 laps. Now we usually go up this climb on average about 21 minutes, and descend in less than ten, Paul had said we’ll do two an hour, too optimistic I said, I said we’ll be slower as the day progresses. 

Weather

I ‘d been checking the weather all week and it looked good but there was a concern of serious traffic on the climb as travel restrictions into Wales had been lifted, also both of us had never ridden in the dark. We started at 02.24 and as expected took about 26 minutes up and about 13 down in the dark, even though it was dark it was warm and clear and we actually enjoyed it, the whole road to ourselves although whilst descending disaster nearly happened when Paul just missed colliding with a badger, We could see the lights of the hostel at the top of the pass whilst climbing which was some sort of target and by 04.00 it was nearly light- it truly was awesome.
Daylight came and we were making ok progress, members and friends came along to do some laps, we got 10 out of the way then halfway 15. I was on the Storck bike which has a triple and I had been in the middle ring of 39, thus for the rest of the challenge I went down to the smaller ring of 30 which was comfortable to say the least. There was one part of the climb which the sun was shining on and I felt hot and vowed to take the coat I started with off. We finished the 17th and the sight of seeing my daughter; son and grandson cheered me up no end and certainly gave me a boost to do the next three with no stops.
So we hit 20, and I knew that I’d finish although by now the calculator in my head was telling me we would be cycling in the dark. I had a bad patch on laps 24/5 due to the food etc I’d ingested, I felt bloated and wanted to puke. I came over it. Our climb now was averaging 30 minutes - it never went to 31, a late helper commented that we looked good and were climbing ok, I was descending faster due to knowing we weren’t far from the end and I wanted to limit the amount of night cycling.  We came down the 27th and my wife and daughter and other grandson were there. I gave her the bad news, we had another 3.5 to go, I’d also insisted no way we were going to the top to do 31, and we were just going far enough up the climb to cover the 29029 ft we needed. 

The end is nigh

By now it was 22.20, it was dark and colder, the descents were very cold. Also by now I wasn’t eating , somehow I didn’t want to and I must have take enough on board to keep me going, but I was drinking a bottle of water with a zero tablet every climb. Climbs 28,29 and 30 went ok, I was climbing better, my speed was up a couple of mph more due to again seeing  the family and wanting to finish, I was even pushing the last part of the climb. Knowing there was no way I was going to blow up. We stopped after 30, brief chat and after some friendly arguing decided on the ice cream van lay by to finish, it would be sufficient, there were vehicles parked there for the night as well as my family, it was emotional to finish, Paul and myself exchanged words to say well done to each other, I came off the bike hugged the family and sunk a bottle of beer – it was sweet.
I was actually glad to finish, but was in effect ok, I did think that I  couldn’t walk  etc, but the back pain went, the knee pain lasted for a couple of days and my backside is still sore a few days later.
Would I do it again – no, ha ha famous last words, but it has given me the boost that I can do longish rides and possibly different challenges in the future.

Pennies

A good anecdote is that Paul decided to keep count of his laps by throwing a penny on the floor at each summit; he had a bag with 31, so I was always descending before him, whilst throwing one of his coins he saw someone actually collecting the other pennies and keep them!


Food/drink 

16+bottles of water (with high5 zero tablet)
4 diet coke
1full coke
1 Birra Moretti
Many jam sandwiches
Box of fig rolls
4bananas
Rice cakes
Jelly babies
A few hob knobs
2 Tuna salad rolls
Packet of crisps
Oranges 
Jordans cereal bars
10+gels

Last but not least  - thanks to all who assisted on the day.

Sunday 2 February 2020

Porthmadog till I die



PORTHMADOG TILL I DIE...
I first started going the Traeth in the early seventies to watch my local side Porthmadog play. I’m sure some league clubs  played  us in pre season friendlies. There were certainly big crowds there and it was my first taste of live football. I then went to Hereford whilst still in school (English clubs participated in the Welsh cup then) for a Welsh cup tie in 1974. Coincidentally it was where I saw my first Chelsea match in 1977. A certain brother of mine didn’t attend the Welsh cup tie due to misdemeanours in school!
Scousers
The club at that time played in the Welsh league with a team mainly made of scousers and a sprinkling of locals, there were no issues with they’re not local back then. I also remember trips to Flint, Connah’s Quay and Holyhead until I was old enough to venture to Pwllheli which was always troublesome for us as the locals weren’t friendly. I then started to follow my team Chelsea and Wales regularly but would always ask be nath Port – what did Port do.
The '50s, '60s and '70s were highly successful decades for the club. The Welsh Amateur Cup was won in 1955/56 and 1956/57. The arrival of the great John Charles‘s brother Mel heralded more success. Port was league champions in three successive seasons between 1966 and 1969. Also in 1966, they played against Swansea in the Welsh Cup at the Vetch, before a crowd of 10,941. The 1989/90 saw us win the league and we became inaugural members of League of Wales in 1992. We finished 9th in the first season thanks to free scoring striker Dave Taylor.
Locals
 When we were relegated from the WPL for the 2nd time due league reorganisation in 2009/10, who’d have thought that we would now be staring at the 3rd tier. Also if I’m right the rise of a successful Bala town meant that players would move there instead of the Traeth, and if we had a decent player Bangor would come calling. The great days of Meilir Owens’s team which was deemed to be full of locals have long gone. What is local though, some of these players were from the Llanberis area is that local to Port? But boy did they play for the shirt
.
Next season this famous club in Welsh football circles could be plying their trade in the 3rd tier/pyramid of Welsh football – a disaster. How has this come about? I have questioned the boards seemingly lack of ambition of gaining promotion to the Welsh Premier League on numerous occasions. It seemed like a closed shop to get a fans voice on the board. The former secretary basically told me it was painters we needed not fan groups, I was shot down by numerous fans etc for merely having the audacity of questioning the clubs direction  - or lack of it. With hindsight possibly the committee were right on not to over invest on the squad etc, but with having a team capable of finishing in the top half but always failing in an important league or cup game it was frustrating.
Domestic license
The latest problem came recently when we finished third and we all thought we can kick on from here, but there was a problem, our manger Craig Papirnyk didn’t have the required coaching license to manage in the 2nd tier, he eventually stepped down, he admitted that it was his fault for not completing the license, it was a 50/50, the club were also to blame for not reacting to this requirement or foreseeing the problem, hindsight eh.
So this season we started with a Sion Eifion Jones a young coach /manager who had the required license and Craig moved to pastures new.  New singings were brought in but the crux of the squad and team had seven or eight of last season’s regulars. Results were poor and eventually Sion was replaced with Craig back at the helm and former players returning to try and help us get out of the mire but, today we are staring relegation in the face after a 7-1 thrashing by Gresford yesterday, Craig to his credit and as always has come out and apologised, one player also did this last night on social media - only one though?
The club founded in 1884 could be playing next season in local derbies against Penrhyndeudraeth and Blaenau Ffestiniog. The season could go two ways, we could romp the league with this current squad who have underperformed ALL season, surely they owe it to us to stay and try? Or we could languish in the 3rd tier, we will be a scalp.
Good club
Wherever I go and talk football from Pwllheli to Caernarfon from Penybont to Carmarthen, Port are perceived as a great welcoming club with excellent facilities, many have told me that was the problem, as a team we were too nice especially at home. Also many manager/ coaches from Welsh Premier League clubs are astounded with the clubs position with such a talented squad.
 I hope yesterday hurt them players, if not Craig should ship them out of the club ASAP, anyway all is not lost we have 11 games to save ourselves and if we do we can’t let this happen again, will Craig stay, would he be the man to bring us back up?

Monday 1 July 2019

Cowlyd, Cymru a Llanrwst

Rwyf wedi seiclo yn Dde America, Alpau'r Eidal a Ffrainc, Y Pyrenees a'r Dolomites ond, oes nunlle fel adra nagoes.
Mae Bwlch y Groes ger Ddinas Mawddwy’n cael ei hadnabod fel y ddringfa galetach yng Nghymru gan nifer, ond yn ddiweddar mae dringfa arall ger Trefriw yn Nyffryn Conwy yn cystadlu á'r Bwlch.
Tri Llyn
Uwchben pentref Trefriw mae tri llyn sef Crafnant, Geirionyn sydd yn eithaf agos i'w gilydd ac y mwyaf Cowlyd.
Roeddwn wedi cerdded rownd y ddau lyn bach gyda'r wraig rhyw dair blynedd y nôl ac wedi sylwi ar yr elltydd serth, ond nad oeddwn yn gwybod am y ddringfa i Gowlyd tan flwyddyn ddiwethaf pan wnaeth aelodau o Glwb Seiclo Madog mentro'r ddringfa erchyll.
Rŵan, mae rhaid egluro pan mae beiciwr yn mentro dringfa yn farn y rhan fwyaf (dwi feddwl ) y nod ydyw beidio stopio o gwbl, eto ar allt galed does dim cywilydd yn clipio allan o'r pedal, mae bob beiciwr, neu ran fwyaf di cael y profiad o hyn dwi siŵr, a does dim cywilydd, y peth i'w neud ydy mentro eto a deud wrth y tsimpansî yn eich pen i hel hi am adra!
Mae Bwlch y Groes i’m bell o ddwy filltir o hir ac ar gyfartaledd ddim llai na 14% a'n sicr yn galetach yn y diwedd lle mae'r barrier yn dechrau, hefyd rydach yn gweld y diawl o Lanymawddwy fel neidr lwyd yn estyn i'r awyr. Roedd hogiau’r clwb yn siŵr bod Cowlyd yn waeth ac roedd yr amseroedd yn rhywbeth tebyg tua 20-25 munud o ddioddef, ac i fod yn onest oeddwn yn aros am yr amser cywir i roi cynnig i'r allt frwnt.
Dwyn Ffrwyth
Pythefnos nôl roeddwn yn Alpau Ffrainc am wythnos o feicio gyda’r Clwb, bydd beicwyr profiadol yn gwybod bod cyfnod dramor yn beicio yn dwyn ffrwyth, coesau seiclo  ydy'r dywediad, mae rhywun i fod yn gryf iawn yn dod adra. Blwyddyn ma’ rwyf wedi beicio bron i 3000 o filltiroedd, tipyn mwy na blwyddyn ddiwethaf ac roeddwn wedi cael grêt o wythnos yn yr Alpau yn llwyddo i ddringo'r ddringfa eiconig Alpe d' Huez mewn awr a deng munud, yn 2006 oeddwn wedi cymryd 1awr 26 munud, ydy' hyn yn dangos bod oed dim rhwystr?
Felly yn fy marn i oeddwn yn barod am Gowlyd. Wnes ddechrau o Port am Allt Goch a Mignaint i lawr i Ysbyty Ifan, wedyn Nebo cyn y disgyniad sydyn ond beryg i Lanrwst, cyn cyrraedd Trefriw, oedd 35 milltir ar y system GPS newydd Wahoo fi. Mae ffordd hawdd o neud y dringfeydd ma’ hefyd, mynd a char yn agos i waelod y ddringfa onid twyllo'ch hunain yda chi?
Ond roeddwn yn benderfynol ac wrth lwc mi welais feiciwr yn waelod yr allt, boi o'r Wirral ac fel fi yn mentro Cowlyd am y tro gyntaf. Roedd nerfusrwydd ynau, fel blwyddyn ddiwethaf yn yr Eidal pan roeddwn yn waelod y Mortirolo, dringfa o ddua saith milltir gyda chyfartaledd o 11% - hunllef!
Mae Cowlyd ond yn tua dwy filltir a chyfartaledd o 13% ond roedd rhai o’r bachdro dros 30%, ar un adeg oni'n synnu bod y gadwyn ddim di torri! Ar un bachdro mi gododd y beic, roedd yn hurt o ddringfa, serth a serth a nunlle i orffwys, mi wnaeth y tsimpansî yn fy mhen deud wrtha i stopio ond y fi oedd yr enillydd ar y diwrnod hwn.
Milltiroedd yn y banc
Roedd coesau Ffrainc wedi talu a'r holl filltiroedd o ymarfer, allt arall i'r Palmares. Ar adegau roeddwn ond yn mynd tua thair milltir yr awr, gyda chyflymdra gyfartaledd o 4.9 MYA, roedd ond wedi codi gyda'r allt yn mynd llai serth yn y rhan olaf, 24.59 eiliad oedd fy amser, i roi dipyn o bersbectif  ar Strava amser y gyntaf ar yr allt sef y Cymro, Dan Evans, ydy 14.22 -  8.4 MYA gyfartaledd, sut ar y ddaear ma’ neud hynna, atebion ar gerdyn post plîs.
Felly bydd y ddadl pa un ydy allt galetach Cymru yn parhau, dwi'm yn siŵr pe bai BYG yn galetach neu'r gwrthwyneb. Mae Church Hill ger Dyffryn Ceiriog yn galed hefyd mae huna’n stori arall, felly dwi am fynd i edrych ar fap am allt arall i fy herio.
Bachdro – Hairpin/Switchback
Cadwyn – chain
MYA – MPH
BYG – Bwlch y Groes