Saturday
Not much to report. I picked Ed up at 4:00pm and drove straight to Worchester to Ed's sister's. 3 hours and minimal traffic. Pasta, lots of water and bed by 10:00pm.
Sunday
We were up at 5:15, porridge, apple, water, coffee and then away at 6:00. A terrible drive in the dark in heavy rain on roads which had huge puddles just right of aqua-plaining. We arrived at 7:30 on the dot. We registered, got a chip and got ready. After faffing around getting a parking ticket, we were ready to go just after 8:10am. It was raining when we started with lots of surface water making turns and downhills tricky. Before very long my shoes were soaking right through to the socks. I wish I had had overshoes like most other people. My gloves were also very wet as they were not waterproof. This resulted in both my toes and fingers being frozen.
Hill 1 at 15 miles (550 feet) - Our first taste of a hill. A hairpin-like zig zag similar to Box Hill and then a long climb onto a bleak and windy moor. It was freezing here and I saw three people turning back complaining of the cold. After the gentle start, it suddenly seemed a whole lot more serious.
Hill 2 at 25 miles (450 feet) - Can't remember exactly. Will add detail when I remember.
Hill 3 at 28 miles (450 feet) - Can't remember exactly. Will add detail when I remember.
In the village Rhayader was the feed station. We stopped to go to the loo, fill our bottles and I ate 2 fig biscuits. I also realised just how wet and cold I was. I was trying to hold a map to see where we had to go and I couldn't read it I was shaking so much. In hindsight, we stayed way too long (about 24 minutes) and we should have stayed less than half that. When we got going, the rain had stopped and I did start to dry out which helped a lot.
Hill 4 at 35 miles (900 feet) - This was the hill I knew. The Longest hill from Rhayader which I had run with my Dad on the Rhayader 20 a few years previous. I knew it wasn't incredibly steep but went on and on. It was exactly how I remembered but I managed to keep an even pace and get up ok. The result was a fabulous view and a great ride down and around the Elan Valley. There had been so much water, the dams were overflowing and it looked great.
Somewhere between hill 4 and 5 I got myself onto the back of a chaingang. This was my first real experience of it and it was terrific. Initially, I was on the back of a group of 3 guys but after half a mile I realised Ed had joined me along with several others. We got up to over 25mph on the flat and it felt so good. At one point a girl came past me and pulled in front which was fine until she started to slow down and lose the first few riders. So I was straight out of my seat and round her to take back the wheel. That felt very sweet (almost like a proper cyclist).
Also, somewhere here we got caught in a flood. Well, one lane had a large puddle that came up to water bottle level. It didn't look that deep so I wasn't going to follow the bloke in front's idea and walk through it as my feet were beginning to dry. However, even with my pedals level, my feet were completely submerged. I should have guessed it was deep by the motorcycle outrider monitoring the situation.
Hill 5 at 60 miles (650 feet) - This included a really nasty section at 20%. I had to stop half way up for a breather but busted a gut and did it. The 2nd feed station was at the top which was something to push for. I had a lovely cheese sandwich and some cheddars which were divine. About 8 minutes stopped there.
Hill 6 at 73 miles (650 feet) - This was the killer. Glascwm. I knew there was one really steep climb but I had thought we had done it at mile 60. However, as we entered the village of Glascwm, the name jumped out at me as I had seen people mention it on cycling forums. I prepared myself for what was around the corner and was horrified to see a long, straight hill with varying gradients from about 15% to 25%. Giving my claim that I have never ever walked
a hill, I had to go for it. I decided to take it in sections, powering up the steep bits and weaving up the shallower bits with stops where I could. It was very very hard with two-thirds of all the riders I saw walking. I refused to let it beat me and with shouts of aggression, I slowly made it up. I had to almost sprint the steeper bits as I would fall off if I had tried to go slow. I eventually did it and was over-the-moon. It was such a buzz.
Hill 7 at 77 miles (350 feet) - A short climb but painful after Glascwm. By this time I was counting every mile. When I got to 14 miles to go I just imagined 2 laps of Richmond Park which didn't seem too bad
Hill 8 at 85 miles (350 feet) - Not a big hill but for the first time I was beginning to really feel it. It all seemed a lot harder and I really had to push to get up. I flew down the other side but it was not very long until the next hill.
Hill 9 at 90 miles (500 feet) - I knew there was one final hill as I had been told that the last two miles into Knighton were downhill. And low and behold, there was a sign saying 2.5 km of hill with a max gradient of 8%. I knew that this was it and cycling with another ride, I got into a good rhythm and went up. It was slightly annoying as it had several false tops when I thought it was finished but there was a small downhill before another up. Once that hill was down in was left for a 35 mph blast down to the finish with a huge smile on my face.
Result: 7:06:08
Wonderfully happy with this. I was completely amazed I was only 28 minutes from a silver. With over 35 minutes of stops and only 4-5 months of training, I know I can beat it next year.
