Wet Ride Thing Day 3

Another morning and more rain, although not as heavy. This time once up I could hang around a bit in my waterproofs. Suprisingly my spot found in the dark had been flat and hidden away in the trees I had slept okay. Once again it was straight up a hill to find the first chequepoint. My thumb was hurting a bit and I was worried about the off-road.

After the bridge we rode my favourite part of the ride, through an amazing valley and somewhere I really want to return to, maybe in better weather!

After this it was back up into some woods, we were all a little wet by this point!

Descending we were all getting cold and were glad to get on the road back to Forest Freeride. Just as we finished the sun came out and we sat round eating flapjacks and reliving the weekend.

Lots of thoughts on it, but I can't wait to do some more bikepacking!

Wet Ride Thing Day 2

Waking up to the sound of rain on my bivvy bag I found I was curled up at the bottom. Guess I was avoiding the rain in my sleep. But I had also thrown part of my sleeping bag out into the rain. Eventually I looked at my watch and realised it was 7am, we all got up and breakfast. Once Ali and I were up that was it, nowhere to hide from the weather. I was feeling jealous of Andy and Jane's tarp!

Just after we started riding two lads caught us up. As we got damper and damper we decided to head into Mach and find a pu. A sunday lunch later and we headed back out, feeling warmer and the weather decided to play as well.

Eventually we headed to another pub and I got my sleeping bag out to dry it out. Leaving the pub, plan was first suitable spot sleep. Not so easy in a steep sided valley, eventually I spotted a flattish spot, probably not ideal but it was starting to rain so I was quickly in my bivvy bag...

Welsh Ride Thing Day 1

After me being very grumpy all week due to thinking I was going to be missing out on all the fun I decided to go down to wales with Ali and walk ridearound on the roads and meet the others in the pub for an evening meal and bivvying. Fortunately Ali had arranged to ride this year with a couple of our friends so I didn't have to worry about her being on the hills on her own. All this meant that I was route planning and packing for two on Friday night. Ali was busy laminating maps for her bars and getting her food ready, I had very little food since I could stop at shops and Ali had only really shopped for her seeing as I was meant to be staying at home.

Saturday morning and it was raining at home, one of the bike racks broke but we still got to Forest Freeride with time for faffing before the bike weigh-in and raffle. Neither of us had anywhere near the lightest setup but we were half the weight of the heaviest, an impressive 129lbs! Time came to leave and everyone set off, except us as there was still no sign of Andy and Jane, we knew they were on their way but with no mobile receoption we had no idea where they were. Turns out they were stuck in the famous Newtown traffic jam. But once they arrived it wasn't long before we were on our way, the first section being road so I was joining them.

Ali with this year's WRT map

(Photo by Andy Chadwick)

A nice uphill road took us to the first off-road section, it was only short so I decided to give it a go and at least bag the first checkpoint. It was an out and back, for our chosen route, and the first section was a nice wide track. We all took the sensible option of walking the last bit to the checkpoint, fully loaded and on day one it wasn't worth it. There we met some other riders enjoying the view.

After a bit lot of chat, not by me for a change! We headed back up the hill, I was glad of footwear suitable for walking in and wishing I had done more running as my calves were complaining.

Back to the road and my route took me left round the roads, oddly I turned right with the others, well the thumb seemed fine with my not holding on or braking method so I thought I'd try some more off-road and it was fun!

Esgair Wen

It turned out to be a lovely rideable track with lovely views (Ali liked being able to see the windfarm). We met some more WRT people at the top of the hill, they had just pushed up a huge grassy slog, at this point Ali got loads of bonus points for her route (unlike the last checkpoint where everyone else headed down a lovely looking descent and we climbed back up the hill). Down to a gate and another checkpoint where we met some more people, it was certainly busier this year!

We headed into the forest for the first time before climbing out up onto a mountain again (or near enough they were tall!)

Back down onto a road for some easy tarmac miles into Abercegir and onto Glyndwr's Way over to the next checkpoint.

Down what turned out to be the White Road, an ice-rink may have been a better description, Andy tried to ride it but just slid off at my feet! We started to realise we were not going to get to the planned pub in time and after passing a huge wedding do in a field Ali was getting tired. So a quick look at the map and we realised that the next village had a pub marked so that was our aim. Stopping at Cenmaes we bumped into more riders and had a very average but welcome meal. Back out and the aim was to find somewhere to bivvy, only everywhere was hilly. It was getting dark as we snapped our last checkpoint of the day.

The only flat area (that wasn't a bog) was the bridleway and it was nice and grassy. So we set up camp there. As the rain started I was a little jealous of Jane and Andy's tarp but I was soon hidden away in my bivvy bag and fast asleep.

Welsh Ride Thing - Day 3

We were both awake just after four and Ali did suggest getting up but neither of us were very keen on the idea and snuggled back down in our bags for some more sleep. We had choosen a comfy spot, so comfy in fact I didn't notice that I had rolled off my mat!

At around 6:30am we did surface and I felt terrible. Ali tucked into her breakfast - with her second pint of real milk, which had managed to stay nice and cold - while I made myself eat m&m's as I couldn't face anything else. The midges were out a bit, although nothing compared to previous trips with Ali. Still she was glad to have her midge net to put on.

We got our stuff packed out, got back out of the trees and onto the road. Suprisingly we were both going well and made good time to our last off-road section of the route. As we pushed up this I felt it was similar to a bit of transwales, but not the same as I had rode the section at transwales. Once we started descending Ali recognised it as she had ridden up to take pictures. Riding it in the opposite direction had confused me! We enjoyed a great descent before we hit traffic, a load of bulls being hearded down the road. We sensibly kept our distance until they went a different way.

Back onto road and the question was now could we make 2pm, it would be close but not impossible. At Llanwrthwl we joined NCN 8 which was to be our friend for the rest of the route. Some of it was on dedicated cycle path, all tarmac though. Some on quiet roads, including one with numerous gates which felt more like a bridleway. We pushed on through Rhayader deciding against stopping for extra supplies as we were feeling good. At this point I told Ali we were 30miles from the finish and 10miles from the last checkpoint. That put a spring in Ali's pedalling but it did feel like a long ten miles before we got to Llangurig our final checkpoint.

Here there were loads of cyclists on the Welsh Ride Thing outside the post office, we were soon inside and stocking up on savoury foods - pork pies, sandwich, crisps and a banana for me. Then we settled down in the sun to eat. Next thing we know there is a cheery hello and two people from the last two transwales appear. They were out on their own wild camping adventure. A nice chat and it was time to head on back. Just over two hours and twenty miles to go.

We set off up the first steep hill and then it felt like it was climb, a bit of flat to recover, climb for the next hour or so. But with just over 3 miles to go we hit a downhill which went on and on and on. In fact all the way to Pennant. All that was left was the final climb to the farm, I think they had moved the house since saturday it seemed a long way. Back, just before 2pm, to a welcome of tea and welsh cakes and the news we had won two raffle prizes.

Another great day on the bikes and we were both glad for the easy tarmac miles.

42.7 miles ridden, 1495m climbed

An excellent weekend and one to repeat, in fact I am now thinking about our next adventure!

Welsh Ride Thing - Day 2

The one thing about sleeping in a bothy is once one person gets up everyone else is awake. So it was quite early that we were packing up and eating our breakfast on Sunday morning.  Not that I knew the time, as my phone had died overnight!  Ali enjoyed her breakfast with her fresh pint of milk - not the most light-weight of travellers!!  I had my mashed up weetabix with powdered milk...

Over breakfast we were chatting to the lads who had also slept there, none of them were doing Monk's Trod, there were horror stories about waist deep bogs, we were wondering if we should change our route. But there didn't seem an obvious alternative without changing our whole route so we decided to give it a go. There was one minor alteration to our plan though, instead of going round a very lumpy road with an evil climb we decided to just push over the mountain on the bridleway as it was direct.

Once packed, it was ready to set off on the forest road - the visibility had improved and we could even see the wind turbines in the distance that we had ridden past the previous evening.

Coming out of the forest it was back to river crossings, some of them involved a little thought of how to get across.

Once we got over the hill, which we basically pushed up and down it was along the road to find the checkpoint, one false start at the wrong bridleway sign and we found the correct one and checked which direction it was pointing.

After coasting down the road it was time for Monks Trod. We set off, riding some pushing some. In fact it reminded me a bit of Great Hill. But only once did I go into a bog and only up to my ankle. There were some amazing views and once again Ali's amazing route planning meant we took the good line down.

Once we hit the main track again we had to make a decision, it was a 2km there and 2km back on an easy track to get the next checkpoint but it was an easy one to miss out. We were behind on our schedule and wanted to ensure we were back in time on monday. So the decision was made and Ali eventually agreed it was sensible even though she wanted to get all the points.

Then onto what should have been a familiar bit of track seeing as transwales had gone there both years! But somehow I failed to recognise the view.

However once I got stuck in the puddle it all came flooding back.

We carried on down the track to Strata Florida with an excited Ali recognising the lovely trail that she had walked along to take pictures at transwales. At Strata Floria we got our picture of the arch and headed on up the road to a trail I did remember! It has lots of lovely puddles to ride through, some deeper than others.

This is also where we encounted the most traffic on the route! It felt like hundreds of 4x4's (or trucks as Ali calls them) were coming along the trail in the opposite direction! To be fair to them they were all really courteous with some of them cheering us through the big puddles. Then onto the only cheeky part of the route as we ended up just above the next checkpoint with the only options to get down scrambling down a cliff or following a footpath. The cliff was vetoed and we went down the footpath. Finding a lovely cute bothy at the bottom.

Joining the seven splashes we headed off to the next checkpoint, a chapel at Soar Y Mynydd. Here we decided to miss our second checkpoint as it was another out and back, it was fine though as we would still get the eleven needed. I didn't remember this climb, apparently I had rode it in transwales 2008, or the amazing view that opened out in front of us.

Then we rode down some amazing singletrack through the Doethie Valley in what was now a gloriously sunny day.

This brought us to the most southerly checkpoint where we had to take a picture of a stunning view.

Then the climbing started again, our plan now was just to get as far as we could by 9pm and then find somewhere to sleep. If we came across a pub we would eat some hot food, otherwise it was a dinner of hot cross buns and chocolate cookies.

Into the forest and what should have been a fast and easy downhill on a forest road became an obstacle course with fallen trees to climb under, over or round.

Out of this and onto a technical downhill, I was impressed with us both riding it with all our kit, I must admit to some singing! Back onto the road and now it was time to try and make up some distance. A stop at some toilets in Abergwesyn to fill up the camelbaks and it was back on the road. Just before 9pm we both spotted a gravel track heading into some trees, in we went and found a nice clearing behind a fallen tree. This was to be our bedroom for the night. Soon in our bivvy bags, Ali was fast asleep before I had even finished eating, seems like the day had tired her out.

No tadpole incidents today.

56miles ridden 2399m climbed

Welsh Ride Thing - Day 1

This came around a lot quicker than expected so it was lucky for me that Ali had been working hard at plotting our route. I would love to take some credit but the fact that the route worked out so well was due to her careful planning and research, my mumbles of "yes that looks fine" when she showed me the map didn't help. So friday evening I did some last minute shopping and we both packed - well I got my stuff ready to pack and finished in the morning, I was that organised!

Saturday morning we headed down, stopping off to meet some lads off singletrackworld for some pub food, not knowing if this would be our last hot meal for three days. Off to forest freeride for the start. Only we chose (or TomTom chose for us) an interesting route there which meant we were first to leave the pub but last to arrive at the start. Still, it meant less time to panic for me as it was a case of unloading the bikes and bags and then straight to the start to pick up our checkpoints sheet.

Heading off up the road, we realised that we hadn't got the classic "before" picture, but as you can see Ali was smiling at this point. As we hit our first bit of off-road we passed a group of lads discussing their route, so far we had not had one argument about navigation so were feeling good. Along an amazing singletrack descent that unfortunately had a drop to the left, Ali's favourite. To a technical rocky drop to a bridge, I started riding and scared myself but I had no option other than to continue as I couldn't get off at that point. At the bridge we were looking at the way back up, obviously a carry which I remembered from transwales, Ali suddenly remembered that this might be the checkpoint. Good job she did as I can guess who would be scrambling back down to get the answer to the question!

At this point Ali's amazing route planning came into its own, turns out there were two choices. One a nice long slog through a bog. The other on clear tracks that was a little longer but that was not actually on the landranger map of the area.

After going through a forest I recognised the track, another transwales favourite that had lots of huge puddles (well they were a little big to be called puddles more like ponds). Ali was charging through them making me feel like a wimp. Until she came unstuck:

She decided to go for a swim after hitting a boulder, I have never seen someone jump up so quickly and rescue their bike. Sensibly she didn't want to test how effective her dry bags were when submerged on the first day of a three day ride!

With no more swimming we made our way to the next checkpoint, this was a river-crossing they had to put a rope across in transwales 2008. The water was a lot lower but we still opted for the footbridge, since this was the checkpoint.

The day had been wet and windy but once in a while the sun tried to come through. But now the weather really started to roll in. Passing through Ponterwyd we decided to stop at the pub for a hot drink and some food. Two jacket potatoes and chilli later we were ready to head out. I popped to the toilets to fill my camelbak up and hear a scream. Ali has found a tadpole from her earlier swim. All the staff gathered round and one of them rescued the tadpole and put it into a watering can.

Fortunately the weather was clearing a bit which made getting back out there a little easier. We set off for the next checkpoint, knowing this was at a bothy. On the first climb after leaving the road we passed a house, the old lady waved at us and we waved back thinking nothing of it, the next thing she is outside offering us cups of tea and water refills if we needed it. A lovely show of kindness. Up a climb and into the forest we arrived at the bothy around 8ish and there were a lot of other riders making it their home for the night. Much to the suprise of the others we decided to push on through the weather to try and get to the next checkpoint, we could always bivvy in the forest if it got dark.

Another fantastic bit of route planning by Ali meant we mainly followed a fireroad that had been used for a rally car event last year, this wasn't on any of our maps and was hard to make out on google earth. Apart from one really hard push up we were able to ride up to the windmills at Cefn Croes Windfarm.

This was very eerie as you couldn't see them till you were right next to them where they loomed out of the mist. I was very glad not to be on my own up there. Once we entered the forest it was a case of one lovely bridleway descent and a couple of fireroads to the next checkpoint, another bothy. On arriving Ali exclaimed "this isn't a bothy its a house", to be fair there was a car and van parked outside. We were met by an odd bloke asking if we were looking for a bed for the night and explaining he ran the place. Fortunately we spotted some other riders and decided to stay, we were contemplating just finding a spot in the forest. There were only five riders in total here and we had a room upstairs, downstairs there was a nice fire to dry our clothes and another room with bunks, here the odd man and his friends seemed to be having a party. From the number of empty beer cans this appears to be a regular occurence and I don't think they wanted us there. Off to bed only to be kept awake by the party animals downstairs.

All in all a fab start to the weekend despite the weather. But we were considering having to change our plans as due to the weather we were a little behind in the distance covered.

31.22 miles ridden, 1429m climbed

Day 2 coming soon....