Monday 16 April 2012

Yr Elenydd 300km 14th April 2012

Yr Elenydd is a 305km circular Audax from Upton Magna near Shrewesbury going out into the wilderness of middle Wales. The route had 4,950m of relentless climbing including the infamous Devils Staircase.

The day started with the usual big ring surge off the starting line, with large groups forming to cover the first 20/30k, during this initial period we encountered several fords - with no prior guidance or experience on how to negotiate these (some people slowed to take them cautiously, some got off an walked round) I did what I assumed was the done thing - speed up and plow through it as fast as I could, the logic being that if I did slip, I'd be out the other side before I hit the ground and would at least be dry when I went down. The reality was that I simply soaked my overshoe-less feet. Luckily it wasn't raining.. no hang on, it was, and my feet stayed wet for the duration of the day. Never trust the weather forecast, especially when i predicts sun in Wales.

Leaving the first control at Shobdon Airfield.


Sinking into more of a rhythm, and with three fifths of the London Grimpeurs back together we carried on through the drizzling rain, on into wilderness of Wales.


 We rode through some of the most remote and desolate mountain passes and valley roads. This was an AA ride, though the climbing was steep and relentless. Offa's Dyke seemed to be the first major climb, though reaching its base was only done via miles of undulating roads.


The Abergwesyn - Tregaron mountain road.


The Abergwesyn - Tregaron mountain road


The Abergwesyn - Tregaron mountain road took us through the winding and rolling valley floor to the base of the Devils Staircase where we were greeted with this sign of what was in store.

Having turned my body inside out for the 25% climb I headed for the top. A passing car offered some glimpses of concern as I sunk my teeth into my handlebars and I'm pretty sure I saw the driver mouth something along the lines of 'never do Audax' to her children. Finally I reached the top... I'm still not sure why you would build a road like that up a mountain, only to drop it down again the other side.. I would have gone round. Anyway...



A fierce headwind faced us for the grinding push through the open moorlands at the top of the Elan Valley. By this point I'd basically chewed all the tape off my bars.


In true London Grimpeurs style we made sure we leaked time when it wasn't needed then tried to make it up when we could have done with a rest. The whole ride, especially the hailstorm and rain on the night section seemed to become a lesson in suffering. The only response to the cold and wet was to simply grind on into the night.
The last 20km was the hardest by far, facing fatigue from the climbing, being cold and wet and begining to hallucinate I bit whole chunks out of my handlebars, which just looked like mangled stumps of steel by this point. But we made it.. another Lanterne rouge for the Lonon Grimpeurs, with the traditional last 10km time trial to finish the ride. We got in a minute or two after 2am... 20hrs 4mins...

So that was the second ride towards the AA SR Series, next will be the Dorset Coast 200k as a 'Perm' in the next week or so, then Brevet Cymru 400km on the 5th April...

Monday 9 April 2012

The Easter Arrow 24hr 370km Audax 6th April 2012

The Easter Arrow 24hr 370km Audax 6th April 2012.

The Easter Arrow is a 24hr Audax event where teams of 3-5 riders plot their own route and submit their own control points with the minimum distance of 360km for qualifying for the Brevet. The event can start from anywhere, yet all teams must have York as the destination. We had opted for a 401km route starting in Willesden Junction, London. Our team: The London Grimpeurs, was compiled by Team Leader Tim Sollesse and consisted of a handpicked bunch of Londons most hardened randonneurs, rouleurs and grimpeurs. I should point out at this point that myself and Chris had never ridden a 24hr event before, nor ridden a 400km and had only recently completed our first 300kms on The Dean several weeks before... what could possibly go wrong... 


The London Grimpeurs. (l-r) Joel 'Yossarian' Bromley, Chris 'Gadget' Breed, Tim 'Ridehard' Sollesse, Justin 'Jonah' Jones and Pete 'Pete' Turnbull.


The day hours were spent rolling through country lanes, taking long breaks at controls and generally (for me at least) trying not to spend too much time thinking about what the night hours would have in store. We were all aware that the weather forecasts for the north of the country were pretty bad, with horror stories of snow and rain in Yorkshire.



In one town we discovered that a resident had carefully removed key letters from each of its road sign, to hilarious consequences.

 
Squandering time at one of the first controls.
 Contact outside the team was limited to being shouted at passing through villages: 'dickheads', one person managed to articulate from a passing car window, leaving little time for any response from us and the clientele of several pubs and service station on the way were briefly engaged in conversations with the frequent response of "you've cycled from London.. and are going to York... are you all mental". I had to admit, they probably had a point.

Fierce headwinds over the rolling plans of the midlands slowed progress, and time was slowly leaking from our schedule. Shifting into the night hours, and reverting the course off the country lanes and onto A roads brought the pace up and clawed back some time, still, it was apparent that the 400km may be a bit too much of a stretch and we then opted for the 360km option. Time at controls got shorter, water ran out and we pressed on into the wind and rain.
 It was pretty desolate in places.


 I spent a good few hours of the night examining the inside of my skull, and found myself fluctuating between euphoria and absolute despair. The isolation of the roads at night, especially in the face of frequent rain showers, and the knowledge that despite having ridden a good 200km, then 300km we still had a good way to go. It was apparent that without a group around me the difficulties at these points would have been almost insurmountable. Yet you still carry on, control after control, ignoring the fact that a mechanical issue in the middle of nowhere at night would send you on the immediate and slippery slope towards hypothermia. The most consistent advice I had be given on previous Audax's was that after 200km, increasing the distance becomes purely psychological, and this certainly became the case.

24hr garage, closed. Thanks Tescos.
Home comforts of a warm bed were replaced with the relative comfort of a warmer pair of gloves, and overshoes to keep your feet at a functional temperature. The dawn light was a welcome relief, as was the sight of the Humber Bridge, my only real point of reference to remind me that I was significantly further north than I had been 24hrs before.

Over distanced and rapidly running out of time we opted to move our 22hr, and 24hr controls forward and claim the 370km for our 420km ridden.

So that was that, the finish line turned out to be a garage in the middle of nowhere, and the only witness to our exploits was a rather confused looking driver who was presumably having trouble working out why we were looking so pleased with ourselves considering the increasing rain and haggard looks on our faces.

Having spent the dark points of the night promising myself that I wouldn't attempt such a feat again in a hurry, and convincing myself that night riding just wasn't for me, I'm now looking to the Summer Arrow on the 22nd June and am giving consideration to putting my own Hackney Based Team together...


Totals so far: 1080km 7.25AAA points.

Monday 2 April 2012

The Dean 300km 24th March 2012

The Dean 300km 24th March 2012. AAA4.
A circular route from Oxford to Stow, Newent, Chepstow, Malmesbury, Membury and finally returning back to Oxford.



Totals so far: 720km 7.25AAA points.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Audax and the endless road to a Super Randonneur series

Audax season 2011/2012
This blog is to act as a record of all Audax events that I complete for season 2011/2012 - I have set myself the ambitious goal of completing a Super Randonneur Series (a series of 200, 300, 400 and 600km Audax events)...
My aims so far:

... AA Super Randonneur Series...
The Dean 300km 24th March
Yr Elenydd 300km 14th April
Brevet Cymru 400km 5th May
Bryan Chapman 600km 19th May
...Easter Arrow 24hr Team event...

...The Audax Altitude Award, for achieving 20 AAA points...
...any other Audax's...

At the start of this blog I have completed 420km and 4.25AA on the Hills and Mills 100km, Mad Jacks 120km and Chiltern Hills 200km Brevet.