Took Scotty out for a spin on Tuesday in incredibly wet weather. It was raining hard for most of the day and had been raining hard for days. I went up to Astwood Bank and followed part of the TROAD route (in reverse) till I reached some off-road trail which was essentially a track full of big puddles. Following this, I made my way to Astwood Bank again by cycling up Dog Butt Lane and then across naughty fields. These fields were where Ron and I cycled last week and 'played' around this big bomb crater type dip in the side of a hill. I had the fear a little last week and wanted to play here some more. The bad weather prevented this though as wind had brought down big chunks of tree filling much of the crater. I continued off-road all the way to Alcester passing a single wild deer on route. This deer was awesome and I saw it jump a barb wired fence in style! Continued to cycle until I reached the start/end of that path that leads to/from Coughton Ford and headed to Mutton Lodge instead taking on more off road tracks. These tracks turned into rivers (due to the heavy rain) which made cycling difficult but fun. Came out not far from the Alcester Road and cycled home a wet dripping psycholist!
Took Scotty out again on Wednesday with Ron. Ron took me to some new paths (route of absolute horror) which were composed of hard to climb muddy hills and stinger menace but also nice lengthy cross country tracks. These tracks came out close to where I cycled the day before, so we repeated some of yesterdays route only in reverse. Still very wet and muddy and fun!
Saturday saw me complete my second 400k audax event - the Brevet Cymru. I completed the same event last year as a qualifying event for the PBP. I got lost last year and wanted to cycle this event correctly, believing that it passed through that place in Wales with the longest place name.
Alarm was set for 3.30 a.m. When the clock struck this silly hour, I hastily got ready, kissed my wife goodbye and drove down to Chepstow to meet up with another 40 odd cyclists ready to start this challenge. With only 15 minutes to 'kick off', I did well to set my bike up and get ready to go.
The first stage went from Chepstow to Hay-on-Wye. Was a relatively nice stage really, the weather was ok and a lot better than previous days where it had rained so heavy. For a while I was at the rear end of group of cyclists just happy to draft along. Not sure if folk had started off too strong/fast but even drafting was an effort. It took me about 40k to find my legs and start cycling more comfortably. My thoughts went to thinking about my buddy 'Clive the Doc' as I whizzed down a lovely descent past Tintern Abbey. The first time I ever sped down this ring twitching descent was with Clive during LEJOG 2009. Clive had hooked up with some 2012 LEJOG folk and cycled this same descent yesterday if my facts are right. Nice one Clive and good luck LEJOG folk! Clive missed out on a better descent a bit further along on the audax I was cycling. Felt fine by the time I reached the control. The control didn't feel like a real control, as Mark Rigby (event organiser) would stamp our brevet cards outside in a car park. (I am more used to eating beans on toast inside a cafe and using the receipt as proof of passage). Last year, being a 400k virgin, I remember copying the tactics of others and essentially 'bounced' this control, that is 'did not stop' here, but pressed on (instead of finding a cafe, having a rest and a bite to eat). This year I did the same (well, I did sit on a wall for a couple of minutes and tucked into some malt loaf and ate an apple from my back pocket). Funny thing was, the guy whose tactics I copied last year, rocked up at this control just seconds after me. I said 'Hi, I remember you from last year' (or words to that effect) and later in this adventure found out that this guy was called Paul.
Stage 2 led all the way to Llandovery. Post audax and my head space always goes a bit wonky, so errors and omissions are likely to occur in this, my story. Anyways, during this stage I was chased for a while by a guy called 'Veloman'. Velo was a nice guy and he informed me that this was his second 400k and that he had completed the PBP last year too. We spoke a whole bunch of cycle related stuff and this helped the miles pass without me noticing aches and pains. For stretches Velo would pull and I would draft then we would swap over. If truth be known, I struggled a little with my turns to pull but felt it only fair. So great it is when someone is blocking a head wind for you. Lost Velo not far from the control, he had stopped to buy some energy drink (maybe he felt his pulling stretches hard too?!). The control was nice and it was here that I ate my proper audax food - beans on toast! I added an egg for good measure and washed this down with a cup of tea.
Stage 3 was kinda new to me. I had gotten lost here last year and missed much of it out and added about 30k to my distance! This year I paid more attention. This section was hilly in parts and am not sure if my 2011 version was a better alternative after all! Ha! Felt like I was playing 'whacky racers' or 'cat and mouse' during this stage as a couple of cyclists would catch me and overtake. Then they would stop further ahead (to eat or pee) and I would overtake them. And then they would catch and overtake me. Repeat. I don't re-call their names (sorry chaps) but the one guy had a bike much like mine (a 2009 Cayo Focus) and the other had a pink jacket (haha, is funny what you remember). For sake of this write up I will refer to them as Mr Cayo and Mr Pink. This pair were stronger than me, but I reached the next control before them. The control was in Tregaron. Last year I was served to the best butternut squash soup in the world, this year it was leek. The leek soup was okay, but no where near as nice as the butternut. Gutted! I was hanging out for this soup. Oh, (just remembered) I thought this stage passed through that place in Wales with the longest place name but it doesn't! Why on earth did I have that belief. That was why I was so upset last year for getting lost. I still want a picture of my bike against the back drop of the longest place name in wales! I'm a psycholist you see!
Stage 6 led to Bwlch. I thought this was pronounced 'belch', but it isn't, it's pronounced 'bulk'. This section was cycled in the dark. Paul was my companion again and kept me amused for the duration. It was cold now and I was glad of my extra layers. Last year I cycled through the town, this time we cycled around the by-pass. Less drunks were encountered by cycling this way around. However, we did appear to be stalked by a random ambulance. Last year my lights failed. This year I took precautions - I took my Ay-Up mountain bike lights. These lights were great for lighting my path but would blind Paul every time he looked my way. My rear light failed and i didn't have batteries (will I ever learn). Luckily Paul was carrying a spare and urged me to borrow it - stating that seeing me squished would not make this the best audax he had ridden (paraphrased). Before long we were at Bwlch. The Bwlch control was great too. One could sleep here (and so I did last year). Free food was offered here - soup or pie and custard (or both). I opted for soup because I don't like custard. Paul opted for custard because he was convinced it contained EPO (even though he is not a fan of custard either). After fuelling up, we both left for the final 50 or so kilometres.
This final stage, obviously, led back to Chepstow. Paul initially wasn't feeling so great and we stopped a few times for a chemical fix (pro plus or caffeine energy gels). These stops did little for Paul and he would keep shaking his head to stay awake. I tried to keep talking (mostly nonsense) in attempts to keep him awake. Paul spent a good while describing suitable benches and buss shelters suitable for audax cyclists to have a quick sleep on or in during this audax (he should write a book). One such bench was located with less than 20k to go. Paul felt he must stop for 15 minutes and close his eyes so we said goodbye and I continued into the dark by myself. Wasn't long at all until chased and caught red lights ahead. These lights were going up the final hill of the event. This hill went on and on but I felt okay climbing it and would pass the odd cyclist who had stopped for a breather. Just as I had neared the summit, whoosh, Paul came and overtook me! He said the sounds of someone puking near 'his bench' had put him off staying there any longer and (more importantly) he had found his bag of peanut M&M's that gave him the fix he needed! We both reached the summit and flew over the other side speeding down a nice lengthy descent pretty much all the way to the arrivee! Woo hoo! Nailed this audax for a 2nd time!
Weekly totals: Cycled 287 miles.
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