Despite pushing myself pretty hard on every WRT since I started doing them, I've wanted to let go of the reigns a bit and hit up some sadistic routes that someone else had put together. Obviously the BB200 has fit the bill in the past, but for me the BB200 is easy because you don't need to even try sleeping. So I needed something that you couldn't brute force, and this definitely fit the bill.
I think I added this to my calendar sometime at the start of the year, in part because it's one of the closer multi day ITTs to me, in part because people kind of "get" going from one end of Wales to the other, even if they couldn't possibly have any understanding of how hard it is. When describing it to people on route I would generally say "I'm going from coast to coast, but instead of being sensible and doing it on road, I'm doing it off road... and instead of going around the hills, I'm going over them.". :D
As the ride got closer I found myself refining my kit list a bit, seeing what I could do without, and very much watching the weather. I had already decided that I didn't want to do this unless I could do it fast; which meant I had to be travelling as light as possible, and I needed the weather on my side. Of course, the day before the trip the forecast showed three days of rain and wind. I travelled up all the same, but in the back of my mind I was already starting to find alternatives.
Despite the forecast not improving (in fact, constant heavy rain was now forecast for Saturday night) I decided on Friday morning that I'd just go for it. I figured that there were quite a few towns / train stations on route so if the sh*t hit the fan I could just bail to a B&B or grab a train back.
Kitlist
Lunar Solo Tent / Bearbones Carbon Pole / Carbon Pegs (I figured I'd have a better chance of actually sleeping... WRONG.)
Exped Synmat UL M (I'm so glad my Exped Airmat didn't arrive, because I'd have taken it, and I'd have been far too cold.)
Hangar 18 Sleeping Bag - 480g (Plenty warm when dry, useless when wet!)
Uniqlo Puffy Jacket (Also useless when wet.)
Endura Pakajak (Kept me dry for about 2 hours in torrential rain, then gave up... hence the wet puffy jacket.)
Spare Socks (Luxury!)
Beanie Hat
MSR Trailshot (Great bit of kit.)
Lezyne Alloy Drive (Worked perfectly when nail destroyed my tyre.)
Tool Bottle (Tube, tubeless puncture repair, spare goop, glue, multitool, lube, CO2.)
First Aid Kit
Exposure Maxx D Bar Light / Exposure Diablo Helmet Light
Moon Pulsar Rear Light (+ Moon Lunar backup.)
Also some food, mostly caffeinated stuff like shotbloks and coffee beans. Though I did have some Feedzone Portables for day 1.
Day 1
Thankfully the hotel we stayed in agreed to give the missus and I an early breakfast, which I was most grateful for given the other option was a chain coffee shop or McDonalds. About 09:00 we headed up to the start point and I got my fettling on. Half an hour of messing around and a few photos later, I was good to go. I almost looked like I knew what I was doing. With the weather looking pretty pleasant if a bit gusty I got on my way. The first section passed easy enough, with a rather quick blast down from Great Orme to the sea front... though my speed was soon curtailed by a surprisingly sandy cycle path. It didn't take long before I was heading out of "civilisation" and starting the first of many climbs. Ironically I started overheating pretty quickly as I'd gone with a full sleeve top to avoid sunburn and increase my warmth in the evenings.
The first climbs passed fairly easily (heat aside) and I was enjoying the start with good views and rideable terrain. I actually managed some very respectable segment times before remembering that I'd set a max effort level for the first day that I really should plan on sticking to. My first and only KOM was set at this point and I enjoyed the nice long descents into Coed Gorswen and Tal-Y Bont. Just after this, things started to unravel a bit. I won't lie... I flat out hate the (reverse) section of MBUK's Capel Curig 272 route that the trail then followed. It's bad as a descent, with pretty large boulders in marshy ground to try and navigate, but doing it as a climb is utterly awful. Worse was that the rain had started coming down pretty heavily at this point, which was making my tyres a complete liability on the rocks, resulting in a crash that banged up my knee pretty badly. The real shame is that the section on the other side of the reservoir is really enjoyable, but that's not the part included in this route!
I was most definitely glad to be past the A5 and picking up speed, when I heard a telltale hissing sound. On inspection I found that a nail had gone right through two sides of my tyre and would need proper fixing rather than just relying on the goop. That would be fine, but I couldn't get the damn nail out... and though I managed it in the end, I also ripped off part of my thumbnail trying. :(
Thoroughly demotivated at this point, and only about 10% of the route in, the first of my speed saving choices went out the window. I'd stop at a cafe, have some proper food and get my head back together.
After a while at Moel Siabod Cafe on the A5 (very nice BTW), and a bit of a chat with some fellow cyclists (including a couple of Kiwis visiting our fair lands), the weather had improved a bit so I got back on with it.
Nothing really stands out to me from this section, but that's probably a good thing. If nothing else I was making progress.
I was pleased to reach Trawsfynydd village, but a little disappointed that the cafe a bit further up the road was long since closed. I grabbed about as much food as I could carry from the Co-Op, and ate it as much of it as I could face, then headed off to the nearby public toilets to dry my gear out a bit. The next section is a particularly enjoyable one, and time passed quickly enough from the town, to the cafe, to the lakeside bridleway at Llyn Tecwyn-Uchaf (short section, but always a fave of mine).
Darkness had fallen by the time I made it into LLanbedr, but at least it was no longer raining. I stopped off at a pub for more gear drying... and having looked at the elevation profile that followed; some Dutch courage. I knew that there was a (nearly literal) mountain between me and sleep, but I was determined to get it out of the way. The climb was handled with mostly low gear spinning and a bit of hike a bike, but astonishingly, now the climb was over, the worst was yet to come. The descent off FFordd Fridd Isa was annoying. Rutty, rocky and (probably) because of the dark, mostly un-rideable. Very frustrating. To be honest it seemed like a bit of a pointless section and all the way down the descent I couldn't help wondering if there were other options (not least the scenic A-Road!).
From Llanbedr to Barmouth bridge had taken me about two and a half hours, so I was glad of the fairly pleasant cooldown on route to one of the multiple good bivvy spots on the Lon Mawddach. A little disappointing that I couldn't have arrived a few hours earlier though, as I'm a fan of the pub at Penmaenpool.
Day 2
As usual, I didn't get more than a hour or so of sleep, and at 06:00 I figured I should just get on with it. Luckily the rain and wind from overnight had died down a bit when I started packing up, and it was relatively dry when I started out... for all of half hour. I got to Dollgellau hoping for a hot breakfast but sadly none of the cafes seem to open that early. After cycling around in circles for a while I gave up, grabbed some crisps, an energy drink and some chocolate from the co-op and got on with it.
The first climb passed easily enough, and at least the rain was holding off, even if the wind wasn't. This quickly became pretty miserable on the next climbs though and I found myself being slowed down massively. Worse, when I made it to sections I know I usually hit 15mph + on, I was barely hitting 7mph, which was demoralising me pretty quickly. At this point any hope of a decent time was going out of the window, so I decided it was time to back off and just get through it. Having done this section (Black Road) a few times I was amazed at how long it was taking, and getting to Machynlleth took what felt like forever. Having just looked at the map, I'm assuming the somewhat steeper route via Bryncrug and the painful detour North of Pennal probably didn't help...
Hungry and depressed, I once again ignored my time saving plan and grabbed a rather delicious steak sandwich from the Royal House and finished it off with a large tub of ice-cream.
Just before getting to Mach I'd noticed that my left pedal had no grease left in it, so was hoping there might be a bike shop... but alas, apparently not. The pedal would play on my mind for the rest of the ride, but thankfully it held up. The damage is pretty significant to the axle though, so I'll definitely be replacing it.
Tough headwinds made progress slow going to Nant Yr Arian, though this made Hippity Hop and the Camel's Hump a refreshing treat. I REALLY wasn't pleased to find that I'd have to go up Leg Burner... except, thankfully just the top section. I think I'd have lost the will to live had I done the whole of that boring ass climb... especially now there's no tree cover. Just as I got to Drunken Druid I saw someone to chase so figured, "why the hell not". I caught them just before High as a Kite (my favourite descent!) and thankfully passed them before heading in. Enjoyed myself on the way down, taking a good amount more time than usual, but getting some decent flow and a bit of air. Definitely not too gnar though, not with so far to go!
Sadly I was too late for hot food, but I got to grab some cake and a coffee before battling the winds towards Ponterwyd and the climbs up towards Cwm Ystwyth. Knowing that it would be somewhere in the order of 35 miles before I could get supplies, I went off route to a pub at Ffair Rros and was persuaded to having a meal and a few drinks. Annoyingly, by the time I was done it was raining heavily. Thankfully at this point my jacket was dry, so, with the hope that the rain would subside, I headed off up Strata Florida.
I had thought I'd done this section on the WRT a couple of weeks before, but apparently not. This version was much friendlier, basically fire-road all the way up. Only problem was, by this point the rain was going right through my jacket and I was getting extremely cold. I stopped to get under cover and put on my puffy jacket, but this got wet instantly and didn't help at all. At this point I decided I was going to hit up the bothy, even if it was just to get dry before deciding what to do.
So I looked, and looked, and rode... and got colder, and looked, and turned all my lights up to full... and looked... and no goddamn bothy. Why hadn't I put it on my route as a waypoint? Well... because I wasn't going to stop that early, except now I needed it. After a while I realised that I must have gone past the turn off, so I pushed on, praying for the rain to stop, or for some sort of shelter to become apparently. Things had got so bad at this point that I was having to brake heavily down hills as the cold was unbearable. I had already decided that I was willing to break into a building to get warm if necessary.
...and then, salvation! Soar y Mynydd chapel. Oddly, there was a mini bus parked outside with its lights on... and I was very much considering asking them if I could sit inside for a minute when I noticed the stone outbuilding. I got in as quickly as possible and started about sealing up the window with some bags that were on the floor. With no heat source, and no bivi bag all I could really do was huddle in the corner and try my best to warm up until it got light.
Strangely every couple of hours it sounded like people were being dropped off or picked up, before whatever vehicle disappeared off into the distance again. Was very unnerving.
Day 3
In the rush to get warm I had neglected to take my nightly vitamin I and sadly my ankles had swollen pretty badly, but no matter, the rain was gone, the wind was gone and pain / wet clothes or not it was time to get on with it.
Thankfully Llyne Brianne from Soar Y Myndd was a great little section, virtually all rideable and not too marshy. It didn't take too long to get to the toilet block at the Llyn Brianne dam... open, and with hand dryers. Warm gloves and hands. Lets f*ck*ng do this! I pushed on making relatively good speed and made it into the woods leading to Llanwrtyd Wells.
Bizarrely there was a rave going on somewhere in there on the east side of the reservoir. I couldn't pinpoint where exactly, but it was properly loud, and I could feel the bass pumping. Amusing. :D
Pushing on into Llanwrtyd Wells, I knew that the Neuadd Arms Hotel would do me a great breakfast, and my spirits began to rise. I got my breakfast ordered, did a bit of fettling, picked up some supplies from the nearby petrol station then chilled out for a good 45 minutes. Even though the first two days had been sub standard at times, I realised that if I gave it everything I had from this point, I still had a chance of being done by the end of the day... and that meant a very respectable time.
Breakfast finished, and with the sun starting to shine I pushed the pace though Cefn-Grwydd and into a brilliant section through Crychan Forest. Fast downs, fast ups, this is exactly the sort of terrain I train for, so i was making excellent progress. I did get slowed down by some trees completely blocking the trail, but it wasn't messing with my mood, and I even started to sing on some of the descents.
Sadly the effort was pushing me into overheating pretty badly, so I stopped to remove as much as I could. On taking off my merino trousers I noticed that my right knee was badly ripped up, seemingly from the grit under my shorts which, with the wet weather had turned into sandpaper against my knee. There was no way I could handle riding in the heat with the trousers on so I figured my best bet was to clean it all up and put a thick coating of chamois cream there to prevent further damage.
I continued on... wait, I'm at Halfway? The Halfway? Hang on, are those the Beacons? Holy sub standard... it's the Beacons! I've never been so glad to see them in my life. Trecastle... Sennybridge... quick pitstop, fresh water, some food, GO. Too hot now though... struggling. Some rain now... damn it to hell, too much rain, knee is agony. Stop to put on jacket, cycle for a bit, too damn hot. Can't win.
But now I'm nearing Sarn Helen towards Ystradfellte, home ground. Bollocks to it, lose the jacket, live with the rain. Progress is tough, but I know this bit, push the bike here, ride this, push this, now back on for a fast rocky descent. Bike's not enjoying the experience though. Headset cracking loudly, too much movement... tough sh*t, will replace it when I'm done or break it trying. Spat out onto Camnant Road Really fast now, even uphill. Sun is out, life is good. Through Banwen, don't slow down... looks ROUGH. Into the forest... and BONK.
Dehydration had caught up with me, lack of food had caught up with me. Stupid, was concentrating too much on making the most of the conditions. Walked for a little while, spun for a while too. Made it up a few hills and figured it might be best to have a bit of a sit down. I'd never realised just how massive the works were in this area; the wind farms truly are a huge undertaking. Didn't really want to stop too long here though as there were signs up stating this was all private land, which was concerning, though given it was a Sunday, not too concerning.
Move on, recover speed and get some adrenaline down the hills: https://www.strava.com/activities/98734 ... 4212387221
Then a hard left, throw the bike over some boulders and into an amazing rooty / rocky descent before Glyn Neath: https://www.strava.com/activities/98734 ... 4212387245
Started to flag again, but at least supplies were available. Except, I'm in another sh*thole, and that gang of kids outside the shop are eyeing my bike. I wait longer than I'm comfortable stopping for for them to leave, pull the front wheel off and run inside. Grab any old random crap to eat, an icecream and three litres of water. Sadly no ice cubes available (would have been handy for the camelbak) so I just drink up half the water, put the rest in the bladder and move on. I must be done with most of the hills now, I'm sure day three was less elevation than the others.
Nope.
Rhigos Road climb starts to strip my will to live. It's not so much the gradient, but the cars, which are making me really nervous and causing me to tighten up. Still, any hill now is less hill later. Flat again for a short while, right at the roundabout... oh god, this climb goes on forever. More cars skimming me. I just want to get off and walk along the verge at this point, even though I'm quite capable of doing the hill. Frazzled nerves.
Finally back off-road and into the Tower Colliery climb, I look up and realise where I'm going. Spirits crushed. Why aren't I at Afan already? It's all downhill from Afan surely? Struggling with the hills, struggling with the heat, losing motivation badly at this point, and I hadn't realised that these were essentially some of the worst climbs in the whole ride. Exposed, which was killing me in the sun, relentless, and properly annoying. 5 minutes of up, then a minute of down losing half your progress, before another 5 minutes up... never ending. I'm having to try and move into shade wherever possible now as I'm starting to suffer with heatstroke and burning badly.
At one point I looked right and realised I had no concept of just how big the open cast coal mine was at Tower Colliery. Breathtaking, but no time to stop for photos, I have to kill this damn climb... and I'm there. Into Skyline. Ugh, god. Skyline. No-one does Skyline any more except for moto-crossers. It's utterly ruined. I set off, getting smashed to pieces on the downhill boulder field (I would have genuinely preferred any other sort of descent at that point) and then struggling for pace on the flooded / rocky straight near Cefn Ffoidd.
With my concentration shot to pieces I now make a number of mistakes. I miss the entrance into "Windy Point", losing 5 minutes backtracking. I then misread the map and do half of "Energy", losing 15 minutes and scaring myself to death pushing back up a well used trail centre descent (one that contains jumps for good measure). I then completely miss the entrance for "373" and lose another 5 minutes. Head completely shot to pieces, getting angrier and angrier with myself.
I have to dial it back completely for Graveyard, but thankfully I know it fairly well. It goes on forever, I really don't want a crash here, I just need it done already. Zig Zag next, and I'll be honest, I'm terrified at this point. I've had a couple of crashes here when virtually fresh, and now I'm tired, and really tense. I get through it OK though... downhill now. PUSH.
...and yet, no, hang on, it's downhill to Port Talbot. What the hell is this? Seriously? A technical climb for the sake of it? GODDAMN IT. I pretty much throw my bike up the hill and start jogging whilst pushing. I've got no energy left to handle technical hills on the bike. I get to the top and hammer it down far faster than is safe. At this point I no longer care. I'm carving corners, watching for lights and taking the racing line. How the hell do I finish this in time with so far to go?
Port Talbot to Swansea is a blur. Basically flat, totally unlike any other section on the entire ride. I'm wishing I had aero bars and trying to keep myself in check as I know there's still some way to go. Save it for the last hour. Good speed, but I'm taking too much out of myself... AAARRRGHHH. Hamstring goes. I back it right off, from now on I have to pedal standing if I want to put out decent power. It's an injury I've been dealing with for the last few months.
One last stop in Black Pill. Throw a litre and a half of water into my camelbak, Energy drink, half a BLT. Throw out any food you wont eat, you don't need it. 2 hours left of the day, 2.5 hours to beat my original target. Off we go. First hill looks bad, but I ride what I can. Walk / run / ride. That's done, road section, YES (I feel some shame!), another good burst of pace (amusingly, a top 10 time on a road section). Have pushed too hard, need to stop for painkillers and ibuprofen gel for hamstring... get on with it FFS.
Into another hill. Time to break a rule I've stuck to well. Check the elevation map. Two big hills to go, screw it, even if you push them you can make it. Go. I think the first is done when it kicks up again. Demoralising. Walk the rest. Down and up, some tech, struggling to concentrated, but I get through it. I actually recognise a bit from a ride I've done before, but misplace it... I'm much further from the finish than I realise. 23:15... I can still make this. Into the final major climb... and it's taking forever. Cycle, push, cycle, push. COME ON damn it.
I'm past it, but descending is tough. Not enough light, and wind blowing me all over the place. Down off the top, I'm nearly done. Except no, I'm into another climb and my adrenaline is gone. Starting to hallucinate at this point too, really bad state. I push what I have to push, I start to utterly ruin my hamstring by cycling hard when seated. I just need to be done. It's gone midnight now and I'm completely flat. I have half an hour, but it doesn't seem to matter to me. I wanted to be done before midnight and I failed.
Cruising to the finish now. No point in pushing, plenty of time. I lose the line for a little while but I'm happy enought to backtrack. Don't want to be disqualified now! I'm at the Worms Head Institute building, but... is this not the finish? No, the line goes on. Down those stairs, down past the rocks. Into the sea?!? Screw it, why the hell not. Hike-a-bike time.
00:26. Cold, hallucinating, leg ruined, dehydrated, hungry, and stood in the rock pools in the dark... I'm done.
General Thoughts
If you're not psychologically tough enough, or you're not planning on "touring it", don't attempt the ride. It's brutal, and there are sections in there that I'm fairly convinced are in there just to demoralise. There's a whole bunch that's un-rideable, and for various reasons. Some is rutted to axle height, some is marshy and some is just flat out footpath that we probably shouldn't be on. Do this in the wrong weather, or if you're not 100% and there's a good chance it'll crush you.
...and every time you think there can't be more climbing. There's more climbing. On the subject of, I definitely needed a slightly easier gear. By my calculations my lowest was 20.2 gear inches which meant I could cycle almost everything, but not quite. That said, had I had access to an easier gear, whilst I would have walked less, I also probably would have been slower when riding.
I still badly need to fix by ability to sleep. I just don't know how I'm going to, but I need to be able to recover if I am do do anything longer than three days. I was at my absolute limit here, and a big part of that was the lack of sleep.
As much as I swore at him during the ride, I'd like to thank Ian for putting it together. As tough as the route is, it was definitely rewarding, and takes the crown for the hardest thing I've ever done.
In the right conditions I'm convinced that sub 2 days is possible. It sure as hell wont be me that does it though!
Total Time: 2 days, 14 hours, 50 minutes (Current fastest time)
Moving Time: 40 hours, 20 minutes.
Longest Day: 18 hours, 50 minutes.
Fastest Speed: 35.8mph.
Day 1: https://www.strava.com/activities/987346510
Day 2: https://www.strava.com/activities/987346583
Day 3: https://www.strava.com/activities/987346728
Route Homepage: https://cambriantrail.wordpress.com/
