Trans Cambrian Way ITT ... is here!

[Bearbonesnorm]

Superb effort :D

[gairym]

amazing stuff!

bet he's knackered.

[Taylor]

Well done that man. :D

[faddyvictor]

Brilliant ride,welldone.

[numplumz]

Great ride there. Looks like ace conditions too.
So has that stirred up some competitive mojo Ian

[Chew]

Well done

[slarge]

Nice one fella - looks like you got away without needing lights as well.

Looks like a genuine fastest time - be interested to see how much of your time was riding compared to total time - I spent around 2 hours "not riding" when I did it - still can't see how, but there are a couple of steep pushes.

[pedalhead]

Hi guys! posting from Mach bunkhouse with low phone battery so just a quickie before i get homwthis evening. great to see Stuart on the trail, definitely perked me up. Gps ran out of batts so final stretch got pretty hairy. should/could have been sub 11. Maybe next time! Will post up gps and pics later on. great that people were watching cheers! Conditions good though still wet in places. beaitiful views. Bitch of a trail though!!!

[Bearbonesnorm]

So Mark, what's the 'official' time?

[pedalhead]

Well I got onto Dovey station platform at 18:40 on my watch. i left Knighton a few mins after 06:53. Will check gps track at home later for exact start time. I'd guess final time will be about 11:45 give or take a min or two.

[slarge]

So, let's get this straight:

no confirmed finish time
outside assistance from Stuart (may not have been Haribo, but "perked up" sounds unfair to me)

Nah, don't believe it. I think you need to have another crack at it.

Just kidding - blimmin good effort!

[pedalhead]

Home at last 8-) . I've been working out proper timings & come up with the final numbers. I've taken the gps start time as definitive start, which was a few mins after I took the photo (should have had a pee & faffed first!). GPS is 2 mins faster than my watch so I've adjusted for that. I looked at my watch when arriving at Dovey Junction & it was 18:40 (pic taken @ 18:41). The GPS ran out of battery precisely 3.3 miles from the end. Sod's law! I've overlaid my track onto the offical track & happy to say I went the correct way (well, apart from the regular backtracking when I took the wrong turn at various locations...usually up hills...bah!)

Start time @ Knighton = 06:56
Finish time @ Dovey Junction = 18:40

Total elapsed = 11 hrs 44 mins

GPS track... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/164156538









I'm gonna do a proper write-up on my blog whilst it's all still fresh in my mind tonight or tomorrow. Thanks again for the interest & support chaps, and particular thanks to Stuart for the visit on the trail and this morning...hand delivering my BBB T-shirt no less

[gairym]

good work sir!

at some point i'd like to attempt it myself but i'd be heading more in the region of a sub 24 hour (one way) if i'm lucky.

[Ian]

(well, apart from the regular backtracking when I took the wrong turn at various locations...usually up hills...bah!)

I see you missed that left fork up the damp bridleway on the section leading up to Bwlch-y-sarnau. I made the same mistake too, but only went 70 yds before turning back

Imagine if you're familiar enough with the whole route that you didn't need to look at the map. How quick would you be?

[pedalhead]

(well, apart from the regular backtracking when I took the wrong turn at various locations...usually up hills...bah!)

I see you missed that left fork up the damp bridleway on the section leading up to Bwlch-y-sarnau. I made the same mistake too, but only went 70 yds before turning back

Imagine if you're familiar enough with the whole route that you didn't need to look at the map. How quick would you be?

ah yes damn that left fork! Having climbed all the way to the top of a nice smooth fire road, I had to turn around, lose the height and do it again but this time on a slow & wet narrow track!

I think 11 hours is do-able without the headwind and navigation issues. Definitely interested in another try in the summer. Would be a nightmare in the wet though, so many potentially draggy sections.

[Bearbonesnorm]

TCW ITT ... now duly updated

[pedalhead]

TCW ITT ... now duly updated

Ace :D

[Ian]

Mark - what are those straps you've got around your knees in the pic Stu posted on the TCW ITT page?

[pedalhead]

Mark - what are those straps you've got around your knees in the pic Stu posted on the TCW ITT page?

It's Kinesiology tape, recommended by a physio & it's meant to delay the onset of muscle tiredness - in my case for the quads. It may be placebo, but I think it helps. Plus, my legs were surprisingly fresh after the ride. I keep meaning to search & see if there's any science behind it!

[pedalhead]

I've done a write-up of the ride on my blog if anyone's interested in a read...

http://pedalhead.net/2012/04/03/trans-c ... s-44-mins/

[royAB]

Well done that man!

Thoroughly enjoyable blog read too - perfect for a Friday afternoon in the office..

[pedalhead]

cheers matey, glad you enjoyed the read

[evilgoat]

Pedalhead - that's an vaguely exciting ride.

Going to be doing the TCW-ITT as a group of 3 sunday June 3rd. As a charity fundraiser.

Details here: https://sites.google.com/site/bigdayrideforhenry/home.

Any suggestions or recommendations?

Where's best place to leave a car in Knighton?

and is there anywhere to leave a car near dovey junction? Staying in Corris before and after and don't fancy the 9 miles back to the hostel after finishing.

Won't be making any challenges on top time. Will be happy with 16 hours total.

Is there any specific sections where the navigation is tricky and to watch out for?

cheers!

[pedalhead]

Pedalhead - that's an vaguely exciting ride.

Going to be doing the TCW-ITT as a group of 3 sunday June 3rd. As a charity fundraiser.

Details here: https://sites.google.com/site/bigdayrideforhenry/home.

Any suggestions or recommendations?

Where's best place to leave a car in Knighton?

and is there anywhere to leave a car near dovey junction? Staying in Corris before and after and don't fancy the 9 miles back to the hostel after finishing.

Won't be making any challenges on top time. Will be happy with 16 hours total.

Is there any specific sections where the navigation is tricky and to watch out for?

cheers!

Hiya. I just read the story behind your ride. Such a tragic thing but great that you're using it as an incentive to do something challenging for charity. As you mention in your blog post, unless we have a dry May it's going to be particularly tricky (wet, boggy, flooded) in places, but I would imagine that your target time should be perfectly achievable if you're all fairly regular riders and you don't have any unlucky mechanicals.

I parked at Offa's Dyke Centre following a recommendation from someone on this forum. The car was still there, in one piece, when I returned so I guess that it was ok to do so! I'm really not sure about parking around Dovey Station. There's no car park at the station itself, and the A road that runs through that area is fairly narrow and busy. You could leave a car somewhere in Mach I suppose, which is about half way to Corris.

Navigation, my favourite topic . As there are three of you, I'd definitely recommend between you to have a map and a gps (at least one!) visible at all times. It's too slow & tedious to have maps stashed away as you'll probably be consulting them a lot, even with a gps. Don't always just head for the obvious trail, as often that's not the correct one! You need to be constantly looking at the map & the gps track so you can quickly identify when you're off course. I found that my gps just wasn't accurate enough to trust 100% as the margin of error inherent in the system was often too great to quickly identify the correct trail when faced with some junctions. I also suffered from not using proper OS maps on my gps, but rather the more basic open source mapping, which definitely hindered me in identifying trail features for navigation. I can't really suggest any particular areas that are tricky to navigate, but they are frequent! Enjoy the bit around the reservoir as you can pretty much ignore the maps for an hour or so .

I guess you've probably done this sort of riding before, so obviously it'd be sensible to work out food & water strategy before-hand. I doubt you'll be short of water , but you'll want some way of treating it (I used chlorine dioxide tabs).

Best of luck with it, and do let us know how you get on. If you'd like any more info feel free to drop me a line. Oh, and the IMBA website blurb about the record is of course now out of date & they've not responded to my email from a while back, but I'm (sadly!) not a sponsored rider as per your blog post .

[slarge]

Hi,
as Pedalhead says, you can leave you car at the Visitor centre in Knighton. Just let them know you are going to (although it seems like quite a few locals leave their cars there as well).

Navigation - PH has it spot on. A GPS and a map is great - if you buy the IMBA map, just bear in mind that it is accurate, but based on a 1950 OS map (don't ask, but it gets round licencing or something). Transfer it to a newish OS map. All the trails are Bridleways or UCRs etc, but they're not always obvious on the ground. There are some handpainted yellow arrows on gateposts, but don't rely on them as they are very old and faded, and many are missing.

Good luck with it, and you might want to consider picking up the road just before the Claerwen reservoir rather than follow the bridleway. Depends how "genuine" you want to be with the route, but the bridleway will be very very wet. And deep.