I entered this ride a few weeks after completing the PBP. I felt that I should have recovered by this time, and in any case I was keen to finish the year with 100 points (i.e. 10,000km of Audax rides). If I could do this ride then I'd only have to do one more ride of 200k. If I didn't then I'd have to do a 300 and two 200s, and it wasn't clear at all that I'd have the time and energy to do three separate rides - and I was sure that although Audax is non-competitive, if I ended up with "only" ninety-something points then in years to come I'd would regret not making the effort to get to 100.
However, doing this 600 was a non-trivial undertaking. I'd failed to get into the ride earlier in the year when it was run as a calendar event, so I was attempting it as a "Permanent" - ie. doing the whole ride from the Severn View Services (Chepstow), across the Welsh mountains to the Menai bridge, and back, on my own.
The start of this ride was less than ideal. First, I didn't arrive at Andy's place in Rogiet (about 11 miles from Severn View Services) until 9pm, and by the time we'd eaten and swapped stories of the PBP it was after midnight, and then I couldn't sleep. I think I had about two and a half hours before rising at 4.30am. Second, there was a ominous clunking coming periodically from somewhere in my transmission that I couldn't locate. Andy couldn't place the fault either, so I decided to set off early as planned, and if the problem became acute then I could call in to a bike shop in Abergevenny (on the route) the following day.
I set off from Andy's at 5am for a 6am start at the services. The weather was cold but clear and I was feeling good about being back on the bike. I was a little bit apprehensive perhaps in view of the undertaking ahead of me (this was not exacerbated by having initially set off in the wrong direction for a few miles from Andy's!). I felt I was carrying too much luggage (two small panniers, stuffed), and there was the clunking to consider as well. Neither had I really recovered from a recent cold, but the excitement at setting off in the dark and the view of the sun rising over the Severn as I sipped my coffee at the services made me feel ready to go.
Leaving the services at 6.25am, I was a bit tentative in view of the bottom bracket/transmission problem and didn't honk any hills to be on the safe side. I felt a little sleepy to start with, and I wasn't feeling strong, but as the sun rose and I confronted the first climb of the day (Shirenewton, heading for Usk on the B4235) I felt a bit better. But by the time I had descended I was feeling tired, cold and hungry. I stopped outside Abergevenny for something to eat and a fag which, coupled with the early morning sunshine on the hills around me, cheered me up considerably.
The clunking seemed to be less of a problem now, so I decided to press on through Abergevenny for the Bronllys control (75k). However, after the second big climb of the day (out of Abergevenny) I felt shattered, and it was with some relief that I slumped into the Honey Pot Cafe at 9.56am with an hour and a half in hand. For my first proper food of the day I ordered beans on toast and (as an afterthought, for comfort) a slice of black pudding. What I got was beans with just one slice of toast and two huge slices of black pudding. Rather scrummy, but I did wonder how my stomach was going to cope with this. The control was very pleasant. I sat outside in the morning sunshine which was quite hot, but the food had taken twenty minutes to arrive and so it wasn't until 10.30am that I set off for Tre'r-Ddol (180k). Tre'r-Ddol is on the Aberystwyth to Machynlleth road and my route was via Lyswen, Builth Wells, Rhayader, Llangurig and Ponterwyd. I was not looking forward to this 105k leg as I was tired - sleepy and a bit stiff. Nevertheless the first part to Rhayader (following the Usk?) was quite easy going, and I stopped there (12.30pm) for some fruit pie and ice cream. I felt whacked, but pleasantly so.
Next came the climb out of Rhayader to Llangurig and then left towards Aberystwyth on the A44. I've been this way before, but I didn't realise this until I recognised Llangurig. What I didn't remember was the interminable climb! I measured the climb from Rhayader through Llangurig to the summit at Eisteddfa Gurig at 29k - with hardly a break at all in the climbing. My progress had been infuriatingly slow (the climb had taken me an hour and twenty minutes) but I just had to crash out for a while at the summit. I must have had half an hour there stretched out in the sun. Again it was very pleasant where I was, the weather still being good and my having everything I needed (eg wine gums, radio, fags :-), but my legs were definitely getting stiff, and I was starting to worry about what other climbing horrors the route had in store for me.
I got to Tre'r-Ddol at 4.08pm. I was knackered and had had to stop five miles before the control for a time-wasting cigarette control. I had a couple of hours in hand, but I wanted to save up time for some sleep that night. As the next control was at Dolgellau Little Chef only 48k away where I planned to have a proper feed, I pressed on after half an hour although really I needed more than that. Two more huge climbs (steep too) had me nearly weeping with the effort required to keep going, but I found the energy for some charging which got me to the Little Chef at 6.13pm. Absolutely knackered, but three and a half hours in hand.
After a proper feed I set off for the turn at Menai Bridge (316k). Going into Snowdonia proper was quite a special experience. I'd only ever skirted it before, but now I was heading into the night with the mountains looming up all around me. Some of the views were fantastic of course, even though the light was fading, and I enjoyed the NBO [Neurotic Boy Outsider - ed.] madness of what I was doing.
More and more climbing. Ugh! I gratefully crossed the Menai Bridge at 12.17am (three hours in hand), and found a wine bar for a control. That has to be the hardest 300 I've ever done, and I felt quite pleased with my achievement - a diagonal across Wales in eighteen hours, although by this stage I was approaching exhaustion and I had a bad headache from the lack of sleep. I set off on the homeward route looking for somewhere suitable to sleep, and after 10k I stopped in a field more or less at the foot of the Pass of Llanberis and tried to get myself settled in my bivvy bag, but because I was so tired I couldn't make a decision about how long I should sleep for. I really needed as much as possible, but I was confused about how much time in hand I had, so I settled on an hour and a half.
Disconcertingly I woke up six minutes after my alarm was supposed to wake me up, and not feeling much refreshed I set off towards the pass. At this stage I was really getting worried about time because I was so tired. Climbing the pass was really dreadful as I was still exhausted, and I couldn't even winch my way up in my granny gear and the pass is not that steep I think. I had to stop twice in short succession, and my spirits really slumped as I ended up having to walk the last half a mile. The nightmare continued getting back to Dolgellau (409k), really tired all the time, and although there was only one major climb after Llanberis, I was unable to push more than my 38x26 even along the flats.
Eventually thoughts of packing crept into my mind. It's difficult to remember quite how I thinking, but at the time it seemed there was a mistake on the brevet/route sheet that had lead me to take too much time on the outward 300, so that to get back in time I'd have to do the final 300 at 20kph - impossible in view of my physical state. In fact I still haven't sorted this out. The problem was that my route sheet was for last year's ride when it was 602k, but the brevet was for this year's ride when it was a 618k RM event. The routes were identical up to the penultimate control, but the distances for the controls up to that point were not. For example, the distances for the start of the return trip read:
Menai Bridge 305km or 318km,
Dolgellau: 381km or 409km
Newtown: 452km or 480km
and because the brevet was a RM event the times were based on a pace of 618/40 = 15.4kph.
I don't know if these numbers make any sense - they certainly didn't to me at the time - all I knew was that I was completely knackered and very unlikely to get to the next control on time. Now the agonies of to pack or not to pack. Several times I thought "That's it. There's a nice green leafy place, so let's just curl up in the old bivvy bag and get some kip - I'll just have to get my points somewhere else". So I'd crash out feeling relaxed now that I wasn't having to chase times, but then I'd suddenly think "Well, can't hang around here all day" and suddenly find myself back on my bike, having forgotten that I'd packed. This went on for some time, and I got into Dolgellau at 9.45am with no time in hand at all. By this stage I'd really decided to pack here, and to catch the train home. Bzzt. Dolgellau doesn't have a railway station! Ok, so have something to eat here, press on to Newtown (which does have a station) and who knows, perhaps I'll find some energy from somewhere and the time will be ok.
However, sadly, it was not to be. The road from Dolgellau to Newtown is as lumpy as hell, and I had nothing left. It was a very disappointing feeling. I guess I was only about half an hour out of time at Newtown, but my legs were stiff, my bum sore, it was starting to rain, and even if I had been on time I just couldn't see myself doing the final 150k (or 180k, depending on which information you believe) in 8 hours, especially so as I needed more rest at the time. I was torn between shouting my head off in exasperation, and sitting down on the verge and having a good cry. In the end I wheeled into Newtown to the railway station in the gloom and pouring rain to find the station unmanned and discover that trains from Newtown only go to Shrewsbury for the Heart of Wales line, which doesn't carry bikes, or to Birmingham which is a long way to go to get back to Swansea. Of course, there wasn't even any guarantee that I could get my bike on the train at Newtown. So what to do? Hang around here for 2 hours in the rain and chance being able to get on the train, and get a connection to Swansea at 6pm on a Sunday? Or stay over and try in the morning? Aaargh. I just couldn't make a decision, and coupled with the pent up frustration and emotional overload I baled out into a B&B with an obscene quantity of chocloate biscuits, scoffed them and crashed out for 12 hours.
The following day I decided trying to get a train home was too complicated and potentially expensive, so I rode back taking 12 hours for the 180k. Ironically I got stronger the further I went, although it was another hard ride (not made eaiser by the fact I didn't have the relevant maps and chose my route by going to places I knew the way to Swansea from - resulting in my going out of my way by about 30 miles at one point). It wasn't a bad ride though, and I chose to go up the Devil's Elbow near Ystrafellte where there was a tremendous view in the evening sunshine. As I sat there in I felt really emotional: great sadness at not completing the 600, acute loneliness at not having someone to share the wonderful view with, but also some pride and joy at having completed a diagonal across Wales in 18 hours, and a complete North-South circuit in less than three days.
In retrospect, not getting enough sleep the night before was a big mistake, but I thought that I'd handled something similar on PBP, so why not again? Answer: because you've only just finished riding PBP you dolt! People had said that doing a 600 on my own would be hard, any events proved this to be the case. I think if thereld been other riders around to chivvy me along with their usual freindly, encouraging, sarcastic remarks then my spirits wouldn't have slumped quite so much. Nevertheless, I don't think the ride is impossible, and I'd be prepared to try again, but not for a while I think!
© Kilgore's Enterprises February 1997