Trans Cambrian

It was with some trepidation that I drove back to Wales this weekend, literally to the heart of the storm that was lashing the South West coast. I'd decided to stay with Kelv Friday night at his new pad in Porthcawl which just happened to be at the focal point of all the weather warning reports I'd heard before leaving. Bridgend under water, A470 closed, Taff close to breaking point. I did begin to wonder if we'd make it at all whilst sailing down the M4. It was looking like it was going to be yet another wet and windy affair.

Thankfully the weather lifted later that night, allowing us to venture out onto the rocky seafront at Porthcawl armed with a bottle of port. Kelv had been leant a book by his new boss with the subtext 'An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life'. We celebrated his recent life changes and his return to work by burning it on the beach. I've never burnt a book before. Another perfect evening of sportive preperation.

I'd signed up for the Trans Cambrian after completing the Devil Ride, relishing the oppourtunity to enter another event in my old back yard. At 6:15am Sunday morning Bob's brother Darren and myself drove down to Rhayader in a light drizzle. It was steadily getting warmer and the forecast was promising - a million miles from the severe weather on Friday.

Clive greeted us at the start and we signed on and received our timing chips. Organisation was spot on, plenty of parking and a quick and simple signon process. We wanted to get an early start and headed out with the first 10 riders of the day tackling the first climbs out of Rhayader towards St Harmon. Looking at the route it was clear that the hardest climbs of the ride were confined the first 30 miles. The road to Llani via Pantydwr and Twlych has a good number of testing climbs to get the legs warmed up, but the real beauties were still to come at Clywedog.

The only slight hitch of the day was in Llanidloes, where the clear and well sign posted route was confused by a route indicator for another event. This unfortunately caught out a few people I met on the ride costing them a few miles in the wrong direction. I looked like it had been added after the event sign posts had been placed, as the rest of the route was perfectly sign posted, including caution signs and marshalls on the major road junctions.

Climbing out of Llanidloes it was amusing to see some names painted on the road a la Tour De France, stating 'Sean is Gay' and 'Go Llani Go' amongst others. At the top of the first climb I was suffering badly, nearly threw up and couldn't get into any rythym whatsoever. Perfect timing to be photographed by the now familar sight of George Burgess. Friday nights shenanigins were paying back heavily and I couldn't get comfortable, had knee pains, aching back and feet and a persistent headache. Heading past Clywedog I remembered I'd managed to avoid riding up Bwlch-y-Gle nearly my entire time living in Wales, only tackling it once when I was 19. Today there was no escape and I plodded up with empty legs.

After Clywedog the majority of the big climbs were out of the way and I began to recover from the tough start to the morning. I was now on well ridden roads heading from Staylittle over Dylife to Machynlleth - my training route when I'm home in Wales. The last climb out of Dylife was completely obscured by cloud which was a real shame, the scenery up there is some of the best in the area and Cadir Idris and Snowdon can easily be seen on a clear day. Dropping out of the clouds there's an awesome 7 mile descent into Machynlleth on the valley floor below. Ahead of me there were 2 other riders and we were the first to reach the food station just outside Mach.

Mach to Talybont was fast and flat on good surfaces and the weather was starting to improve making the Nant y Moch section the most enjoyable of the whole route. The scenery up there is awesome, almost alpine in places. I overheard a couple other riders saying it was the most spectular sportive they'd entered for scenery. They continued to be blown away by the route, heading then to Devils Bridge, Cwmystwyth and finally the Elan Valley. I rode the last 30 miles with a few guys from Stoke who were motoring along trying to make up time for their wrong turn in Llanidloes. I finally started to feel good towards the end, spurred on by my parents who'd been out and about on the route all morning.

At the finish within seconds of scanning my timing chip I was presented with certificate and timings, followed by a drink, sandwich and event tshirt. 10 minutes later I was enjoying a well earned cuppa and a leg massage. Perfect. After the glorified informal ride that was the Burgess Hill Rumble last week, it was a great feeling to be back participating in a superbly organised event. I clocked 5 hours 14 mins - 16 minutes off Gold and 15 minutes within Silver. It had been a great day, awesome scenery and well organised. The food stations were also very well stocked with a good selection, though I was first to reach both so not sure how much was left later in the day!

This week I'll I've got training Thursday and then my third race of the year Saturday at Hillingdon. The Southern Sportive is on Sunday... can I make it three sportive weekends in a row?? We'll see...