One of the shortcomings of my audaxing of late has been a lack of speed. In part this has been due to a lot of heavy tandeming and the perpetual headwind of the last few months, but has been beginning to wind me up as I'm feeling fairly fit at the moment and my riding performance hasn't reflected this.
To that end, I plotted out a 204km perm from Aberystwyth to Angelsey, via Tywyn, Dolgellau, Corwen and then down the A5 with a view to riding the route last Friday. I had to do a bit of work in the morning, so left the house at about midday, equipped with my fancy carbon bike and very minimal clothing and equipment.
Despite a good forecast, the early stages of the ride were beset by a heavy sea mist and it was hard to get warm. I left Aber via the 1:3 Cefn Llan climb, which despite causing my lungs to burn still didn't warm me up. I made good progress up the A487 and was in Machynlleth within an hour of starting. My route now took me down the far side of the Dyfi and into a bit of a headwind, before I turned off into happy valley and had bit of a climb before rolling down into Tywyn. There was thick mist at the top of the climb, but as I approached Tywyn, this withdrew and I had the first glimpse of a reasonable day's weather.
After a quick feed in Tywyn, I was heading west up the valley towards the Tal y Llyn lake and the base of Cadair Idris. I had opted for the shorter, lumpier route to Dolgellau, to aid my quest for speed. There was a bit of a tailwind on this leg and I flew up the valley, having a brief race with a narrow-gauged steam train on the way. A couple of slight lumps and I was soon skirting the Tal y llyn lake on my way to the foot of the cross foxes climb. Onto the climb and the headwind was very kind, allowing me to spin up the hill at about 17-18kph. I was soon at the top of the climb and heading across the plains towards the Cross Foxes. From here, it was a fast decent to Dolgellau. Feeling strong, I found a cashpoint for proof of passage and pressed on through the town and out onto the Bala road. There was a pleasant lack of traffic and I was soon approaching the 100km mark which I got to in a shade under 4 hours total time.
During a couple of brief spells of sunshine, I was happily cruising along when something big and brown caught my eye. Some sort of large bird of prey had decided I looked like lunch and was swooping on me with talons extended. When I clocked it, it veered away and was gone in an instant. An impressive sight though.
Bala lake soon came into sight and before long I had skirted the side of this and was rolling into Bala town. I pressed on for about a further 10 miles before reaching the A5, where I would be spending most of the rest of the ride. A brief deviation to Corwen for food, drink and a receipt to prove passage and I was heading west with 70km left to ride. At this point there was a fierce headwind and I realised some of the explanation for the excellent time I'd made so far.
I began to have some comfort issues with my saddle on this leg, but these were alleviated by a few boughts of standing. Over many miles of rolling Snowdonia plains, the A5 gradually begins to lose altitude, until a winding descent into Betws y coed. I had planned to stop for food here if bonking, but as I felt OK, pressed on. After Betws, there are a couple of miles of gradual climb up until the turn to Llanberis, where I laughed with myself about the possibility of going over the pass, particularly given the snow covered hill tops. Pressing on further, there were a couple of miles more of plains, before I reached the Llyn Ogwen. This is at the top of a deep valley and the headwind was really funelling towards me. I powered on and was soon rolling down hill towards Bethesda on what I had imagined would have been a fast descent. The headwind and a really poor road surface put pay to that, but even so, I was rolling into Bethesda as dusk was beginning to approach.
With the drop in altitude, the wind became less of a problem and I was soon descending once more, this time appraching the A55 dual carriageway. As I joined this road, it started to rain and this seemed to give the Irish lorry drivers dispensation to pretend I wasn't there despite my reflective gillet and LED flasher. After a couple of rolling climbs, I was soon at the Brittania bridge and immediately after crossing the straights left the A55 and headed South towards my arrivee in Pentraeth. The rain was quite hard now and the last of the daylight ebbed away, but I was still riding well and passed the 200km mark at pretty much dead-on 8 hours. After a couple of minor lumps, I was soon descending into Pentraeth, where I controlled at a petrol garage. My total ride time was 8 hours and 15 minutes. A good day out and fairly successful in proving to myself that I ride a fast 200. I might try this route again later in the year when the wind backs off a little...
AC
