Just abandoned at Treherbert.
Sorry to hear that Graham — I packed at Hirwaun the other side of that f++king hill,
450km 475km in, not even halfway
I lost my ability to climb, which wasn't great to start with, by about Tewkesbury, developing hardly any power at all, and then going straight into the red and overheating. ACME crew can tell you just how sh!t my climbing had become, every time I was left for dust on the slightest climb to Barry (the first time). I don't think I've every drunk quite so much water on a ride, but still felt cooked the whole way. The climb up out of Tonypandy (Treherbert by then) was excrutiatingly slow, even though it's a fairly gentle grade all the way up, I just couldn't turn the pedals over, or if I did I popped and stopped.
I had bags of time in hand, so I sat in the shade in a pub for a while and then out in the countryside, but just felt worse, not able to cool down and starting to lose optical focus/image-alignment, so felt it was time to call it a day — the forecast was for even hotter and the hills weren't going to get any smaller, I didn't have it in me to continue. Retired to a Premier Inn in Cwmbach (Aberdare), a nice air-conditioned room, a cheeky Chinese takeaway, and a relaxed, downhill ride along the Cynon and Taff Trails to Cardiff this morning then a long, slow train ride home to Cambridge.
Even on the odd uphill section of the ride back today I wasn't able to develop any power, although on the flats I was fine.
Lots of things to mull over now about where it went wrong, but my initial thoughts are that I'm not as fit as I think I am and I went out too quick even for the fitness I thought I had. Basic rookie mistakes; a bit embarrassing, really
That's 60-something back-to-back months of RRTY comprehensively terminated with two hilly Welsh DNFs in a single month — my first DNFs since early 2013, I think my limits have found me.
A disappointing end to what was a great adventure, well done Tomsk for coming up with the idea and organising, and helpers for helping
And I hope everyone else has a better time of it and gets back safely.
EDIT: I forgot to mention, thank you to all those whose shared their company on the road. I tended to move around a bit, more so later, but nevertheless I spent a fair chunk of time on and off with Abi, who sensibly had a hotel booked in Chepstow on the way out; Mick Gray, who reckoned I was about 2% quicker than he could sustain on his own and I joked I was about 10% quicker than I could manage myself, which was probably an understatement; the ACME group, who I bumped into in Pontypridd after breakfast, but who immediately dropped me up every hill to Barry — Jan's a monster on the granny gear!; Chris T, Alex B, Ali, et al.
I already know some of you didn't make it, but I hope the rest of you did (by the time you read this)
