Well we managed to make a weekend out of this one by riding to the start from Aberystwyth and most of the way back.
With a hideous looking clip on rack attached to the stoker seatpin of our tandem and lightweight panniers we left Aberystwyth at about 9 on Friday morning, taking the rolling route south across some of the lumpier bits of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. There was a headwind as ever and this turned into a tough slog showing up our already tired legs from the 24 hour time trial we did a week earlier. At about 1ish we got to Carmarthen, had a feed in a Café and headed West along the A40. With the wind mainly behind us and a relatively flat road, we made good time on this leg of the ride, soon passing Llandeilo and Llandovery on our way to the 2nd control at Sennybridge. Another Café control and we were rolling onto the final leg of the ride towards our arrivée in Newport. There was a lumpy section across country to cut off the corner to the A470 before tackling the Heads of the Valley road in the beginnings of rush hour. The climb to the top was gradual but comfortable and we were soon over the top and speeding towards Merthyr. Once we hit the dual carriageway, we were able to hold a fast average speed, only slowing for roundabouts and for a brief backtrack to collect Jasmine's buff which had blown off of the top of her head. At about 10 miles North of Cardiff, a no cycling sign was seen on the A470 so we exited and picked up the familiar route to Tongwynlais. From there we took Dave Lewis' usual route to the A48 and got our final control before rolling down the hill to our hotel. A meal in the pub next door and we were heads down by about 10pm.
Saturday loomed wet and grey after a bad nights sleep and we were both feeling a little apathetic. Once we had breakfast and struggled down 2 flights of fire stairs with the tandem, we were soon rolling the short distance to the start and feeling a little more awake. We didn't have long to wait for the 8am departure and we were soon in a small group with Mr & Mrs Blacksheep heading over the Newport plains towards Chepstow and the old Severn Bridge. Once into England, the sun came out and we made steady progress through S. Gloucestershire towards our first control - Slimbridge at 80km. A little before this, the BSs stopped to sort out a slow puncture and we gently pressed on. On one of the gravely lanes we too had a puncture, albeit on the rear wheel, and so after fixing it rolled into the control where I washed the mud and oil from my mitts then we all had a sit down.
In light of our luck to-date, we opted for the A38 rather than the towpath of doom after Slimbridge and pressed up to Gloucester. The BSs lead us on a less laney route to the Harpbury control and we were soon there having caught up with several other riders. We didn't stop long and made relatively short work of the next leg to Symmonds Yat East, where more food was consumed in a nice riverside Café. The riverside path has bedded down nicely since we last rode it and we had a smooth run down to Monmouth. After Mitchell Troy, the 4 of us left the route and successfully found our way to MV's new gaff where we were fed and watered, thanks MV
. An alternative route to the top of Pen-y-Clawdd took us up some pleasantly cool and shaded lanes before bringing us out near the top of the familiar ridge. The tandem made short work of the rolling section to Usk and after a bit of a main road slog and a short sharp climb we were onto the Canal towpath towards the finish.
A final control at Sebastopol allowed for quick liquid refreshment, and the rest of the run back was relatively uneventful, although there were a few dodgy slides on the muddy path, one uncomfortably low bridge and a few nasty road crossings. We managed to throw our timing chain too on one of the canal bridges. A couple of km of road after we left the Canal and we were back at the start, 400km into our weekend. We ate a hearty meal each at the finish pub, bode farewell to the Blacksheeps and were once again bedded down for a bad night's sleep, having staggered the two flights of stairs back to our room with the tandem.
On Sunday we were of the mind to quit while ahead and make our way home via public transport, but having established that there were no good options due to engineering works on the railways and an odd lack of daytime busses, we were forced to try and ride. We had a reasonable run back out of Cardiff, up the Heads of the Valley road and were feeling strong enough thereafter to head for Sennybridge rather than a more direct route back via Brecon. A long Café stop helped us to build reserves for the remaining ride and we cast off onto the A40, this time into the face of the wind that had helped us two days earlier. Somewhere on this leg, Jasmine hit the end of her comfort zone, so we needed to look at other options for getting home. Llandovery station proved not to be useful, so we eventually limped on to Lampeter, arriving at about 4pm. We broke the tandem down into bin bags and had a leisurely 3 hour pub stop before catching the evening bus home.
So it may not surprise you that I felt a little stiff commuting on the fixie today...
AC
