Author Topic: This is not a tour. Welsh rides in the spirit of Mike Hall - 2/3rd June 2018.  (Read 63897 times)

It looks like you can save 80m of climbing by taking the main road from Llangurig to Llanidloes, and - on the 300 route - you can save 200m (!) in 7km by sticking to the A489 most of the way to Newtown.

Would I be missing anything, especially as it'll be dark when I get to Newtown?

You could save 600km by staying in bed.

These rides were put together to honour the way Mike rode and routes Mike rode. We also know the bits that Mike rode, because we either rode the sections with him, or chewed thd fat over sections.

All this hot air (not just this thread but others too) about saving 200m here and 22.54cm there. You clearly never knew Mike or his ethos on bike riding. If you did, there would not be any of these comments. Which really does raise the question what are you hoping to acheive at the weekend?

where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
I plan to ride The Route (at least until I get lost*. Or I accidentally take an off-road Devils Staircase option ... )

But Mike's greatest legacy is the TCR. He wanted riders to work out the fastest/best route between checkpoints. So there is a precedent for this sort of behaviour :)

Lots of Love,
Matt <now very excited>

*and then get unlost, obvs ;)
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

simonp

Chapeau to everyone riding. I’m not daft enough to think I’m fit enough for this given where my focushas been recently.

Also kudos and thanks to Mark and everyone else involved in making this happen. Bonne route!


Planet X Paul

  • The Green Machine
I'm also going to be a DNS on the 400 populaire.  Unfortunately I have only ridden half the distance I had done this time last year and not done any hill work.  I did do a 400 a couple of weeks ago and was not too bad.  However, it was a flat route and what hills there were found me out.  I'm hoping to get some more miles and hills in during the summer and hopefully have a solo ride of the route in August or September.  Have a great weekend all.  Looking forward to hearing the stories of your adventures.

Exactly what Mattc said. I took analysing the terrain to be part of the exercise. Perhaps I’m mistaken.

By entering the BR I’ve set myself a challenge that’s at the very edge of my abilities. I could have entered the BP and that be easy.

Dear All
A rather mundane request after the excitement of routing, but one which will cause a lot of bother before hand if I get it wrong - is there anywhere near the start that anyone recommends for parking? Its a bit far and early to ECE! I am sure i can find somewhere, but after the Brian Chapman and requests not to park near the start, I do not want to offend any residents or cause a bother for the organisers.
Any help appreciated.

telstarbox

  • Loving the lanes
2019 🏅 R1000 and B1000

I'm out. :(
Bike all set to go but my head isn't in it plus I've still got a slight lurgy in my chest that I've had for over a fortnight.
I've got lots of silly little jobs to do that I've kept putting off. I'm sure that's, at least, partly why my head isn't in it. I'll use the loss of this ride that I was looking forward to, to give me a kick up the jacksy to get things done.
Hope you all have a good ride. Route looks great and it doesn't make sense that I'm not pulling out the stops to make the start. Weather looks like it will be good too.
Maybe if I get my shit together I'll have a ride around anyway later on this year, as I have the route. I know I could ride it this weekend, it's just not right for me right now.
I feel a bit gutted that I'm not even trying to make it, so will miss one of the rides I was looking forward to most of all this year. But, if I get my act together then it will be a very good thing and there's always other rides, which will be better if I sort myself out.
Plus, I still have the route, so I can always ride it some other time, maybe even as a group perm?

Have fun everyone... :thumbsup:

iddu

  • Are we there yet?
Bah, DNF

Complete lack of mojo, < 200k in 13 hours :(

Good speed to the rest.
I'd offer you some moral support - but I have questionable morals.

Smeth

  • less Grimpeur than Whimpeur...
Ditto dnf the 600. Overcooked a misty descent. Off into the rockery but stayed upright on a flat rear. Still well in time and bike ok after repair no 1 but all not well.  2 boots, three tubes and a busted pump later, no way to continue. Long walk and a taxi.

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quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless

Watching the coverage of this ride on social media. It looks amazing. I hope it's run again next year!

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Ditto dnf the 400 BP. Just taking so long to recover from the ups and boy are there a load of them. Not feeling terribly audacious

That said, I've had a cracking day out and even a couple of sections would make the basis of a decent ride some time in the future

Condolences to iddu, Smeth, and haywire. Sounds tough out there.

Zed43

  • prefers UK hills over Dutch mountains
I loved it! (did the "fast" 300). Think this one had the most climbing/km of a brevets I've done sofar. The gravel sections  were challenging (never done mtb'ing or cross) but fun. It did help loads that the weather was beautiful.

One dissappointment: no cake or anything at arrivee. I mean, seriously?

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Did the easiest of the 200ks. It was absolutely brutal. 300k seems like an impossibility - never mind the longer rides. Congratulations to everyone who finished any of them. I was not More Mike but I was as Mike as I could be.

Mr Green

  • LEL, SR, RRtY, 24TT
Body hell, that was tough. Completed the 200A with about 5mins to spare.very different from most other Rides I've done. Well done to the team organising, a well conceived and well organised memorial
What a lot of effort just for a cloth badge.

Insane rides! :D

Doing the 300A, I had to be talked out of packing at the Dolgellau. I soldiered on and finished around midnight. (I had forecast an 8pm arrivee.... :facepalm:) It was just so bloody hard!

Stunning scenery, heroic organisation & a great team of helpers. Nice to meet Mikes' mum!

I did the 300A BR and poured everything into getting to Llanidloes (130 km) with 1 minute to spare and had nothing left for the rest of the ride. I got to the Dolgellau checkpoint over an hour out of time and after that I could barely turn the pedals and was fighting off the dozies. Got to arrivée four hours late.

(Was the Newtown McDonalds meant to be open? Closed for refurbishment and  didn’t even have glass in the windows!)

I did do all five off road sections on my usual 23mm slicks with only one puncture. I imagine I may have been the only one.

An amazing route but absolutely brutal. Thanks organisers and volunteers.

400 BR complete, as per other comments we were later than hoped as the hills are relentless and there just isn't anywhere to recover time.

Bacon roll at 11pm at Lake Vnwry shop was immense, and I particularly enjoyed then last off road section and descent to James and team at the Dolgellau checkpoint (he gave me his beer!)

alfapete

  • Oh dear
Only the 100A for me and having read the other reports I'm glad I didn't try the 200. After 10 years of audaxing I made so many rookie mistakes!

It was unusual for me to be at the front of the field from the off but I pressed on and thought someone was sure to come past me once we started climbing. When they didn't I thought perhaps Mark had sent me the wrong .gpx. When the grass triangle at 13km didn't appear I was seriously concerned but it was only at 20km that I realised I was following the purple line THE WRONG WAY ROUND. So I had a very early lunch in LLanidloes and a long gentle climb up to the highest point on the ride followed by a steep descent on the worst of the gravel whilst meeting so many others going the other way. Sorry to the rider I forced to stop on his way up when we couldn't pass on the 12" wide tarmac  - he thought it was easier for me to take to the rocks, I thought it was easier for him.

The scenery and weather were sublime and I enjoyed my ice cream at the dog show too. The the section around the reservoirs was absolutely beautiful but as I was a DNF I took a main road route back from Rhayader to the Arrivee (not very Mike at all)

A fabulous tribute, well done to Mark and the team for organising it.
alfapete - that's the Pete that drives the Alfa

I rode the "fast" 400km very slowly, so slowly in fact I was out of time at Knighton so I packed at 355km (390km by the time I got back to the arrivee, but I could not have rode the extra to Presteigne and Kington)
https://creweandnantwichaudax.wordpress.com/ - See the Audax events I currently organise

www.milehousebarn.co.uk - Cycle Friendly B&B in Nantwich, Chehsire

Well done to everyone who took part in these amazing events over the weekend, and particularly well done to the outstanding efforts from Mark Rigby and the rest of the Tinat Organisers. I managed to get a few half decent pics - apologies I didn't get all of you and that I haven't had time to edit any photos. I've uploaded some low res files to Flickr, and I am happy to supply the original RAW files if anyone wants them to edit/change etc.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/154699339@N04/

Feel free to use the pics for personal use (not commercial).....all I ask for is a small donation to my 'Bring Mo Home' fund which can be found here

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jo-and-mo

 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Does not play well with others

Zed43

  • prefers UK hills over Dutch mountains
Photo 0303 made me chuckle "what do you mean, 'this is not a tour' "

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Photo 0303 made me chuckle "what do you mean, 'this is not a tour' "

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

I know - he made me smile very much! :)

Does not play well with others