OK--2E.
w/e before having ridden up Bwlch Y Groes on Barmouth Blvd decided to do an anti-clockwise circuit start @ Knighton.
The climb out of the Teme valley towards Anchor was very pleasant, a nice staedy 6-10% gradient and not too hot--even at 9am I had to remove arm and knee warmers. The fields were looking parched after the run of dry weeks and the extensive views across the rolling hills
A fabulous descent down to Newtown, losing nearly 400m height brought me to control 1 in good time before I set off towards Llanfair Caerenion / Lake Vyrwny and Bala. This turned out to be a really tough section indeed---the road reared staright up out of Newtown on a 16% slope, and this continued up, down all the way to Lake Vyrnwy, taking in some narrow and steep but scenic lanes on the way --theme of the morning section
Reaching Lake Vyrnwy I was able to relax , recuperate and enjoy after the gruelling hot slog from Newtown--certainly IMO the hardest section of the whole 200km---and the 8km flat along the reservoir road in shade was very good indeed
Hirnant pass out of Vyrnwy was a good steady climb, just a couple of sharp 10+% sections before an excellent fast descent down
I was very glad to reach Bala and get some food in, and more importantly stock up on more fluids--with the temp now near 25c it was proving to be a hot ride, but fortunately not as hot as recent days.
In contrast to the south (Dinas) climb of the Bwlch y Groes the northern side I find a pleasant climb and within an hour of leaving Bala I had reached the summit, enjoying graet views on the way up
With little traffic around the descent went smoothly, no cars / sheep to interrupt a rapid but controlled freewheel down to the baking valley and a pint of shandy at Red Lion in Dinas.
With the two `signature` climbs now completed I felt more confident of finishing having thought before Vyrnwy that a shortcut might be in order as hill after hill assaulted me.
having ridden the llanbrymair > Knighton section many times before I knew what was in store around Clywedog and slowed right down to pace myself---signs of "Araf-Slow" on the road were unnecessarily appropriate at many points but I very much enoyed teh downhill swoops of 16% reaching a new maxm speed of 85 kph on the Bwlch y Gle descent
The Society Preservation Audax Riders (aka SPAR) @ llanidloes provided a control point but also teh opportunity to get 2l of sparkling water to rehydrate; couple with a ham sarnie, 4 chocolate muffins and a 20 minute sitdown this helped me to summon energy for the final 40km roller coaster into Knighton.
Dark thunder clouds were gathering now on the skyline and I fully expected a thorough soaking
A stiff breeze had also picked up but luckily this was a tailwind
which assisted me along towards Llanbister and the final big hill of the day, a 1km section of 15% to gain the open moorlands.
Nearing Llangunllo it was clear that 1, there`d been some serious rain and 2 I had also missed it
Deep roadside puddles and gravel across teh road was evidence of a tremendous recent downpour. But at least it cleared the air for the final half hour back into Knighton just under 12 hours since leaving.
A very hard ride, my Etrex showed 4 300m ascent !!! and the added heat made this one of the toughest rides I`ve done this year --- but it`s all part of the fun isn`t it