In his email Mark mentions that the routesheet and GPS track vary slightly.
Can anyone who has ridden this before reassure me that the route is easy to follow (will be using a Garmin 820 with mapping).
. . . any advice/encouragement would be welcome
Basic route sheet yes, but if you follow the GPS, I have worked out a few key points
If your GPS is a simple breadcrumb like mine (no maps), then every time there is a T junction in the trail, bear RIGHT... all of them
Controls are at 82, 151, 199, 237, 300, 356km
INFO should be at ca. 109 and 183 km, but refer to the brevet card.
The AAA section, the harder one is the loop on the west, so from Llandovery back to Llandovery (so 151 to 300 km, give or take), before and after is all gentle stuff, maybe with the exception of the last climb to Chepstow, which was a pig at the BCM and so I expect it to be just as bad after all those miles.
The route is mostly easy to follow - but one person's easy to follow is another's navigational nightmare. Load the gpx on RwGPS (say) and look through it. Get a road atlas and trace out the route on it from the route sheet: all towns/villages passed through Mark has shown in capital bold font. Will your "Garmin 820 with mapping" give you 20+ hours service?
Pretty certain the only main difference between the routesheet and the gpx is the first leg to Hay, The gpx takes the longer route via the Golden Valley whereas the routesheet offers the lovely road closer to the Black Mountains through Michaelchurch (I have ridden both in recent years). Riders will split at the 38km point "LEFT on RIGHT-hand bend, $ CROSS ASH 2 1/2" with some turning left and others carrying on right.
The routesheet and the gpx differ east of Brecon (336-343k) - imo the routesheet gives the optimum route, but we both rode the gpx route on Helfa Cymraeg Benjamin Allen ar 17 days ago. No control at the Talybont shop on this ride and it's dark so tips the balance towards staying on the A40 for another few minutes. Could stay on the A40 all the way to Crickhowell and then cut south across the Usk straight to the Llangattock control: the navigationally easiest and best road surface option, which one year I chose for the benefit of a very tired young riding companion I'd 'collected' on the Brecon by-pass.
Note that the first info control is at a different (earlier) junction than 'normal' - I think it's at 100km (not the 109km suggested above) at this turn "LEFT at T, $ Aberedw (B4567)"
As far as the climbing distribution is concerned, these figures will allow riders to judge where the hard bits are. (All climb measurements are from the gpx track loaded into RwGPS:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29780341?beta=false )
Start to Hay (0-82) 82k + 905m
Hay to LL'y (82-151) 69k + 561m
Ll'y to Tregaron (151-200) 49k + 537m
Tregaron to NQ (200-238) 38k + 458m
NQ to Ll'y (238-299) 63k +
815mLl'y to Ll'gatt (299-356) 57k + 497m
Ll'gatt to Chepstow (356-408) 52k + 421m
I've always found the stretch from New Quay to above Llanbydder hardest (238-269) - New Quay's fish and chips can be a two edged fuel.
But just before New Quay, the 9.2km from Ystrad Aeron to above Mydroilyn (220-229) packs a 263m punch.
At night the 40k on the A40 after Llandovery is best ridden in company, imo.
Turnings to pay attention to:
Rockfield (31km)
The back door into the outside seating area of Llandovery's West End cafe (SW side of the building) - safer for bikes. Mark has said he'll be 'stamping' in the cafe from noon.
Cymann (183km, also info): going downhill fast (traffic allowing), houses both sides, when the road says 'ARAF' slow down for the right turn and know what the question is.
After Tregaron's shop, after one mile (201km), don't miss the turn right: "RIGHT, B4342, $ LLANGEITHO"
After the top after Synod Inn (247km), don't miss the turn left (eff SO) "LEFT, $? (as road bends right and drops)"
In Llansawel (277km) don't miss the left (eff SO) "LEFT by Angel Inn, $ Llandwrda"
In the dark, just before Llangattock, look out for the right: "RIGHT, $ DARDY 1/4" If you miss it, just carry on to the lights and take the next right. (NB look at a large scale street map of Llangattock and fix in your mind how to get to the village hall, and streetview it beforehand.)
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=320995&y=217446&z=0&sv=320995,217446&st=4&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf