Author Topic: Cambrian Series Permanents  (Read 104827 times)

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #75 on: 09 June, 2014, 08:42:04 am »
I've just tried to put together the route for the 2E, but bikehike has managed to generate it to 249 km.  Anyone else had this problem?

Googlemaps gives 210

It was me being numpty and changing the bikehike settings to driving not walking  :facepalm:

Right, I have done a version and loaded into ridewithgps (as can't work out how to link to bikehike direct) - CAMBRIAN 2E

Any comments anyone?  Which way round is best? Who's done this one?
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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #76 on: 09 June, 2014, 09:02:38 am »
Clockwise, to avoid having to descend the south side of Bwlch y Groes? (1st summit after Bala, anti clockwise.)

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #77 on: 09 June, 2014, 10:34:47 am »
Which means riding up the Bwlch the steepest way, right? Sounds like a challenge to me!
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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #78 on: 09 June, 2014, 11:17:49 am »
Indeed. But you do get some payback on the descent, instead of "wasting" the height you've gained by descending slowly on the brakes.

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #79 on: 09 June, 2014, 11:22:48 am »
Plus I'll be nearly back by then so the fact my legs will be totally destroyed is less of a worry, right ;)
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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #80 on: 09 June, 2014, 11:33:24 am »
You'll romp up it with several gears to spare!


CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #81 on: 14 June, 2014, 03:03:01 pm »
Which means riding up the Bwlch the steepest way, right? Sounds like a challenge to me!

What other way would you want to ride up it.  It was the most memorable bit of riding I did last year, 300km into the 4C at 5am, having already got 5500m ascent in my legs, and had only 3 roadside catnaps.  I did the whole thing in a 27" gear (30-30) sitting down wherever I didn't feel that the front wheel would rise off the tarmac.  All the way into Bala this mantra was going through my head "I climbed Bwlch y Groes, I climbed Bwlch y Groes….."

Just as a guide, the 2E has been completed 4 times in my tenure (2008 onwards).  Helpfully three of the riders who did complete it also did the 2A and generally they took about an hour longer to do the 2E than the 2A.  It is probably the hardest of the 200s.  The best value attempt was a rider who started at Bala, rode clockwise and reached Bwlch y Groes in the dark on the day that only comes around every 4 years, fearing that he would be out of time, only to finish with 4 minutes to spare.
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #82 on: 14 June, 2014, 03:47:18 pm »
Thinking about a Cambrian 400 sometime in August, riding from lunchtime to lunchtime, probably starting on a Friday

Top of the list is the 4F (never ridden) Aberdare – Hay-on-Wye – Knighton – Llanidloes – Devils Bridge – Builth Wells – Aberaeron – Llandeilo – Aberdare, as I can get to Aberdare quite quick and cheap by train.

But may also consider the 4A (Llangollen - Prestatyn - Mold - Conwy - Ffestiniog - Bala - Llanidloes - Machynlleth - Llangollen.) starting from LLangollen or Machynlleth or even the 4G (Llanidloes – Bala  - Montgomery – Corwen – Llansannan – Llanberis – Machynlleth - Llanidloes)

Any thoughts?
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #83 on: 15 June, 2014, 06:36:08 pm »
Which means riding up the Bwlch the steepest way, right? Sounds like a challenge to me!

What other way would you want to ride up it.  It was the most memorable bit of riding I did last year, 300km into the 4C at 5am, having already got 5500m ascent in my legs, and had only 3 roadside catnaps.  I did the whole thing in a 27" gear (30-30) sitting down wherever I didn't feel that the front wheel would rise off the tarmac.  All the way into Bala this mantra was going through my head "I climbed Bwlch y Groes, I climbed Bwlch y Groes….."

Just as a guide, the 2E has been completed 4 times in my tenure (2008 onwards).  Helpfully three of the riders who did complete it also did the 2A and generally they took about an hour longer to do the 2E than the 2A.  It is probably the hardest of the 200s.  The best value attempt was a rider who started at Bala, rode clockwise and reached Bwlch y Groes in the dark on the day that only comes around every 4 years, fearing that he would be out of time, only to finish with 4 minutes to spare.

Which other way would I want to ride up it?  Erm, via a 30 mile detour on the main road? Does that count?   :P

Clearly Bwlch is Welsh for 'truly brutal climb of epic proportions that you can barely spin up even in a 34*32 and you can see coming from a distance only to realise it is only part of it and it gets even worse when you get round the corner as evidenced by the GPS contour lines'

I did get up the bugger in one, albeit it slowly and not helped by my tail heavy luggage rack.  I did only have 100 km in my legs when I hit it as I started from Knighton for time reasons (closer to get to in the morning as my plans to be in Bala on the Friday evening didn't happen)

I did not, however, have "I climbed Bwlch y Groes, I climbed Bwlch y Groes….." running through my head on the way to Bala, but rather "please, God, destroy that mountain before the end of June so I don't have to do it again in two weeks"  ;)

Rest of the ride was hilly, but pleasantly so I thought and I did enjoy it a lot - another STUNNING Cambrian ride. I will write a report in a bit, but I do agree harder than the 2A.  Took me 11 (!!) hours which is a stupid amount of time for a 200 km without a huge amount of dossing about so the hour extra sounds about right.  It's a combination of the steep climbing, the state of the lanes, surface dressing, a Northern headwind which cruelly changed direction and came from the East when I was heading back to Knighton and the sheer technicality of some of the descents (i.e. tiny little lanes with blind corners meaning very little speed to carry up the next incline, and those inclines keep coming).

PS - 4a sounds bestest as that must go near the coast?
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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #84 on: 15 June, 2014, 07:14:28 pm »
Chapeau Jo  :thumbsup: somewhere I have a 2E card to control fill.....

alos bear in mind that Bwlch Y Groes scores an 11/10 in Britains top 100 cycle climbs..........although last week crawling up The Lecht on Snow Roads 20% > 10% into a 20mph headwind I`d score lecht 20/10 ...
....after the `tarte de pommes`, and  fortified by a couple of shots of limoncellos,  I flew up the Col de Bavella whilst thunderstorms rolled around the peaks above

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #85 on: 15 June, 2014, 07:27:51 pm »

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #86 on: 15 June, 2014, 08:10:18 pm »
This is the 4A.  Looking at it I might the best way to tackle it might be to start from Mold, as this should mean the overnight section would be on good roads from Machynlleth to Llangollen (although Llangollen was a desert before 8am on the 4C).

http://goo.gl/maps/msa9F

Well done on the 2A - 11 hours is a good time.  And for staying upright on Bwlch y Groes.  No other hill in the UK has as many chevrons on an Ordnance Survey map, including Bealach na Ba which is the other 11/10 hill.
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #87 on: 16 June, 2014, 09:30:16 am »
Great stuff Rabbit, you'll slay the Dragon on the MC I'm sure -  fantastic effort.


 :thumbsup:
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #88 on: 16 June, 2014, 10:02:52 am »
After initial plans to camp in Bala from Friday were kyboshed by general work hassles, I set out relatively early to arrive at the closest control from home, Knighton, to get parked up in the long stay, use the trainspotting-esq facilities (at least they were open) and finally found a cash machine willing to give out receipts.  I have noticed the lack of cash point workability is actually pretty high and I regularly have to attend two, or even three, to obtain a printed receipt. 

It was already a blue-skied day and I was glad to be on the road and pedalling, although slightly more nervous than normal about things maybe not going according to plan.  The bike rescue service (aka the better half) was heading North to some hidden hills outside of Bala with absolutely no phone signal.  Still, at least there was a bailout option if it all got too much.

I had an inkling that it would be pretty much straight up and out of Knighton and I wasn’t far wrong.  After a short jaunt on the main road, the pink line started to shift left and up into the first of many tiny little lanes.  These are the staple of this ride (if you ride the ‘pure’ route).  It wasn’t long before I was on the high farmland with the stunning views over Shropshire, Herefordshire and Powys.  I had a real treat at the top, my first sighting of a hare on an Audax.  They are huge creatures up that close, and surprisingly he was in no hurry to disappear off, probably realising that I was in no hurry to be getting anywhere either.   A lovely cruising section followed, with buzzards sat on posts, voles scurrying across the road, distance kites calling and the sun really starting to warm up.  I was glad I had packed the softshell and shower jacket into the dry bag, along with my extensive food stash (two hummus and falafel rolls, vanilla and strawberry flap jack, two vegan chorizo style sausage things, sweets, chocolate bar, two banana bars and a real time banana), plus 2x750 ml bottles of water.  It was weighing me down somewhat no doubt, but better that than to come up short in the middle of nowhere. 

With the exception of a very short stretch on the A438, it was mostly tranquillity complete all the way to Llanidloes.  Looking back it was my favourite section.  The gravel covered pot holed lanes made for hard going at times, but the friendly waves and hellos from farmers on quads, scenery and flower lined verges were worth every near-puncture.  Before I knew it I was in Llanidloes, a wonderful wee town, chatting to the guy in the Spar and buying liquid to fill up the bottles.  “Have you been far today” “Oh, not really, just about 30 miles so far I guess” “30 miles? I’d die if I rode that far”. I sat on the shop windowsill drinking cold squash and eating a sandwich in the blazing sunshine thinking life was just wonderful.

There was a black cloud on the horizon though, in the form of the Bwlch-y-Gros.  I knew it was dominating somewhere between me and Bala, but I wasn’t sure where.   I wish I had known as I spent the next 40 km worrying about it whilst working into the unusual Northerly wind.  I kept telling myself to just enjoy the scenery, and ‘it is what it is’ ‘take it as it comes’ and luckily it is difficult not to with everything being so stunningly beautiful.  However, a climb doesn’t get a reputation like the Bwlch without deserving it, so every time the road veered steeply upward  (and it did, very steeply, on a few occasions) I was expecting it to begin, only to flatten back out and cruise for a bit.  I had mistakenly expected it to be pretty much wooded, but there was no doubting the Bwlch’s identity when it appeared, open and lay out before me as a Ferrari overtook and disappeared upwards, seemingly halfway to Heaven. 

It looked tough from the bottom, but so often climbs look worse in the distance than the reality.  This was not the case with the Bwlch.  It was every bit as bad as it looked, and then some.  It may have admittedly coincided with a difficult, erm, time of the month for me, but I did struggle up it, no denying it.  There were no spare gears. Thank goodness the sky had clouded over. Halfway up the visible slope my jelly legs were only just strong enough to turn the pedals at such a slow cadence whilst sat in the 34*32.  I tried to spin faster but my lungs complained.  The fatigue was already setting in and I would soon tire of spinning.  I tried standing but the worn summer gloves were slippy on the hoods and I struggled for grip with blistering hands (note 1: get new gloves).  The poorly distributed luggage was making the back of the bike heavy (note 2: get better luggage system). My knee kept knocking on my bonk-rations top tube bag that had been so valuable earlier in the ride for instant sugar supplies. I was struggling, but I could see a corner ‘that must be the top’.  I looked at the GPS screen only to find the contours tighter and the climb continuing after it.  There was nothing I could do other than keep my head down and keep working as steadily as possible without allowing the bike to stall.  Eventually I saw a junction.  ‘Just get to that’ I told myself, that’s an acceptable place to stop.  Once there, though, it was just too close to the summit to fold, no matter how fatigued. I topped out the same time as a hiker, who made the predictable, but friendly, comment of “I thought I was mad”.  “Still” she said “at least you must know it’s all back downhill from here”



Too right.  After an obligatory photo at the top whilst waiting for the worked-hard-buzzing in my head to pass, it was payback time.  Effortless cruising to Bala, although, even knowing I needed to be prudent with stopping, I couldn’t resist another couple of photos on the way. 





Bala is another lovely little town, albeit typically North Wales touristy rather than Mid-Welsh local.  I sat outside the shop, refilling, yet again, my bottles and eating a giant bag of crisps whilst four other riders were close by on a bench.  One of the ladies came and spoke and asked where I had come from.  When I explained I got a slight blank expression.  I’m not sure she believed me.  Either that or my poor Welsh pronunciation had her dumfounded. 



I text the other half, pointlessly really, as he wouldn’t have had a signal, to say I was safely at Bala and had got through the hardest bit, was over halfway and should have a tailwind home.  Incorrect on two of the three counts, it became apparent later.  The wind changed direction and started to come from the East. How cruel! The hardest section (in riding terms) was definitely Bala to Newtown which was truly undulating, with small lanes and technical descents preventing good run in speeds to the next incline.  There was also a long climb back up to Lake Vrnwy I hadn’t expected, but enjoyed thoroughly.  Much nicer gradient than the Bwlch and I was glad to find my legs were still working just fine.  I overtook a few ladies pushing hybrid bikes on this road, and felt a bit guilty when one said “I don’t know how you are doing that”.  Then I thought about it, and realised it was 6 months of hard training and spending money on a decent road bike with good climbing gears.  It is that simple.

It was also a very long section and I had to stop to refill those bottles, yet again, at a garage around 15 miles from Newtown.  Although I had checked the GPX file over, I had missed two short ‘off-road’ sections including a forest road somewhere around Lake Vrwny, which I managed to avoid easily.  After the garage stop though, the GPX sent me into a ‘no through road’ and I began to worry.  The track began to deteriorate into an unsurfaced lane.  Then I came to a ford, also bouldery and unsurfaced, but luckily with a little timber bridge.  I scrolled out the GPX screen and my panic subsided, about a 100 meters or so and I’d rejoin the main road.  It was quite fun in the end, riding up a proper bridleway on a vastly overpriced plastic bike……

Eventually Newtown came, but, for once, I didn’t need to refill the bottles, especially with just 32 km left until Knighton.  I sat in the shade cooling off and finishing off the food supplies, and was most pleased with my efforts. 



I knew there was a huge climb over to Knighton, but I was ready for it and feeling tired but ok.  I hadn’t checked this bit of the GPX, just glanced at it to see it was on main road and mistakenly assumed it was sending me up the A438 and Dolfor.  It was a pleasure to find this was not the case and I would instead, be on the very hilly Clun road (a real challenging drag at times with the new surface dressing) before finally reaching the wonderful little lanes again, my favourite Mid Welsh lanes with the knitted wire fencing, short wooden posts and views extending for miles.  The sun was back out and the blue skies lit up the still-spring fresh vistas and roadside foxgloves as I rolled back to Knighton. 

The Cambrian 2E - another grand day out.
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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #89 on: 16 June, 2014, 10:06:28 am »
Thanks for the kind words folks - maybe we could do a Cambrian 200 forum ride one day?

I love the look of that 4A, much coastal visiting  :thumbsup:
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U.N.Dulates

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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #90 on: 16 June, 2014, 10:27:58 am »
Quote from: rabbit
Clearly Bwlch is Welsh for 'truly brutal climb of epic proportions that you can barely spin up even in a 34*32 and you can see coming from a distance only to realise it is only part of it and it gets even worse when you get round the corner as evidenced by the GPS contour lines'

I did not, however, have "I climbed Bwlch y Groes, I climbed Bwlch y Groes….." running through my head on the way to Bala, but rather "please, God, destroy that mountain before the end of June so I don't have to do it again in two weeks"  ;)

You don't anyway. Mc1k goes up the other side, from Bala. Then left at the junction to drop down to Vyrnwy. Otoh, you will have 900k in the legs at that point...

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #91 on: 16 June, 2014, 11:22:46 am »
Quote from: rabbit
Clearly Bwlch is Welsh for 'truly brutal climb of epic proportions that you can barely spin up even in a 34*32 and you can see coming from a distance only to realise it is only part of it and it gets even worse when you get round the corner as evidenced by the GPS contour lines'

I did not, however, have "I climbed Bwlch y Groes, I climbed Bwlch y Groes….." running through my head on the way to Bala, but rather "please, God, destroy that mountain before the end of June so I don't have to do it again in two weeks"  ;)

You don't anyway. Mc1k goes up the other side, from Bala. Then left at the junction to drop down to Vyrnwy. Otoh, you will have 900k in the legs at that point...

Do you have any idea how happy this has made me?

THIS HAPPY

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U.N.Dulates

  • aka John Hamilton
Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #92 on: 16 June, 2014, 12:37:55 pm »
Just don't miss the left turn to Vyrnwy!

(Mel Kirkland went the wrong way there on my Irish Mail a few years back. Climbing up from Vyrnwy, then R to go over the top. Mel managed to turn L instead and went all the way down to Dinas before realising his mistake, turning round and climbing all the way back up).

caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #93 on: 16 June, 2014, 05:48:25 pm »
That's a classic audax mistake.  If in doubt, check your routing *before* you descend.


In fact any nice looking descent should be viewed with deep suspicion ;)




If nothing else tells one how tough Bwlch y Groes is then the Mr Happy post says it all  ;D


It's a reverse Elvis thing.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #94 on: 21 June, 2014, 05:20:18 am »
Saw on my emails that two riders were attempting the 2E yesterday which makes three in a week.  They'll need to resurface the tarmac on some of the roads with all this wear and tear.  :thumbsup:
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #95 on: 21 June, 2014, 09:33:00 am »
And I'm planning the 2B tomorrow.  Look out of more mail :)
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #96 on: 23 June, 2014, 09:44:53 am »
Well that was an interesting ride - kind of persuades me that I was right to not opt for the Mille Cymru - this (the CS2B) is allegedly the easiest of the 200s in this series and I was only just inside the time limit (assuming it's 14.3 kph minimum?)


I did this to keep RRTY going as my 300 earlier in the month was a DNF due to a blowout descending into Tregaron, but also to test out the new machine.  Just got myself a custom built Enigma Etap with a road triple as I know how tough I find climbing (er… remind me WHY I then try these Cambrian Series rides?  :facepalm: ).  How would my new bikey be? :)


So routewise I used Philip Whiteman's route on Bikely as the basis for ths.  This (sorry Philip) was a big mistake at the beginning as about 8 or so km in it launched into this large climb on very small lanes with an absolutely bob-awful surface (grass down the middle, gravel, rubble, potholes you name it).  I'm *very* glad it was dry as the descent on that stuff was frightening  going as it turned out to Raglan.  Of course I now discovered that the casualty of this horrifically steep descent was my rear inner tube which punctured at the bottom.  So I had to spend quite a few minutes putting a new one in, and repairing the old tube as I had no spares.  I'd found the ride hard going from the start, wasn't feeling it and so this contributed to a very slow pace up to this point.  The first 15 miles took me 2 1/2 hours - average of 7.5 mph at this point - ooops.


I noted later with bitterness/irony that the road surface peeps then clearly took the mick as I later encountered no less than 3 extended stretches of roads with that infernal top-dressing that is the killer of tyres and inner tubes (amazingly I got away with it though).


So I struggled on and as it turned out the rest of the route had much better surfacing, so Philip you are forgiven for the rest of it. :-)


Got myself though Abergavenny and Brecon at a better pace but I never achieved 10 mph even by the end . 9.9 mph average is way my slowest audax I think.  This owes mostly to the relentless climbing just about all the way on this route.  I walked my first hill going north out of Upper Chappel to get to Builth Wells.  Even 29*28 lowest gear didn't save me yesterday although it was noticeably easier than 34*28 (my old lowest gear).  After Builth I now regretted my choice of route here.  In a fit of optimism ('hey I've got 29*28 here) I thought what the heck and routed it through Painscastle from Builth to Hay  - a rather notorious route that I  specifically avoided going through on the 3A last year.  Now I know why it's notorious  :facepalm:   Wow, just wow, that's a nasty nasty climb before Painscastle - at least three 25%ish switchbacks that - yes - I walked :(
After that I got to Hay and had to go to three cafes before I could find one with the sense of urgency I needed (note to Hay Cafes, simply ignoring customers standing at your counter doesn't improve your takings) - I was behind time, I needed service that was not glacial.
Hay to Monmouth I've done before and was rather dreading it, there's some big lumps there.  However, I had now warmed up it seems and only walked one of them.  Coming out of Grosmont was fun, this is a place built at the bottom of a bottomless pit, there are no easy ways out of it (bit like Painscastle I suppose) and right at the top of what was probably the easiest (but still toughish) route out of there I encountered a road close sign.  Oh FFS I though, I am NOT descending back to Grosmont in order to reclimb an even tougher route out again - especially when I'm right up against the time limit.


So I soldiered through the road closed sign and had to haul the bike using a very tired body over several large piles of rubble/aggregate the workers had dumped there to block the road (no way around the edge) and through the pit where they were fitting a large pipe. Up the steep slope from that and then past loads of diggers, bulldozers and stuff.  But I made it, not with a  mood improvement though.  Back on the bike I hauled my tired ass up the further lumps to Monmouth (I did walk one of them) and from there used the Bryan Chapman route to Chepstow.  I was so tired by this point that even the climb up from Tintern was arduous, even on the BCM I found this a piece of cake, but not yesterday.


So all in all, that was kind of mega-tough yesterday.  Began about 6.07 am and finished 7.39 pm.  Perms are much harder than calendar events as there's noone to help get you out of low points and I now genuinely realise that I'm just slow on Grimpeurs.  I cannot climb quickly and on relentlessly hilly rides I have nowhere to make up time.  Only between Hay -Monmouth-Chepstow yesterday was there anywhere to get my head down an snake it along the flat as I rather enjoy.  At least these bits did allow me to get inside the time limit.


So that's enough miserableness.  Damn that was hard, but the weather was fabulous and the scenery was stunning at times  :thumbsup:   I shall make renewed efforts to lose more weight and get fitter again, this ride should not have been that tough.
And of course, I DID it  ;D   RRTY rescued and its rides like this that are the biggest sense of achievement.


Got in major doghouse with the missus however.  I'd told her I'd probably finish about 3-4pm  - my phone battery died en route and I couldn't warn her I'd be later.  Not happy when I got home :(
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #97 on: 23 June, 2014, 02:51:36 pm »
Sounds like you had a real epic Careau, but you did get round so well done.  Those are the days that matter the most  :thumbsup:

The little lanes are my favourite bit, verging on off road, with moss and grass in the middle....but I do always have that worry in the back of my head about flatting.  I struggle to get the tyres off the road bike (weak hands from too many MTB injuries) so it would take me a long ol' time to fix a flat.  And, like you say, there really isn't a lot of time buffer on the grimpers. 

I would have done the same with the diversion there I think.  I was lucky on the 2A, my file sent me round a slightly different way so I missed the closure.  Things like that always make me panic a little as I never have a map with me.  I really should sort that shit out.

They are real tough rides but great hill training and the scenery definitely numbs the pain for me.  I would have definitely struggled at the start of the year to get round the 200s, but hill training has done wonders.  For the first time ever I actually like climbing, but it has been a LOT of climbing over the last few months, both on and off road, to get to this point. 

How was the new bike overall? 

CET - did the two 2E riders enjoy it?  They must have had stunning weather too :)
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caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #98 on: 23 June, 2014, 03:21:24 pm »
Oh yeah I didn't get back to the bike did I?  ::-)


It's perhaps not the best time to comment as I don't really think I enjoyed yesterday all that much, it was mostly a sufferfest all the way around. :sick:
I'm still getting used to a bike that actually fits me properly - hence it feels like it doesn't  ;D   Having handlebars that are wide enough for me is awesome (even when I bought wider ones for my BMC it turns out they weren't really wide enough) though and the number one comfort improvement.  Not overly blown away by the test saddle I have to say - it was good enough though.  My main issue fit-wise though is that I was generally riding with saddle too high and got used to pedalling with my toes down. With the saddle lower I feel rather scrunched up but that feeling is dying already having gone a long way in one ride.


After 200 k on lots of hills I think I'm getting used to it already.  The frame and 25mm tyres make for a lovely smooth ride and it feels nice and stiff, I think when I'm more used to it and bolder it will corner extremely well at speed.  Nice to have a 50 tooth chainring back after Fred but not so much use did it get yesterday also nice to have the 29 tooth small ring - that saw far too much use, it seems to be true that if you fit lower bail out gears then you WILL use them.


Nice and happy with the bike overall, just need to get used to it a bit.


One thing that irks me slightly with it is that I specifically asked for tough robust wheels to be built.  It seems to fit my budget the shop has used good quality Hope hubs but have used pretty cheap rims (Ryde Jumps) which I am not so pleased with.  I would have paid a bit more for better rims if they'd asked.  Guess I'll use them until they wear out then get the wheels rebuilt with better ones.
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

Re: Cambrian Series Permanents
« Reply #99 on: 23 June, 2014, 05:40:59 pm »

Guess I'll use them until they wear out then get the wheels rebuilt with better ones.


----alternatively just find a nice series potholes and ride into them  :demon:---like wot i did today near Devils Bridge writing off rear tyre, RR415 rim , buckling wheel and consequently binning any idea of a descent down Devils Staircase as part of a DIY 100km ; and now have big bill to get them fixed  >:( >:(
....after the `tarte de pommes`, and  fortified by a couple of shots of limoncellos,  I flew up the Col de Bavella whilst thunderstorms rolled around the peaks above