Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Audax => Topic started by: +paul on 09 May, 2012, 10:53:00 pm
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Well, having bought the road bike 2 years ago with the intention of using it for Audax, I have finally summoned up the courage to enter an event. I look forward to seeing you all on the Clwyd Gate 2012 on 29th July for a lovely ride around one of the most picturesque vales in North Wales!
I have the route card downloaded already, but if any of you have a route I can load into my ETrex Vista, it would be most welcome!
I guess I now need to decide which saddlebag to get to carry all and sundry around the route (thinking Barley...).
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New to the Audax world myself but having a go at this one, hopefully with a few mates from work. Did the recent Anglesey Lanes Audax but his one looks to have a few more hills, based on the route map http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/clwyd-gate-2012
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I have a total of 10 colleagues from work interested in this ride, all of them new to Audax. Should be fun!
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New to the Audax world myself but having a go at this one, hopefully with a few mates from work. Did the recent Anglesey Lanes Audax but his one looks to have a few more hills, based on the route map http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/clwyd-gate-2012
Thanks for the reminder - I'm in Rhuthun the night before so I've just entered this event. It's a family get-to-gether meal so I'll be too stuffed/pissed come the morning for the 200km so the gentle 136km should be sufficient. I rode the Anglesey Lanes audax too - lovely ride.
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I have a total of 10 colleagues from work interested in this ride, all of them new to Audax. Should be fun!
I took a work colleague on the Ffestiniog 360 a few weeks ago (approx 100k), he hadn't hidden a bike in years but enjoyed most of it but was walking strange the next day! I am trying to convince him Clwyd is flatter than Snowdonia :)
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One of my colleagues was in the Alps for a sportive last weekend - I asked her how far and how much climbing she had done (thinking it would be a lot more than this Audax) to which she replied: "110km and 2500m". The Clwyd Gate is 130km and 2600m! :o
Some of us (including me!) are in for a shock!
(edit: I recognise that for many of you, this doesn't represent a big challenge!)
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I don't think that climbing comparisons are useful unless the same system of measurement is used. GPS against contour counting can vary dramatically if the wrong interval is chosen.
Base mapping data also varies. If you start at the base of a hill at sea level and finish at the top at 1000m, have you climbed 1000m? What about if there are some minor descents during the climb? Different events take different approaches on whether they count 'the little bits', Continentals rarely used to count the little stuff.
Another basis for disagreement is the whole 'long, steady' versus 'short, sharp' climbing being harder.
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I agree with all of that. My point was that a number of audax virgins who regard a 10 mile commute as a challenge will have an interesting day on the 29th. :)
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Having done a few long rides with work mates, some of whom aren't used to biggish mileage, I do like the camaraderie that tends to develop if you stay together at the back of the field, there's always others struggling and it's good to share encouragement :)
Obviously you need to dump them all on the last climb and sprint away to the finish line or is that just me :)
Never riden the Alps but there are some steep Welsh hills on the route so it will be interesting, no shame in walking, if you're sticking with your mates!
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Have fun, I broke my virginity on the excellent Ditchling Devil a couple of weeks ago.
Only mistake I made was setting off too fast, hooked up with a fast pair and averaged 15mph for the first 40 miles which took it out of me for the rest of he ride.
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Went out last Saturday and did about 50km of the route, including the climb from just South of Abergele up to Llyn Brennig. Wow! We did manage an average of 15.5km/h, but my legs were complaining by the end.
Need to push the mileage over the next three weeks....
I also need to encourage the others to enter - time is running on.
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I'm booked in for the 200k one and it looks like a hilly route so I'll be getting value for money (euphemism for at the back, probably right on the time limit). Looking forward to some great scenery and riding.
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I was thinking about doing the leg up from the coast to Brennig over the weekend but decided to build up with some flat miles first! I know the route well, the 400m + finish height is nothing, it's the ups and downs for Llanfair TH and Llansannan I am (not) looking forward to! Maybe this weekend...
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it's the ups and downs for Llanfair TH and Llansannan I am (not) looking forward to! Maybe this weekend...
Peid a becso - jyst wneud e! ;-)
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It's a lovely ride & one of my faves. Chips n curry sauce in the sunshine by the seaside at Pensarn last year. It's a bloomin long climb afterwards though not steep but long. The last 10mile used to be a sub 30minute time trial down the A5 :) Different start/finish now though.
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(edit: I recognise that for many of you, this doesn't represent a big challenge!)
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Got that one wrong---this is quite a hard ride---normally run in October from Corwen---modified this year to start from Ruthin with a new section from Cerrigydrudion to Corwen in order to avoid the A5 on a summer Sunday.
It is however superscenic and a great experience!
If anyone can't make the calendar date, then a permanent is available.
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With just a week to go, and it being a sunny day, I went out for a training ride to test a few tweaks with the bike. The drag up from the coast to Brennig wasn't as bad as I'd feared, the down hills were fun but over 45mph my DIY brevet card holder got a little flappy :)
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Did the 200 last year and it is a fantastic route. Sadly can't make it this year. Really enjoyed the stretch from Abergele back to the A5, (& Corwen), it will be better in daylight. Suppose the fast downhill along the A5 to Corwen will have been changed now
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I've done the Clwydian 200km before when it was run out of Corwen. It's a nice ride, although I'm hoping the downhill section from the moorland to the beach in Prestatyn has been cut out - scares the shit out of me.
If you are in any doubt that the ride wll be hilly, the route was devised by Graham Mills ("Mills the Hills"). He wasn't known for flat routes....
I'll be there riding the 200 this weekend. I hope the weather hold out for it.
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although I'm hoping the downhill section from the moorland to the beach in Prestatyn has been cut out - scares the shit out of me.
Gosh yes, any steeper & it would be an abseil :o
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I've done the Clwydian 200km before when it was run out of Corwen. It's a nice ride, although I'm hoping the downhill section from the moorland to the beach in Prestatyn has been cut out - scares the shit out of me.
If you are in any doubt that the ride wll be hilly, the route was devised by Graham Mills ("Mills the Hills"). He wasn't known for flat routes....
I'll be there riding the 200 this weekend. I hope the weather hold out for it.
The Clwydian etc has always been held in March or October in the past for 2 specific reasons: 1) so the Prestatyn sea front to Pensarn is navigable and 2) so the A5 from Cerrigydruidion is safe to travel down to Corwen with little traffic.
The route this july has been redesigned by self (former organiser and current mentor) and Vicky Payne (new organiser) on 3 fronts: 1) start & finish in Ruthin; 2) Beyond Babel the route follows the old "Dee to Sea" route through Trefnant and Bontnewydd to Pensarn (I would argue that this is better and much more scenic than the original route) and avoids the megasteep descent to Prestatyn and 3) after Cerrigydruidian the route circumnavigates Lake Bala with new control in pub/village shop at Llanuwchllyn. :thumbsup:
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Hurrah! I'd been discussing it with my partner as he's had the routesheet and I hadn't. Some parts he was describing I remembered (cafe on the front in Pensarn, route up through the housing estate and into the woods, Cerrigydrudion, Bala, but he was adamant the route wasn't going along the seafront in Rhyl & Prestatyn, which I can only see as a positive - no scary hill, no sand covered steeply banked Route 5.
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Did the Ruthin 200 yesterday. It's a cracking route, the weather held out (only one heavy shower early on, which was actually quite refreshing) and the views are superb. My legs are feeling it a bit today though. And I'm pretty sure I was lanterne rouge (well the organisers packed up after I got back!).
The first view of the sea was great and the various vales lovely. Apart from the odd short, sharp bit, the climbs were mostly long drags which allowed some sort of rhythm to build up.
If you didn't do it, you missed a cracker.
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I did the Clwyd Gate Sunday, lots and lots of hills, I think the only level road was when we got lost :) Good to meet and chat with people, I am sure it's more fun at the back of the pack. I did it with my mate from work and we kept each other going, I might otherwise have bailed out with the hills. My brian wasn't working so I didn't realise I was (I think) talking to Gog yn y De on the climb out of Llanfair TH (I think), see you next time.
We got lost going into Bewts GG so couldn't work out the info question, last house in the village, I was tempted to say Ty Bach...
I've cycled that distance before but never with that much climbing so a very hard day but I really enjoyed it and will be back next year, thanks very much to the organisers.
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Six of my colleagues from work joined me for this ride, and all of them enjoyed the ride (saying in some cases it was the hardest ride they had ever done!). In the end I stopped at Llyn Brenig as my legs were cramping. To get back to Ruthin I cycled another 25 or so km and had another 400m of climbing - more than my legs wanted! Anyway, fantastic part of the country, and well organised event - I will be back next year to complete unfinished business!
Hello again to everyone who passed me on the way up to Llyn Brenig - I think I met the whole field! :)
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My brian wasn't working so I didn't realise I was (I think) talking to Gog yn y De on the climb out of Llanfair TH (I think), see you next time.
Yep, that was me! See you at the Gwynedd Traverse :thumbsup:
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(saying in some cases it was the hardest ride they had ever done!).
It was for me...
In the end I stopped at Llyn Brenig as my legs were cramping. To get back to Ruthin I cycled another 25 or so km and had another 400m of climbing
I was feeling just the same and by the time I got to Llyn Bran turning left to Dinbych seemed very, very tempting. I only carried on to Corwen thinking it was just as easy to bale out from there via the A494. As it was a nice coffee at the control was enough to pick me up to (just about) get me to the end :)
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Yep, that was me! See you at the Gwynedd Traverse :thumbsup:
I can't wait, I am sure there's no big hills in Snowdonia...