This is the profile of the ride.
Saturday 3rd August 2013
This my last ride, was nearly my last ride. I will explain later.
The plan was to do another 100+ mile ride today.
I didn't set off until gone 10am as I'd had a much needed lie in. I was feeling pretty tired and it was already raining so I wasn't in a hurry to leave.
It felt a bit chilly out too so I put on leg warmers, they are just enough to keep my knees warm.
I also put on a gillet and my thin waterproof jacket. I stuffed my pockets with my home made flap jacks, some gels and energy bars.
This time I put my camera in a small clear plastic bag and my phone in its waterproof pack.
I set off not feeling certain if I would cover the distance today. My legs felt slightly heavy and I felt sluggish. It was drizzling and I wasn't paying attention and before I knew it I was at the bottom of my hill. I wasn't supposed to go down the hill, I should have gone up the hill. So I had to cycle through the town centre at the start of my journey. Not a problem but I would rather not have.
I had only gone 3 miles when it stopped drizzling and the sun came out, I got hot so stopped to strip off. The jacket and the gillet got stuffed into my back pockets and my leg warmers got threaded onto my aero bars.
By ten miles I was pedalling over the Llangynidr Moors and still not convinced about the days mileage. Then came the fab descent to the village of Llangynidr, I take this descent as fast as I dare. The biggest risk is a sheep running out in front of you.
From here I took the same route as last week past Llangors Lake and on to Talgarth.
Then I was on new cycling turf, I took the A470 North bound to Builth. The views were lovely but being a main A road some of the drivers were very inconsiderate and some, downright dangerous!
It began to rain again so on went the rain jacket, it didn't rain hard.
It took me just over an hour to get to Builth Wells. I went into the own centre to find a café for a quick snack. The first café I went to had a nice little rear garden, so I rested my bike out the way, hung my wet jacket on the back of a chair and went inside to order some food. The queue was several people deep and the woman taking food orders was rather rude to the customer who was ordering. That was it for me, coming from a hospitality background, I can't tolerate rude or poor service. So I went out, gathered my stuff and left to find another café. I soon found another but had to leave my bike outside. I had a jacket potato and left as soon as possible
On the map I'd seen a B road that looked good for my return journey. Turns out it was good and had a few surprise climbs on it. The sun came out and the views were a real distraction to serious training. The pace was easy and I was now really enjoying the day.
As I pedalled up a long steady climb I saw I was approaching M.O.D land on my right.
Once past the MOD entrance I carried on up the hill and at the crest the view took my breath away.
I was rewarded with a vista of bright and deep greens of the rolling hills in the foreground and the back drop was made up of the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons. I just had to stop and take it all in. I was heading right into those hills. I found myself feeling happy and blessed that I am able to appreciate such beauty.
Before log I was rolling into Brecon, I stopped to fill my water bottle and carried on. I had already decided I would take the long climb up the A470 and I wasn't looking forward to it. But surprisingly it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Again the views were impressive enough to distract me from any discomfort.
Lots of examples below.
Once I got over the crest it was time to descend.... or not.
Instead of the long long descent directly toward home I took a right turn heading up Cader Fawr. The route used in the Tour of Britain. It was a fairly long climb but I seemed to sail up it with no real effort.
I rode past the home of Welsh Whisky, Penderyn, and then has another choice to make. A left to head directly home ( still a long way) or straight ahead to go over the monster climb called The Rhigos. The sun was still high in the sky so I figured I had lots of time still so straight on I went. It wasn't long before I started feeling weary, and the proper climbing hadn't even begun. I ate an energy bar and a gel. By time the steep section came I was fine and cruised up whilst taking photos on the move.
At the top I was glad to see the refreshment van. I had the best cup of tea and cheese roll in the whole wide world. I was a lot hungrier than I realised. At this point I had ridden 140km.
I wasn't too comfortable with the area I was in as I always lose my bearings here. I did get a little lost which was as frustrating as hell. It was getting late, about 7pm and I wanted to get home. Once I was on familiar roads I was a lot happier.
Just before I got to the village of Nelson it nearly all ended. I approached a round about and had to turn right, so the third exit is where I was going. This is off a busy main road and I was coming of a minor road. Anyway I was on the round about and had past the first exit when an Audi came flying onto the round about. I knew the driver had not seen me at all and there was nothing I could do about it. I had no where to go and he was coming right at me. Thank God for modern ASB on cars. The driver saw me at the last second, he swerved and slammed on brakes. I must say the sound of a car with brakes pressed hard is like nothing else. I think he got more of a shock than me. Once again my guardian Angel was there to get me out of trouble. It sure was a close one. The driver put his hand up to apologise. We both took the same exit and the driver had slowed to almost a stop. I put my hand up and gave him he thumbs up. This time he put his hand up out his window in an apologetic gesture. I waved him on, very glad it wasn't a crash.
I got home at about 8.30pm having done 115 miles and climbed 3400 metres.
Once in, I suddenly felt shattered, I made myself a sports recovery drink, ate a bagel, stretched a bit and showered. I should have eaten then, but I just couldn't eat. I was too tired, so I had another recovery drink while stretching some more before hitting the sack.
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