Metric Century Chat

My log seems to have
My log seems to have disappeared from the Comptetion page. Anyone else had this problem?

think sounds good, as looking
think sounds good, as looking at having a bash this “year” and already know will struggle Feb & June.

After last weeks aborted
After last weeks aborted metric, due to a deluge of rain, an insane Mercedes driver, and the wasted effort it took me to drag him out of his window, it was nice to get back on track this weekend.

I was asked to lead a ride that I have done a few times solo, the Torture 80. It is a lot of climbing, on a series of 1 or 2km climbs, that are often around 17-18%. The 80 refers to it being an 80 mile route.

After lots of drop outs, we started with 4 riders, and after 40 miles we were down to just me and one other! He was definitely up for some hard work though, so we ended up doing the last 20 on the rivet and at least getting a metric in. I remember why I mostly ride alone again…

The hardest point!
The point
The hardest point!

The point scored last weekend took me 12.5 hours to achieve. I was ding the Cambrian Way off road cycle route. Two of us left Knighton into a gale with rain off and on. Progress was slow trying to make sure there was no navigation problems and hills steep. On one tarmac section I was struggling to achieve 8km an hour into the wind.

We had two unforced stops. My chain snapped causung a short delay and we saved a sheep from certain death. A sheep had run headlong into a fence and could not back out and was stuck. She had been there a while judging by the bare patch in front of her and the droppings behind. The Park tool had a serrated edge which we used to cut the fence and release her.

We got to Rhaydar about 16:30 which I was thinking would be a bit late to travel through the Elan valley. I called for accommodation and all was full and was resigned to a stay in Rhaydar and a 3 day trip. My mate said abiut trying anither place in Cwmystwyth a bit further along the route, We got a bed but it was a long ride to Cwmystwyth but at last we were moving quickly. Got to the accommodation at 21:40 and had a quick look at my trip computer; 99.85k! I was having that extra 150 meters so to the amazement of my mate and a shout from the b&b owner I popped down the road to a sign and turned back. 100.19k.

Next day was shorter with better weather. Some lovely scenery, dryish trails and solitude. Going back again next year.

Managed 5 scoring rides in
Managed 5 scoring rides in the last week but it should have been 6.

A mate and I caught a ferry to Dublin and had a night on the town – me watching the WC qualifier against Cyprus. Hit a couple of literary pubs, one regular haunt of Brendan Behan and another mentioned in Ulysses.

Day 1 we rode to Athlone a nice town on the river Shannon. The next day I put on my green with red band cycling jersey for a return to Mayo which is the County GAA colours. We rode to Tuam, Cong and in to Co Mayo round Lough Mask to Partry to a b&b run by a former good level cyclist. Day 3 we raced, and beat, the rain through Castlebar, Pontoon, Ballina and round the coast to Sligo and past Ben Bulben and Yeats resting place.

Day 4 was a big day for me as I entered the North at Belleek for the first time. I had lived in Mayo as a young lad so entering the North felt strange. I knew it would be just regular people going about there lives and of course this is how it was. From Belleek we followed the North West passage route to Starbane and avoiding Derry we headed over towards Limavady finishing in the dark.

Day 5 we rode the beautiful NI coast to the Giant’s Causeway and south to Magherafelt. This was only a 78 mile day as my bottom was suffering big time and I could not sit in the saddle and pedal – I was out of the saddle to pedal – and the pace was slowing. I bought some Sudacreme but another problem with my achilles was getting worse.

As it was a short day it meant the last day was going to be about 125 miles and I could not be sure of being able to do it so I abandoned and rode to Antrim and got the train to Dublin. My mate completed the ride and was well impressed with his first visit to Ireland. The weather was good, quite a bit of rain on the first day into Athlone and some in the Cong / Clonbur area but excellent after that. People friendly and helpful both sides of the border. But 10 euro for 2 pints of Guinness!

dave_atkinson wrote:sounds

dave_atkinson wrote:

sounds lovely. except for the devil’s elbow, that’s purgatory. hoping to ride to ystradfelte on sat from bath, should be a nice MC and i get to jump in a waterfall at the end :-)

Did you do this ride Dave, it sounds nice. I’d be interested in the route you take, as I plan to ride there from Reading, and any good known routes to that area would be useful.