Well, that was pretty epic. I rode further than ever have I done before, and learnt new and deeper meanings of the term 'bonk'. Many hills were climbed, and one farmer's gate decorated.
I'll do a full write up soon but in the meantime here's a video I made of the day to give you a taste of the fun. Enjoy!
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@mctrials23 People have been suffering for years because they have been unlucky enough to have been hired by bad people, or had the bad luck to become ill. This is just bringing the system more into balance. I don't have a problem with encouraging people to start businesses but I don't agree with doing it by letting them exploit the poor and the desperate, if they need encouragement then offer state benefits for small businesses and use the claims process to make sure that they are doing everything they should to run the business properly including paying and training their employees. If they just want to get rich quick by exploiting others then they should be in the USA.
One may wonder why you've brought up DEI when it has nothing at all to do with anything in what Lappartient said. Or why you care about the state of the women's sport if you're so down on diversity, equity and inclusion. 🤷♂️
Not quite the first time, I rode over it back in the late twentyteens, just happened to see it was jammed nose-to-tail so thought it would be fun to filter along...turned out there was an overturned lorry at the eastern end blocking all carriageways. I honestly didn't know cycling was banned (the signs aren't very prominent), just assumed nobody rode on it because it would be suicidal in normal circumstances. Fortunately the weary copper at the other end who saw me just cut off my apologies and said, "Fuck off over there [a gap in the barrier to a slip road] and don't do it again."
They're not slalom barriers, they're Sheffield stands for parking your bike.
@momove I would think that spending time training someone up, putting the time and effort into that only to have most people move on relatively quickly isn't a great business model. I know there is the argument that "if your business has to take advantage of people to run then its not a viable business" but thats the reality of some of these shops. Up to a point, thats exactly what apprenticeships have always been. A business get cheap labour that might help them a bit and the apprentice learns something.
One may wonder why bureaucrat Lappartient wants to reinvent the wheel with a massive injection of DEI and drastic reduction of money. Let the best cyclists win, period. Meanwhile, women's pro peloton needs means and support to attract new sponsors, increase TV coverage, improve salaries and prize money.
So they want to pay people a pittance "for the experience", not record their leave accrued, have them ineligible for sickness pay, then complain about them not being experts on e-bikes, bikefitting and more?
No right-wing media frothing about this?
Made worse by the fact the road has recently been closed for services works for a few weeks, and that was brilliant while it lasted.
Whilst all the changes made are broadly good, there are a host of businesses that can and will suffer for them if they are unlucky enough to hire bad people or simply have bad luck. Small businesses are already really hard pushed to turn a profit with all the pressures of NI, wages, rent, energy costs etc so at some point we do need to find a way to support small businesses and encourage their growth rather than encouraging their demise at every opportunity by treating them in exactly the same way as big, wealthy businesses. A country is built on the businesses people start. When all people see is risk with little chance of reward, why would they even try. Its already an issue for plenty of people who start up a one man band and grow to the size where they could and should start thinking of turning things into a proper company with employees. Do you take this risk or do you just in a comfortable place and take more holiday to avoid the pitfalls of VAT and all the issues with hiring people etc?
39 thoughts on “Video: My Brevet Cymru”
Officially now a bad ass.
Officially now a bad ass. Chapeau!
Despite the :&
Sorry to hear you had a bad
Sorry to hear you had a bad time on the A40 to Brecon! Shame, that’s one of my favourite bits of the Brevet Cymru: it’s a coach road so the climbs and descents are very gradual. I stopped somewhere on the A40 to put my mp3 player on, two guys went past and I got into a bit of a race up with them.
Just in case you think I am over doing the machismo –
I had a bit of a bad patch on that last section from Talybont, especially on that really big climb just before Chepstow. The flesh was willing but the mind was asleep.
Some photos on the blog..
vorsprung wrote:Sorry to hear
Some of the people in your photos look familiar from the stops, i think you must have been just ahead of me on the road until the horror.
I was wanting to enjoy the A40 bit too. Didn’t though 🙂
Learnt a few lessons on my first 400 though, what doesn’t kill you etc and so on
That is one hell of a ride.
That is one hell of a ride. Congratulations.
Brilliant. Well done indeed.
Brilliant. Well done indeed. I suffered like a dog on a 200 last year….400 is just immense
You mad bugger Dave. Have you
You mad bugger Dave. Have you never learnt to drive? 😀
respect
respect :O
mate thats not a proper
mate thats not a proper audaxride. you needed a massive beard and a flat cap.
better luck next time
crumbs! hope you had a few
crumbs! hope you had a few large beers afterwards. well done!
Did you not notice the
Did you not notice the stubble was turning to beard as the ride went on in the video? Another 100k and the cap would’ve started growing too.
Well done Dave. You have my respect.
Great ride. I did my very
Great ride. I did my very first 400 this weekend too, although I did the Porkers down in Dorset. Some interesting moments of self discovery although I would say I generally fared better than on my first 300, which was a month ago.
There were several riders on Porkers who’d also done the Brevet Cymru. That presumably entailed finishing in Chepstow at about 0600 and hightailing straight to Poole to start Porkers at 1400. Bad, bad craziness.
I am relaxing with a pot of sudocrem today.
sponican wrote:There were
that is madness. i guess London-Edinburgh-London isn’t far away though…
Massive respect Dave
Massive respect Dave 🙂
Kudos! And I don’t mean
Kudos! And I don’t mean Strava-style kudos. I mean REAL kudos and respect.
Nice little vid, weather not
Nice little vid, weather not quite as epic as that new Rapha Wales film, still massive respect though, that is a long old way to ride a bicycle by anyone’s standards.
Well done, Dave! 600 next?
Well done, Dave! 600 next?
Wow, just wow.
Wow, just wow. 🙂
PS: Which Genesis bike were
PS: Which Genesis bike were you using, BTW? Couldn’t recognise the colour scheme? Is it a prototype?
Yennings wrote:PS: Which
it’s the equilibrium 853
Chapeau. Offer of the 500
Chapeau. Offer of the 500 still open if your calendar changes 🙂
That’s really fantastic.
That’s really fantastic. Inspirational stuff.
(No subject)
:O 😀
Well done Dave, what an
Well done Dave, what an experience! Looking forward to the write-up.
If I had got to Newquay in the sun I don’t think I would have turned round and ridden back.
Kudos to the guy on the
Kudos to the guy on the trike, true manliness
Good work – 400s are the
Good work – 400s are the hardest distance in my experience.
You’ll never ride further in one go (with longer events like LEL and PBP broken down into 350km ish days and the sleep stop on most 600s being around 350km).
Impressive stuff and a great video!
Never have so many saddle
Never have so many saddle bags been seen in one place :B
The stats are amazing – 254 miles – 24:07:35 – thats like nearly a day – chapeau – or perhaps the audax equivalent ‘Barbe’ :O
Top riding, well done Dave.
Top riding, well done Dave.
Good work Dave, what’s next?
Good work Dave, what’s next? 600 or big beard?
TR McGowran wrote:Good work
contemplating a 600 or even a SR series next year, but also keen to go do some stomping round the odd down circuit so don’t know which’ll take precedence 🙂
Dave Atkinson
Well both is fine, old school long rides on the weekend, new school speed in the week, no problems!
I too have discovered that, like Inuit for snow, I need a hundred words to describe the kind of shattered and bonked you get on a 400! Best advice I heard was: “You will feel terrible once or twice on a 400. You need to have rations, and to keep slowly riding through it… and you’ll be fine.” ie for newbies (I am too) a 400 is pushing your body in all sorts of new ways and a carbo-crash somewhere along the way is inevitable. So… you did that and survived! Chapeau! Do a 200 in a couple of weeks – you’ll feel fantastic!!!
I also know you will be thinking of a 600 and an SR soon enough. And PBP in 2015! Addiction approaching…
“You’ll never ride further in
“You’ll never ride further in one go”
Why not? If you can do 400 then 600 is eminently doable IME.
fantastic achievement. Did
fantastic achievement. Did you ride on your own most of the time? i sort of assumed on these longer events people tend to buddy up a bit? I stick mostly to 100/150 audaxes but this vid has made me think a longer one would be a good challenge! Looking forward to the write up!
rockfield wrote:fantastic
i did ride on my own for most of this one, i was just in that kind of a mood that day. got into a group going into hay-on-wye but apart from that i mostly kept myself to myself 🙂
Absolute quality.
=D> Absolute quality.
Fantastic effort and not
Fantastic effort and not something I would do BUT – Andy Wilkinson holds the UK 24 hour time trial record at 541.214 miles! Nearly 300 miles further in the same time, but he did have to be put in the recovery position after finishing!
Dropped wrote:Fantastic
i spent a bit of time in the recovery position at talybont. or possibly the foetal position 🙂
I did 200k a couple of years
I did 200k a couple of years ago & struggled into a headwind for the last 50, it was the longest I’ve ever been sat on a bike. I can’t imagine what 400 feels like. Respect is due!
Having watched the vid I am
Having watched the vid I am now thinking an Audax should be on my to do list. I joined Audax UK in ’97 but then got into mountain biking before entering an event.
My longest ride so far is 125 miles but you have fired me up for something further.
Well done on your ride.
Well done Dave, Epic ride
Well done Dave, Epic ride mate! very inspirational! I’ll use that on my upcoming sportive!