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Gran Fondo Cymru Report
by Alan Malarkey
Before
the ride
Phil and I set off at around 11
on Saturday but traffic was heavy and I think that it took about 5.5 hours
to Bala pronounced, as Phil says, (he’s a closet Welshman) with short
vowel sounds. We stayed at the White Lion Hotel which was nice but a bit
expensive They let us keep out bikes in the room so are probably worth
their hoped-for 4 stars. I went out for a light spin for the first 6 miles
of the ride and back. This took me up a steady but reasonably steep hill -
at the top my average speed was 12 mph but my average for the return was
over 22 and I hit 39mph – all a taste of what was to come. We had a bar
meal and chatted with another rider from
Telford
and Phil restrained my drinking with descriptions of what the alcohol
would do to my performance.
On the ride
On the morning of the ride we
were set for an early breakfast and I had requested porridge – (hot
slow-release cycling energy on a plate). Unfortunately the Scandinavian
cook hadn’t been told of either fact and we waited for her to get
organised – I asked about the porridge but her reply of, “vot is zis
porridge”, made me rush for
the muesli – perhaps only 3 stars.
We had signed on the evening
before and received our strap-on the wrist transponders and it was all
pretty well organised with groups of 10 starting every minute. We quickly
got on the back of some other riders and Phil was clearly on fire
imitating Ivan Basso up the first hill – after a while I lost him off
the back but 5 miles further on he caught up and as we came to the
descents his were fearless and the yellow ACC kit zoomed off into the
distance. I eventually got back to him but then I got my first puncture
and told Phil to ride on for his coveted Silver award. At the same time
found that my pump was useless but I wasn’t sure if it was that or
another hole in my spare tube. I stood by the side scratching my head and
at this point the ACC rescue team turned up in the person of Aoden,
Sylvain and Matt – Matt let me have a new tube and Aoden helped out with
his excellent French pump while Sylvain took photos! We were soon back on
the road – They fired off into the distance and I had my first spell of
lone riding. Soon I came upon Matt who also had a puncture but he said
he’d be OK and would catch me up. Time to dig in – I didn’t really
think that I could get to Phil as I had lost a lot of time and he was
going so well. The ride up Llanberis pass was pretty hard and against a
strong head wind, so I spent most of my time trying to get on the back of
chains-gangs of other riders and stayed off the front except on some of
the flatter sections. The views of the Snowdonia National Park were
spectacular and the ride down to Caenarfon was fast and furious.
Eventually we reached Caenarfon
Castle, which is more or less the half way mark, and we were time-checked
again. The wind was now behind me I started to made better progress
Anyway, another 5 miles down the road and I got my second puncture. But
hey presto, a couple in a car stopped announcing themselves as “Neutral
Support – we’ve got a track pump” so I received some more help and
was on my way again – I’d given up catching Phil and settled in for
another lone stint. I also gathered that Matt had more problems with his
valve and had to stop again so he never caught up to me.
Just before the second feed stop
there was a very steep section and a few riders had stopped or were
walking it – pride kicked in and I made it to the top – just. After
the feed stop I saw Maria who was also fighting a lone battle. She seemed
happy enough and said she didn’t want to draught – she felt that the
next and last hill would be more manageable than the last because it was
more gradual This was true, but for me it was the hardest of all as it
went up for ages with lots of false summits. While I was looking for
reserves that I didn’t seem to have Kieren went by me and he still
looked pretty fresh. Going down the other side was exciting but by this
time I was experience some weird bonking sensations and I felt that my
concentration was impaired so I took it steadily. Finally I reached the
head of Bala lake where some would turn off for a further Super challenge
loop of another hour or more! There was no temptation for me and I
completed the course in another 4 miles. By this time I was about 7
minutes behind Phil and I did 7:41:39 which is a silver for my age group
– my computer had 7:07 which was lost time for punctures and 2 short
feed stops but the gold standard was 6.42 which was never in sight. So I
felt OK with that and pleased for Phil that even though he hadn’t quite
hit his silver goal he was very nearly on it and the first half of his
ride had been very strong. Some of the others posted some excellent times
and did the longer ride.
After the ride
After receiving our times and
certificates we had a very convivial recuperation in the community centre
café with all those previously mentioned plus Gavin who had set off early
– we heard that Marek had mechanical problems but we didn’t see him.
Some of us Met up in Bala in the evening for drinks and a Pizza which was
nice and the drive home was quick and easy. All in all a pretty good ride
but tough and, as they say, ‘somewhat character building’. Well done
everybody and thanks to I-team for the excellent organisation.
Next weekend the Polkadot Challenge – Hey
Ho!
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