Bala Audax: Pics and Stuff

[Simonb]

Map: http://www.widerworld.co.uk/bala-audax.jpg

All very beautiful indeed, despite the cold and wind at the tops of the
passes. I was ahead of everyone for the first three stages and rode the last
leg, up and over the (Brenig?) Moors, with a French-German couple from
Bradford on a tandem (they'd spent the whole ride just behind me and we kept
catching up at the controls). I completely bonked at about 190km and they
went off ahead while I freewheeled into Bala practically a dead man. Fish
and chips in the final cafe control seemed to revive me though! Finished in
about 9 hrs in second place. Damn, those tandems go downhill so fast. ;-)

Bwlch-y-Groes at the top of the easy side (
http://www.salite.ch/groes2.htm ):

http://www.widerworld.co.uk/bwlch-y-groes-easy.jpg

This is Bwlch-y-Groes looking down the nasty side. 16% for 1km, then 14% for
1km and 7 for the final km going down ( http://www.salite.ch/groes1.htm ). I
had to stop as I felt I was going to go out of control otherwise!

http://www.widerworld.co.uk/bwlch-y-groes-hard.jpg

Milltir Cerrig -- easy side ( http://www.salite.ch/milltir1.htm ). I started
to cramp in the middle of the nasty bit at the start, but stopped, refuelled
and recharged for a minute and continued without a problem. I even had a
supporter at the top who gave me a cheery "Well Done!". Thanks! Whoever you
are.

http://www.widerworld.co.uk/milltir-cerrig-easy.jpg

I'm considering the Wild Wales too, with my brother (MTB'er so should be up
to it). But, having seen the nasty side of Bwlch-y-Groes...

--
Simon

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Simonb
('[email protected]') wrote:

> Map: http://www.widerworld.co.uk/bala-audax.jpg
>
> All very beautiful indeed, despite the cold and wind at the tops of
> the passes. I was ahead of everyone for the first three stages and
> rode the last leg, up and over the (Brenig?) Moors, with a
> French-German couple from Bradford on a tandem (they'd spent the whole
> ride just behind me and we kept catching up at the controls). I
> completely bonked at about 190km and they went off ahead while I
> freewheeled into Bala practically a dead man. Fish and chips in the
> final cafe control seemed to revive me though! Finished in about 9 hrs
> in second place. Damn, those tandems go downhill so fast. ;-)

Ouch!

I did my first audax this weekend - only 114Km and that took seven hours
(including about an hour stopped). And it wasn't in anything like so
challenging country. 200Km in 9 hours seems very daunting.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

X-no-archive: No, I'm not *that* naive.

 

[Simonb]

Simon Brooke wrote:
> in message <[email protected]>, Simonb
> ('[email protected]') wrote:
>
>> Map: http://www.widerworld.co.uk/bala-audax.jpg
>>
>> All very beautiful indeed, despite the cold and wind at the tops of
>> the passes. I was ahead of everyone for the first three stages and
>> rode the last leg, up and over the (Brenig?) Moors, with a
>> French-German couple from Bradford on a tandem (they'd spent the
>> whole ride just behind me and we kept catching up at the controls). I
>> completely bonked at about 190km and they went off ahead while I
>> freewheeled into Bala practically a dead man. Fish and chips in the
>> final cafe control seemed to revive me though! Finished in about 9
>> hrs in second place. Damn, those tandems go downhill so fast. ;-)
>
> Ouch!
>
> I did my first audax this weekend - only 114Km and that took seven
> hours (including about an hour stopped). And it wasn't in anything
> like so challenging country. 200Km in 9 hours seems very daunting.

10 hrs including stops (8am to 6pm). Thankfully my B&B was just up the road
in Llangwm -- so, once I got there, I had a bath and crashed till 9am on
Sunday -- so I got 13 hrs sleep! A long drive back to Southampton on Sunday
left me feeling a bit stiff, but 2 days gentle commuting and I'm fine now.