There has been a distint lack of training over the winter months so it was good to get out for only the 2nd time since November for a ride with Cookie today. Our only other trip was last weekend (the usual to Eureka cafe) which had been 40kms on the flattest roads one could wish for... unless that is you have a ride requiring over 4,000 metres of vertical ascent booked into the diary!
We decide to drive to Wales 1st to park up to do some much needed hill training in the Welsh hills - so with bikes loaded onto the roofrack we're off and cruising down the M53...
However, as the speedo touches 75mph, there is an unusual sound from above and I glance into the rear-view mirror to unexpectedly see a bicycle somersaulting through the air?!
"SH**!" - somehow, one of the bikes has pinged off the roofrack and it splatters into the motorway tarmac a hundred or so yards behind us, before clattering and bouncing along hap-hazardly and ending in a crumpled heap in the hard shoulder..
We screech to a stop and Cookie immediately jumps out to inspect the top of the car - there is a noticeable sigh of relief as he discovers his bike to be still safely secured to the roofrack! Phew
Our attention diverts to the bike lying in the hard shoulder - Thankfully there had been no cars directly behind - that could have been nasty. As I run back, it does appear that the bike is still somehow in one piece? Although, upon closer inspection, there is quite a bit of damage to the handlebars, gear shifters and seat and both wheels are, as one would expect, buckled - but other than that, it doesn't look too bad. No new bike on the insurance then, shame
We bungle the bike into the boot of the car, and 30 mins later are parked up at Penyffordd station. Fortunately, Cookie has just so happened to have brought along his brand new all-in-one bicycle tool (£24.99) that has EVERY conceivable contraption needed for bicycle repairs, good man. Apart from that is... a spoke key/wrench, so nothing can be done to the contorted wheel rims which are just about rideable with the brakes considerably slackened off (that'll be safe then!)
After 10mins repairs, a quick test ride around the car-park and all seems ok so we head off. There is a VERY strong head wind and, churning away in low gears, we battle onwards and upwards to the 'Worlds End' - a deserted outcrop of carboniferous limestone, high up somewhere on the bleak Welsh moors. Progress is...
...painfully slow!
We end up abandoning our plans of scaling the Horseshoe Pass and the decision to turn back is made easier when fallen trees make the mountain pass er... impassable.
An unusually slippy cattle grid catches me unawares as we start the return leg and its the 1st fall of 2011, comedy bike moments all round today
The journey back is downhill and the speed is ramped up with a gale-force tailwind. Narrow, exposed, winding mountain pass roads (lightly gravelled of course) coupled with buckled bicycle wheels that are wobbling like crazy all over the place and a speedometer reading high numbers, despite applied brakes, make for a nerve-wracking but exhilerating descent!
Distance: - 39km
Time:- 2hrs
Publish Post
Total ascent - 420m
No comments:
Post a Comment