Welsh Velothon

After a hectic week, Molly and I make our way to Cardiff on our own to ride in the inaugural Welsh Velothon. The rest of the guys had ridden the Dragon Ride the previous week, a 140 mile monster of a climbathon that take in most of the hills in South Wales just for fun.

The Velothon may look like 'just a big ride' but it is one of the few occasions where we normal cyclists can enjoy a closed-road event and act like a pro for the day, cutting off corners, going either way round the roundabouts and throwing empty water bottles at spectators. Brilliant.

Molly had signed up for the 50 and I was in for the 140 (km), so both should be easily manageable and a good training run.  

About 15,000 people took part, dispatched in waves of 750 or so from half a dozen pens located around Cardiff the city centre. We were up early for the three mile cycle to the start line ready for Molly's group to leave at 07:03 ! At this point she didn't look too impressed ...

I had a relaxed latte in Starbucks before my start at 08:00.

Both routes were pretty benign for the first few miles and the shared route meandered across the relatively flat coastal plain before splitting at about the 8 mile point. Molly's route got slowly lumpier until the sting in tail at Caerphilly Castle. This isn't a long climb but the mile or so slog up to a gradient of 17% is a bit of a bastard. Luckily, thereafter,the route is pretty good back to the City and Molly finished strong to the cheers of the adoring crowd and overtaking a couple on the finishing straight according to the video.

The longer route took to the outskirts of Newport, across the M4 and then along the quiet lanes of Gwent and wound slowly north to Abergavenny. The route was really good with no massive climbs and I by-passed the first feed station. All was well until about the 50km point, when tacks were discovered on the road ahead and several hundred people were forced to carry their bikes for ten minutes until we were sure we had passed the danger. 

Our first real climb was the Tumble, a rather famous hill that is shoe-horned into every event in the area. It's a classic climb, not too hard, but about 5.5 k m long - so it goes on about as much as Jeremy Clarkson. Guess where the photographer was ...

A reasonably quick top-up at the feed station and we we were then heading down. During the fast descent, Mr Garmin was up to nearly 50 mph on the straighter bits. We snaked through a few small towns with the locals cheering, waving flags and swilling beer. What a great atmosphere. 

As our route approached Caerphilly, we had a long grinding climb up one side of a dual carriageway that was 5-7 km long. I selected an appropriate gear to simulate the cadence I am used to on the single speed and overtook all the aero-bar'd roadies who had overtaken me coming down the previous hill. Why pedal down a hill ? Odd. 

Caerphilly Hill ? Mmmmm. Bastard. I was never going to fail, but between 25-30% of all the others around me ended up pushing. The final food station at the top was paid a quick visit for more liquid and a few welsh cakes and the sprint to the finish was on. All was well until 2 km out when the rear tyre exploded. The tube was knackered and the two inch split needed my magic 'old-toothpaste-tube tyre-boot' treatment before I could carry on. The repair appeared to take forever and thank you to the spectators who offered assistance and then applauded as I got back on and shuffled off to the finish.  

Molly was sitting in the sun with her new found riding buddies as I finished. Two over-priced burgers and a latte later, we cycled back to the digs to clean up. What a great day.

Molly came home in a creditable 2:32 and I recorded 5:26. In fairness I knew I could spin round in under six with little trouble but has hoped to be much closer to five. I suppose that taking into consideration the tacks, the crowded feed stations and the puncture it wasn't a bad effort. My Garmin had the average speed as 15.9 mph. Pleased with that as I deliberately didn't draft anybody for the whole ride so it was a true solo effort.

The Velothon was the final training run for next week's event when I may, however, be doing some drafting ...