IyhelM
Active Member
So where do we start?
Why not in 2004 when an Italian guy living in Great Britain decided there were not enough tough randonneuring rides. So he launched the Dragon Ride, a 200 km ride in Southern Wales, renowned for a few short yet gruesome climbs. This sportive now attracts a little over 4000 participants every year and offers 4 rides from 100 km to 300 km, all with intimidating elevation, in the beautiful Brecon Beacons national park.
Skip forward to 2018 when this Frenchman visited Wales for the 6 Nations rugby tournament; I was staying in Pontypridd, North of Cardiff, a gate to the Beacons and planned to go hiking there alas a snowstorm had other plans - but I swore I’d come back as it looked really stunning.
Pass a few years, I discovered recumbents, I discovered randonneuring and one day I told myself: « Hey this ride looks nice, let’s try that! 3500 m of elevation over 215 km, 20% gradients? Who cares? »
Actually I did care and I tried to train accordingly - despite the weather’s best efforts this year to ruin spring. Starting in January I rode an average 200 km a week, not always training hard but building up volume then in April I did a few short rides in the Pyrénées (border mountains between France and Spain) and in May and early June I used every blue sky window to hop on the train to the Morvan, a hilly region 2h south from Paris, with slopes similar to Welsh ones (or so I thought).
I thought my preparation was going just fine but a fortnight ago I suffered from a lumbago (my first one! Yeah!) which hampered my last week of training and my resting week.
Still aching a bit I embarked anyway on the Eurostar on Friday to cross the Channel with my Silvio in a bag.
Travel tip: you can travel with a bike fully assembled on the Eurostar from Brussels to London but not from Paris to London - another side effect of Brexit that should be fixed next year hopefully.
Then I reassembled my bike and rode from one station to another in London - it’s a mess; less cars than in Paris but more roadworks and more congestions. And they don’t even drive on the right side of the road.
Two more hours of train and I rode the final 10 km to my guesthouse. One brutal truth: Southern Welsh roads are, mostly, not suitable for cycling.
If you are lucky, there might be a sidewalk which can be used as a cycling path. If you’re luckier, it won’t be full of thorns. If not, you’ll have to share highways and narrow roads with drivers - including the occasional looney ones as anywhere in the world I suppose except Netherlands maybe.
And they don’t drive on the right side of the road either.
Anyway, I reached the nice coastal city of Porthcawl under a nice welcoming drizzle and could settle and find a place for diner and some lukewarm beer.
Saturday morning, I had planned to do a bit of recognition of the road to the starting place in Margam Park, 12 km from Porthcawl but first I stopped at the local bike shop (Onit Bikes, awesome people) to try and sort out some electrical issues with my lights. Turns out it was some short in the rear light cable that got pinched when I reassembled the bike the day before. Took us an hour…
Then to the Park (let’s count 1/2h to get there on the morning), back to the hotel, then a picnic and a stroll along the coastal path - nice cliffs and sandbeaches.
I prepared my gear and food and stuff, the weather was supposed to be dry and not too sunny, around 20°C, checked thrice every part of the bike, went for a good curry and tried to get to sleep early - wake up time, 5am.
Why not in 2004 when an Italian guy living in Great Britain decided there were not enough tough randonneuring rides. So he launched the Dragon Ride, a 200 km ride in Southern Wales, renowned for a few short yet gruesome climbs. This sportive now attracts a little over 4000 participants every year and offers 4 rides from 100 km to 300 km, all with intimidating elevation, in the beautiful Brecon Beacons national park.
Skip forward to 2018 when this Frenchman visited Wales for the 6 Nations rugby tournament; I was staying in Pontypridd, North of Cardiff, a gate to the Beacons and planned to go hiking there alas a snowstorm had other plans - but I swore I’d come back as it looked really stunning.
Pass a few years, I discovered recumbents, I discovered randonneuring and one day I told myself: « Hey this ride looks nice, let’s try that! 3500 m of elevation over 215 km, 20% gradients? Who cares? »
Actually I did care and I tried to train accordingly - despite the weather’s best efforts this year to ruin spring. Starting in January I rode an average 200 km a week, not always training hard but building up volume then in April I did a few short rides in the Pyrénées (border mountains between France and Spain) and in May and early June I used every blue sky window to hop on the train to the Morvan, a hilly region 2h south from Paris, with slopes similar to Welsh ones (or so I thought).
I thought my preparation was going just fine but a fortnight ago I suffered from a lumbago (my first one! Yeah!) which hampered my last week of training and my resting week.
Still aching a bit I embarked anyway on the Eurostar on Friday to cross the Channel with my Silvio in a bag.
Travel tip: you can travel with a bike fully assembled on the Eurostar from Brussels to London but not from Paris to London - another side effect of Brexit that should be fixed next year hopefully.
Then I reassembled my bike and rode from one station to another in London - it’s a mess; less cars than in Paris but more roadworks and more congestions. And they don’t even drive on the right side of the road.
Two more hours of train and I rode the final 10 km to my guesthouse. One brutal truth: Southern Welsh roads are, mostly, not suitable for cycling.
If you are lucky, there might be a sidewalk which can be used as a cycling path. If you’re luckier, it won’t be full of thorns. If not, you’ll have to share highways and narrow roads with drivers - including the occasional looney ones as anywhere in the world I suppose except Netherlands maybe.
And they don’t drive on the right side of the road either.
Anyway, I reached the nice coastal city of Porthcawl under a nice welcoming drizzle and could settle and find a place for diner and some lukewarm beer.
Saturday morning, I had planned to do a bit of recognition of the road to the starting place in Margam Park, 12 km from Porthcawl but first I stopped at the local bike shop (Onit Bikes, awesome people) to try and sort out some electrical issues with my lights. Turns out it was some short in the rear light cable that got pinched when I reassembled the bike the day before. Took us an hour…
Then to the Park (let’s count 1/2h to get there on the morning), back to the hotel, then a picnic and a stroll along the coastal path - nice cliffs and sandbeaches.
I prepared my gear and food and stuff, the weather was supposed to be dry and not too sunny, around 20°C, checked thrice every part of the bike, went for a good curry and tried to get to sleep early - wake up time, 5am.
