SSVC Does Two Amazing Days Cycling in Wales! - Day One

This post is all about our club trip to go cycling in Wales, it’s a beautiful place to ride! The club, in this case, is Stoney Stanton Velo club, a club I’ve proudly been a member of for the last 4 years. A few months ago, one of our members, Ryan, posted on the club site to ask if anyone was interested in a trip to Wales for two days of cycling. The answer was of course a resounding yes! Six of our club members were up for the challenge! The trip was to include no less than six of Simon Warren’s 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs.

Day One

Day one started with a 5am alarm to quickly get ready for an early drive to Wales from the East Midlands. I managed to get down my usual porridge with a good helping of blueberries, there would be more food needed before riding after a two and a half hour car journey to Wales though! We all arrived at Llangower station car park, Lake Bala, to be ready for a 9am ride start. The weather was looking great, which was lucky after a wet few days.

Setting off around 9:30am we had a few miles of mostly flat roads to get warmed up before starting to head upwards. The scenery was instantly fantastic!

Official 100 Climbs No 191, Hirnant Pass

After 5 miles more we started to get close to the first of 3 main climbs for the day, Official 100 Climbs No 191, Hirnant Pass. This is a 1.13 mile long climb averaging 8.1%, a rather steady start compared to what was to come later! As we got closer we were presented with this view of where we were going…

I really enjoyed this climb, the steady 8% gradient really suited my riding style of being able to keep a good cadence going, an ideal 81 rpm in this case. With fresh legs I reached the top eight minutes and 20 seconds later.

As I’m sure many cycling clubs/groups do, we ride most of the route together as a tight group. It’s only when we get to a decent climb that this changes and we all tackle them at our own pace, regrouping at the summit to continue on together. After a regroup we descended down the other side of the climb, followed by around 5 miles of almost flat road. Along the way we passed Lake Vyrnwy which has this incredible looking dam!

Lunch at Machynlleth

With the ride consisting of the first 100 hill near the beginning, and two more near the end, we now rode some steady climbs and descents, stopping at a shop for refreshments. We continued on the ups and downs and eventually descended to the lowest elevation of the ride, around 50 miles in, where we stopped for lunch at Machynlleth. By this point, the sun was shining and temperatures were ideal for riding!

Feeling refuelled and refreshed from our stop, we continued onwards and steadily upwards for a while, passing a road that had suffered a landslide!

Official 100 Climbs No 192, Dyfi Forest

A few miles of mostly flat riding later, we entered the last quarter of the ride, the most difficult quarter of the whole ride. Now, we had to face the last two 100 hills of the day. By chance, the 3 main hills were arranged on the route so that they were in increasing difficulty. The next one to tackle was Official 100 Climbs No 192, Dyfi Forest. This climb was broken into several sections, with flat or almost flat areas in between. The average gradient of this 3.09 mile climb is only 4.3%, but this masks the highs of 20% to tackle along the way. This one took me 17 minutes and 25 seconds, with a slightly less comfortable cadence of 73 rpm.

Here we had chance for a breather and regrouped before heading down the fairly steep 20% descent on the other side. I do love a good descent!

The next 10 miles consisted of little ups and downs, but with a steady slight rise in elevation. We made the most of the good weather and took a few shots along the way.

Official 100 Climbs No 91, Bwlch-y-Groes

At over 70 miles into the ride we were nearing the final, and most difficult climb of the day, Official 100 Climbs No 91, Bwlch-y-Groes. I managed to get a sneak peek at it from a distance as we approached…

Undeterred, we rode onwards to the foot of the climb, 1.83 miles long with an average gradient of 12.5%, but rising briefly to 25% in places. The start of the climb was the calm before the storm, rising steadily in single digit gradients as it approached a relatively tight right-hand bend. After this it was double digit gradients most of the way, with some sections in the high teens and up to 20%. I somehow managed to take this photo about half way up as the slope dipped down to around 9%!

By three quarters of the way up I had no doubt that this was the most punishing climb I had ridden to date. With legs tiring against the constant onslaught of gravity, I battled on to the top, standing regularly to try and cope with the lack of cadence I was able to muster. After what seemed like forever, I finally crested the top, 21 minutes and 38 seconds from the start, with an average cadence of only 59 rpm. My knees were not my biggest fan at this point in time!

This climb well and truly earned its alternative name of “Hellfire pass”. I was so glad I’d managed to grab a photo half way up as the slight bend near the top of the climb completely obscured the view back down from the top. There was no way I was going down again for a photo! Fortunately, the view from the top down the other side was pretty spectacular!

With the climbing all done we rode the 2.7 mile descent down the other side, what a thrill! The remaining few miles were pretty much flat and downhill, a well earned and lovely end to the ride! We packed the bikes and gear into the cars and drive to Porthmadog Travelodge. A refreshing shower was followed by eating as many carbs as possible in an interesting local restaurant, while discussing the day and having a great laugh, mostly at each others’ expense 🙂

All that remained was to get a good night’s sleep, then it was time to take on the challenges of day two…

SSVC Does Two Amazing Days Cycling in Wales! – Day One