Heavy rains and winds take their toll but blistering singletrack brings the second full day of riding to an exhausted climax, reports Matt Skinner in the third of his daily reports…
Day Two: A War of Attrition
Linking Stage Two
Cilycwm, Llandovery to Brechfa
Total distance: 67km
Climbing: 1985m
Followed by:
Special Stage Two
Time-trial, Brechfa Forest (Abergorlech Trail)
Total distance: 7.5km
Yesterday was a let off. The weather gods were teasing the riders; toying with them as a cat does a mouse by allowing them a hint of optimism that the fair weather may hold. Today, however, there were no such half measures of restraint. The gods unleashed their all with volley after volley of soul draining rains; drowning both the trail and the riders’ spirits and turning the 67km linking stage into a non-stop battle of attrition, guts, and reserve.
Out of Cilycwm the riders headed west along the black top before diving into the woods to grind upwards on firetrack. It wasn’t long before the rains began beating down hard making climbing even more mentally tough – not many folks revel in hard climbing, but throw in a maelstrom and the number drops to even fewer, particularly when the trail just keeps on pointing up. Eventually the riders zipped up and dropped back down to the Tarmac: yet even this wasn’t easy. If riders didn’t want to freeze to the bone soaked through by both rain and road spray, there was no option but to stick it into the big ring and keep the legs turning hard. And so it went on for a large proportion of the stage: grinding upwards, cold descents, and the no-man’s land of flat stretches battling both the elements and the will to remain mentally buoyant knowing that they were still a very long way from the end.
Finally riders clawed and scraped their grateful way to Brechfa Forest and its rich vaults of new school singletrack. Built by UK downhiller Rowan Sorrell, the Abergorlech trail is stuffed to bursting with berms, table tops, rollable doubles and high speed lines that will give any rider a lesson in flow. Merida Bikes TransWales course designer John Lloyd made good use of all the available buff singletrack to bring a high octane end to the very long, very sapping and very, very wet second linking stage. But despite that the day was not yet fully done.
Due to the rains and the physical pummeling that riders had endured just to make it to the linking stage’s end, the special stage was shortened to 7.5km. But for many riders this was still a bridge too far: sitting it out meant that a rider would be automatically allocated the time of the slowest racer in their category from the special stage, plus two minutes. For riders here for the challenge and the experience, such penalties are purely hypothetical and an easy price to pay for rest and recuperation. But for those revved up for the title race, this would be a pivotal stage to lay down their claims or see their chances begin to slip through their muddy fingers.
The course was fast and non technical, but taken at racing pace the undulating singletrack weaved its way through the trees over compression rises like the speeder bike scene in Return of the Jedi. On this course there would be nothing to separate riders save for out and out speed; it promised tight racing and it didn’t disappoint.
In the USE Men’s Solo category competition intensified as the favourites were joined in the fray by new faces who were determined that things wouldn’t go to script. TransWales’ 2006 pairs winner, Ryan Bevis (RAM Bikes) was again the early pace maker, followed closely by last year’s TransScotland Solo Men’s winner Andy Barlow (Whyte Bikes); but pipping both riders to the top spot of the podium in a blisteringly fast time of 16:59 was Belgian Frans Claes (Connection Granville). Frans’ time was a clear 32 seconds up on Bevis’ second place time, with Barlow 6 seconds slower in 17:37. The only other rider to go sub-18 minutes was fourth placed Ewan Thorburn (Fat Tread Bikes) with a time of 17:52.
Elsewhere in the Niner Bikes Singlespeed category TransWales and TransScotland veteran Matt Carr (69er Collective) had a proper race on his hands with Henry Richard Lansdown (Bike Shed Wales) taking 17 seconds out of him on the special stage to snatch the category lead in the general classification (GC) by just one second.
In the USE Veteran Women’s Solo category Mary-Rose Cross convincingly beat Anne Dickins (Cloud 9 Trails) into second to take both the Brechfa special stage win and the overall GC. However, USE Solo Female leader Fi Spotswood (Iron Horse/Extreme) stretched her lead in the GC by simply starting the special stage as Angela Carpenter – her nearest rival – sat the stage out. Fi then went on to win the stage by just under five minutes from second placed Amy Baron-Hall (trio25.blogspot.com).
Similarly, in the USE Solo Veteran Male category enduro stalwart Steve Heading (Whyte Bikes) began to creep clear of second placed Kerry Graham (BAD CC) in the GC with over a minutes cushion. Bryan Singleton (Ride On/Buff) came in third to keep the GC unchanged.
Tomorrow sees the riders saddling up for the biggest linking stage yet: all 75km and 1950m of climbing of it. Taking riders from Brechfa to Tregaron it will see riders get into the Welsh wilderness proper as the course strikes into the wild heart of Mynydd Mallaen. It’ll be a long day and undoubtedly tough, but with the weather forecast hinting at an optimistic turn, the worst of the weather could be about so say its final adieu. 288 Merida Bikes TransWales riders are certainly hoping and praying for it to be so.
Day Three: “Grinning and loving it.”
The weather has turned a corner and the riders have been firmly introduced into mid-Wales’ wilderness and its stunning trails, reports Matt Skinner in the fourth of his daily reports…
Linking Stage Three
Brechfa to Tregaron
Total distance: 75km
Climbing: 1950m
Today the event broke into its stride and took the riders into the dark yet bewitching heart of Wales to deliver all that it had promised. From beautifully wild landscapes, hypnotic singletrack, epic climbs and sweeping descents along quintessential Welsh drovers tracks, today’s stage from Brechfa to Tregaron – some 75km apart – served up a gourmet course of some of the finest Welsh riding going.
With the heavy rains over night finally dying out around 5am, the riders awoke on Tuesday morning to lighter skies and brighter hopes. A spin along the black top eased tired and aching bodies gradually back into life ahead of entering the trees and the dirt to begin the climb up Esgair Ferchon at 433m. Leaving the trees behind and below the riders began the first true wilderness portion of the event so far: boggy and marshy it sapped energy. But with the tranquillity that only wild places know, it saw riders gritting their teeth and savouring the views whilst they spun it out.
Summiting Mynydd Mallaean at 448m further lifted spirits as the trail began pointing down for some hard earned gravity pay off, picked up speed and began galloping headlong over rocky outcrops and techy, adrenaline-birthing trail. The trail then coursed into the fast and furious singletrack descent at Cwmrhaedr used for the Exposure Lights Maxx night special stage. With the lights up, riders stormed it and gratefully pulled into the lunch stop with pinging rotors and pumped arms.
Another black top section helped settle stomachs before a beast of a climb – both steep, rocky and sustained with a few switchbacks thrown in for good measure – did it’s best to upset said settled stomachs. Then with a major altitude chunk notched up in one go the trail entered the woods once more before dropping down the open descent of Hafod Las and taking in a beasty of a river crossing: with the heavy rains of previous weeks being captured on the Welsh hills the flow was fast and verged on being in spate. Riders had to negotiate it with caution and keep hold of their bikes to prevent them from being swept away. After surviving the torrent, riders then entered into Cwm Berwyn Plantation for an extended woodland visit.
Then came a choice: cut the route off short to save energy or tackle the final loop into Tregaron that had been billed as the hardest and most technical section yet. The sting in the tail for cruising back on the tarmac? A 2 minute time penalty. But with many tired and weary bodies making strong cases to cut short many did, and only the hardy, the pumped up, and those in contention in the general classification ran the final section. But despite the large number of time penalties, there was no change in the top three riders in each category in the general classification.
Running along the flank of Esgair Ffrwdit the trail then dropped quickly before climbing once more and although wet, the descent was fast and fun, with riders working their way steadily downwards along a mix of drovers tracks and singletrack, before launching down a steep chute into the final stream crossing and a gentle spin to the event village on the outskirts of Tregaron.
With the rains beginning to die out there’s optimism that the event has weathered the worst of the storm. “The magic is definitely here [at the Merida Bikes TransWales],” said Trans veteran Charlie Eustace (Ellsworth/Freeborn/Torq) after finishing the day’s stage. “It’s wet – really wet and the streams are angry – but we’re in the middle of Wales, we’re camping, we’re riding and we’re with friends and that’s what biking is all about. I’m grinning and loving it.”
Things are looking brighter, the riding is improving day by day, and the Merida Bikes TransWales is preparing for another big day that will take the whole Trans circus 79km and 2000m of climbing all the way to Machynlleth via the coastal town of Aberystwyth and into the mountains proper.