Day 5 - I'm too sexy for my shirt...and the mother of all fire road climbs

Today started after 5 hours sleep, a skinful of booze and an almighty hangover.

Last night turned out to be a bit lairier than planned, all the same it was great fun. The chuckle brothers were out on it too and Paul (Dan) is having to sit out the riding as he cut his knee pretty badly yesterday so the stitches and swelling are stopping him from bending his leg so today I'm going to ride with Barry Chuckle (Jason) he's a bit quicker than me on the linking stages (much quicker than me on the descents) but the long breaks they take means we get back around the same time each day.

Breakfast was a bleary eyed affair. I felt super tired, ate a big breakfast once more, lots of coffee, banter about the previous nights shenanigans. I just wanted to go back to sleep, the thought of another 75km on the bike wasn't appealing to me add to that surprise surprised - 2400m of climbing! We were becoming used to the climbing now, it was just part of the routine. I'm sure my granny ring will need replacing pretty soon!

I'd changed my brake pads last night and the pistons needed to be pushed out, so after going back to bed for a few winks, I took it over to an equally bleary eyed Gareth from Cycle-Tec who sorted it out in seconds.

I was conscious that I was dehydrated from last night so tried to make an effort to drink plenty of water but my stomach was sick of digesting fluids! There were forecasts for really shitty weather today but we started the day with clear blue skies, and this is how it stayed all day. This wasn't the Wales I'd been told about.

So 9am we sat off, and straight into a 10km climb. This was just what I needed to clear my head, and you know what? It really was. After 20 minutes in the saddle I felt heaps better. The riding was once more pretty tough but also had lots of fun water splashes interspersed into it. The special stage today was the talk of the breakfast table earlier, with a 4km descent and a 4km "Leg Burner" fire road climb. In my head the fire road climb was the stage most suited to me. I'm a shit descender but give me a long nontechnical climb and I'm sorted.

There were tactics in the camp, people were sitting back in the group today to preserve their energy. Riders I rarely saw on the route were mingling with the mid packers. Just before the special stage, I saw someone changing their tyres to slicker ones.

The specials stage was only about 30k into the ride and just before lunch stop. Me and Jason had been having a really funny morning, piss taking and laughing all the way. We came round some gorgeous scenery, passing by reservoirs and open lakes then onto some singletrack then out onto Nant Yr Arian trail. I was nervous about the descent, but looking forward to hammering the climb.

We reached the timed section, where there was music blasting, Matt Carr (also hungover) was commentating, Michael Wilkens was starting off the riders. This section was a looped one, so there were people coming back in to the finish as people were starting off, the lunch stop was also here, so there were lots of people about making the atmosphere pretty cool.

Jason and I got in the queue to do our time trials, I set off first to Matt shouting "Smash it!" through the PA system, big ringed it on the fire road descent which took a left turn into a pretty tough fire road/rocky climb - I'd locked out my forks just before thinking it looked like it was just a fire road climb start but it was rockier than it looked, so unlocked and gave it some welly.

Jason soon came pissing past me, and started yelling at me to "Fucking Go!" after about 500m of climbing the course took a descent through some big water splashes, the last one absolutely soaking me from head to toe. I was almost on my minute man, and Jason just in front of me. I came round bend and found Jason off his bike wedged against the side of the mountain, I asked if he was OK, and faltered slightly not wanting to leave me wingman, he said he was fine so I carried on. The course then went onto a lovely piece of singletrack, narrow, twisty, a few berms, except I was a fucking joke. I was picking my way through it like I should have had a basket on the front. Don't get me wrong, I was still loving it, I was just impossibly slow. Three people behind me, over took in this section, When I finally got to the bottom of the descent it was straight onto the now infamous "Leg Burner"

My minute man immediately dismounted and started pushing - What the fuck? I locked out my suspension put my gear onto the middle ring and got myself ready for the climb. Keeping my cadence high and trying to keep the rhythm consistent I caught up with another rider. The climb, was fairly steady to begin with, then it was have the odd hard ramp up. I caught a guy who'd overtaken me on the descent, and another. I focused on the speed I was doing, keep it above this I said to myself, my lungs were busting and I was breathing hard, but my legs still felt good.

I had no idea how far up I'd gone so didn't know how hard to push, the road turned a corner and climbed steeper still I was almost caught up with the last guy who'd overtaken me, he looked round and obviously hadn't expected to see me, "where did those legs come from" - "I'm gash at descending" he encouraged me up the hill to try and go quicker, but he put more space between us, the course then hung a left and onto a brief bit of single track, I wasn't expecting it though, I quickly unlocked as a big rock appeared in front to pick my front wheel up over, quickly knocked it into the granny ring as once more it climbed , twisted and there 50 yards in front was the finish,. Just as I was having a bit of difficulty in the wrong gear, on an awkward rocky bit I thought I was going to have to get off and push the last few metres but I pedalled on up the last and over the line. Heaving and collapsed on the grass verge. When I'd got my breath back, I had a look around for Jason, but he was nowhere to be seen.

I got some lunch and sat down assuming he was still out on the time trial. Fifteen minutes later he appeared, it turned out the guy in front had jammed on the brakes right in front of Jase and the only way he could avoid crashing into him was pulling into the wall of the cliff denting his wheel in the process. He'd managed to almost straighten it out but they were tubeless so he had to put in a tube.

He said he'd get some lunch then we could go but I made him do the Time trial, I was getting a bit stiff being off the bike so long as I don't normally stop for this long but I didn't want him to miss out, so off he went, and I sat around chatting to people, when he came back, he got some lunch and sat down for a bit... I had been sat around now for over an hour and was getting bit anxious to get on, as we were only half way and we only had another 3 hours to get back before the cut off and looking at the profile it looked to be a slow final 35k.

Back on the bike my legs felt dead and empty. Shit. Straight into a big fire road climb, my legs just felt terrible. Shit. I had plenty of fuel on board so I didn't want to eat anything else. The road must go down soon, then my legs can have a bit of recovery.
The road continued to go up.
and up
and up some more
for 30km this fucking awful fireroad climbed.

As the afternoon went on, I became less and less fun to be around. Jason tried to make me laugh, it worked most of the time. My favourite was when he would randomly burst into song - singing "I'm too sexy for my shirt," by Right Said Fred.

I was really struggling this afternoon, the road just kept going up and up. How is this possible!!

15km of climbing later we got to the last feed station, I was in a shit mood. Bob from High5 said there was a bit of a climb left, then a descent, and we'd be back in about 15-20km.

Out of the feed station and the clock was running away without us, we were going to struggle to make the cut off! If you were back after the cut off, you got time penalties added to your overall time - everyone gets the same time you see but for each minute over the allotted time you go, they add on a second.

Round the corner, and there in front of us another fuck off climb! I has a massive tantrum, I growled and shouted. Poor Jason...

"I'm....too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt.." and a cheeky grin appeared next to me.

I managed to laugh, and apologise for being a brat. My legs were so empty I just wanted to cry and be back at the camp. I was struggling so badly, Jason made me swap bikes with him on the hard climbs and I had my bike back for the rare descents (which I was just hammering down in a vain attempt to get home quicker ) his bike was a lot lighter and quicker on the climbs than mine, even though I'd thought mine was fast and light.

The kilometers dragged by so slowly, we wove through more fireroads and up some more, through barren landscapes with enormous wind farms.

Climbing.

"I'm too sexy for my shirt..."

"I hate this afternoon!"

"so sexy it hurts!"

I loved him for trying, we finally reached the top of this bitch of a climb and stopped to take some pictures of the incredible view we were finally rewarded with. We were on top of the world, we could see the evil road which snaked up the mountain in a thin twisty line. Jason gave me some malt loaf and we carried on through the wind farms, finally a descent! We bumped into one of the marshals who said it was just 3 or 4km to go to the campsite.

"hurrah"

What he didn't say was that 1km of that was the worst climb yet! I swore, I rode a little way up it, resigned myself to the fact that I was running on empty and got off and pushed to the top.

A not very rewarding and windy descent back down and we were finally back!

At some point during the day Jason had agreed to putting on his Gillet back to front so it looked like a string vest and cross the line singing "I'm too sexy for my shirt"

He held his end of the bargain and did just that. I finished the stage with a smile on my face but mentally and physically exhausted.

I was pretty unhappy as I went to wash my bike off.

Today's campsite was in the middle of nowhere, 15 miles from civilisation, next to a stream, populated with millions and millions of midges, sitting in waiting to come out and eat us alive later.

Where Rob and Ryan were camped was miles (like 300m) from where the luggage lorry was so I got a lift on the quad with my stuff to where they were, put up my tent, sulked a bit at how terrible this afternoon had been, and disappointed that it had tarnished such a brilliant morning.

I showered, put up my tent (just before it started to rain a little) changed, went to find my wing man, said "sorry for being such a horrible cunt" had a beer with him and Dan and went to the medical tent with them to get Dan's dressing changed. The midges were now starting to get hungry  and were coming out in their thousands. Nasty little buggers.

We had dinner, I was really tired and subdued so not my normal self, after dinner was going to be the presentation of the days stage results, a bar and a band on to amuse us in the ass end of nowhere village we were.

We got some beers and waited for the presentation, I was chuffed to have got 3rd place in today's and got on the podium and won some Gore vouchers, then we went back to the drinking, the band came on who were brilliant. It was a great touch for the organisers to put this on.

About 10.30 the band finished, I was a bit pissed by now, sensible people sloped off to bed, leaving the usual suspects of about 8 of us to carry on the boozing into the night, Gareth put some tunes on the PA system and it ended up being another 1.30 bed time....

Day 4 Llandidliosss to Mufflove and Climaxing

Today was the longest linking stage of the week, and after 3 tough days of climbing I was concerned about it. With 84km nearly 2300m of climbing, it was set to be another day in the pain locker. With a big breakfast on board and clear skies we said goodbye to Llanidloes and made our way onto Machynleth

The first 20km was once more uphill.... I guess what goes up must come down right? Thankfully although it was steep, it was mostly on road and forest track so the miles flew by, and before we knew it we were at the first water stop.

I was still surprised at how fresh my legs were feeling, but not wanting to get caught out I was still prudent with my effort level.

We carried on through sheep tracks, lots of gates which we took in turns on opening/shutting, there was an unknown gate etiquette, how long should you wait? If someone is 50ft away, should you hold it open or leave it for the next group? Everyone knew not to shut it in the face of someone haring down a hill! Some people used it as an excuse to rest their weary legs or stop for a bite to eat.

For the last two days there had been talk about a big dangerous descent on todays ride, it was said to be like riding on ice when it's wet, a sheer 400yard piece of slate which gives way to "the cheese grater" section. It's conversations like this that give me the willies, again if I didnt know about it I"d probably be fine.

A little before this, was a really technical descent, an off camber sheep track with sheer drops to the left, big rocks which jumped out on you trying to throw you down the side of the mountain. Just ahead the track turned into a rocky trail and people were slowing down. I thought this must be "the descent" there was a bottle neck of people and a steeep technical descent which twisted round to the river crossing, people had already dismounted in front of me. It was rideable - as long as you were moving. Now stationary I too got off and pushed the bike down - it was probably harder to walk down. Once over the bridge we had an almighty and very technical push back up. No one was riding it, I'd be surprised if Ajay and Matt Page at the front would have - I'd be interested to now how they rode through a slate vertical gulley.

Once over the top of the hill the trail carried on a little further, and there in front of me was  a "caution" sign... Fuck it, this must be the descent. Except it didnt seem so bad.... there was a clear line down it, OK, so it wasn't easy. People were walking down it, but it looked again harder to be on foot. There was a small waterfall flowing down it and once more the voices of the others "It's like ice when it's wet" in my head. I wasn't going to let the brakes go totally but I didnt strangle them, I tried to keep the wheels moving in a straight line, not letting them lock out.

I looked ahead, I was half way down already, I felt dead proud. A more ballsy rider came flying past me, I caught up with someone walking, he was in my way so I had to put a foot down to get past. Once clear of him, I let the bike roll once more, down the steep slippery potential deathtrap, down a couple of large rocky drop offs, then the descent took a left, and onto the "cheese grater" again the scaremongers had made it seem worse than it is.. maybe it's more about what you're used to riding on? I don't mind riding on rocks, I can sort of see why they called it a cheesegrater, if you came off at speed, you would be pretty short of skin after.


I made it down the cheese grater stage and once more the path took a turn, I took the corner wrong and had to push for a few meters got my wheels back on track and on down the now grassy/rocky descent. I actually found this harder, the damp grass making my wheels skid.

The scottish lady who appeared next to me, got off saying "i've run out of brave" afte r tackling the descent. We both then had to dsimount to get through a rocky river crossing and up a steep bank.

From here, the ride went onto some fast rolling tracks and a few miles of road, into a head wind. The scottish lady and her team mate appeared and the 3 of us chainganged for the next section, giving each other a chance to rest whilst flying through the mileage then onto lunch.

From lunch was a bit of road, some consistent climbing on road and fire road, the Special stage today was quite late in the ride, and was pure descent - Eek! I'd spoken to Phil back home about it and he said it was one of his favourite trails and I'd love it, told me to relax and keep my weight back.

After a  short section of pumpy singletrack, where I tried to get my mind and body back on singletrack style riding, keep my body relaxed and weight moving on the bike. Back onto a short fireroad section and we were at the timed section. A quick banana down the hatch at the food station just before and I went down the chute into the well known Climachx Trail

The trail was amazing! It flowed so well, fast and twisty, pedalling as much as I could on the flatter sections, pumping the forks into and out of deep sections. I was all of a sudden up on my minute man, how is that possible? someone slower and descending than me? Next thing he was off, twisted into a big rock garden with his bike still attached to him. He let me pass, but I had to dismount, and run and push my bike over the tricky technical rock garden. I ran for about 40 meters or so until I was passed all the rocks, (they were gargantuan!) I will go back there and tackle them properly when the red mist isnt in my eyes. Back on the bike and downwardsa again, i wasnt' going fast I knew that, someone was on my back wheel, I shouted that I'd try to pull over somewhere, he patiently waited whilst I picked my way down the snaking berms. Once more I yelled "sorry! i'm shit!" He said not to worry to carry on, as I was in a good position on the results and he wasnt going to come that high.

Down the last bit of descent and put the hammer down through the finish line to music and  Matt Carr comparring, nearly getting catapulted out of the saddle over a hump on the road and getting yelled at to slow down.

I was high as a kite! The most exhilierating downhill descent I've ever done. I could see why it was called the Climax trail!  My confidence was increasing and I was actually enjoying the adrenaline of gravity. I pushed on to the end totally buzzing, I didnt see anyone else for the last 15km, and when I got to the campsite and a microphone shoved in my face asking about my day it was all I could do not to swear about how fucking awesome it was! The longest ride yet but it flew by and my ride time was about 4hr30.

There was a brilliant buzz around the camp this afternoon, everyone was high on endorphins from the Climax trail. Everyone fancied their chances on the podium this evening (except me, I knew I played it safe, better to ride within my limits and get down safely was my thought- Paul Chuckle didnt play it so safe, cutting open his knee on the rock garden and ending up in hospital with stitches in his knee. )

With everyone in sucha great mood, hot showers in the leisure centre, tent, sunbathing, I did a beer run, dinner, presentation (4th again) beer and we carried on as the evening started.....

Several pints, a few rums, too many tabs (much to the disgust of my new friends) later we returned to the campsite after the pub would serve us no more, and sat around the Merida bus drinking wine until that was gone.... I finally stumbled into my sleeping bag around 1.30am...

Day 3 Clun(ge) to Llanidloes A taste of the Epic

It had been pissing down all night, but thankfully my itchy legs had stopped and I got a pretty good sleep, and thanks to Ali's tent I didn't get wet at all, which is more than can be said than some others.


Gore were lending out swanky jackets on a try before you buy thing (not that many people had intention of buying them after - just wanting to keep their own kit dry for now) so I borrowed an excellent rain coat, which is designed to be breathable (and save for climbing huge mountains it pretty much was)


Over breakfast Rob was showing us how to flick beans and a group of us had gravitated to each other - a group where the tone was as about as low as it gets and the laughter was pretty much constant, there was always someone who was the brunt of the jokes. Today was my turn, as one of my pictures from yesterday was particularly unflattering, resulting in my being called "Les Dawson" (I've since googled this and I'm not happy!)

On with the days riding, (70k, 2100m climbing) just as we were getting ready to go, the rain stopped and the sun peeped it's head out briefly. I took off my jacket and as soon as we were into the first climb (just kilometers away) I was glad I did. The first climb of the day out the way, and a big descent, then the coat was back on for most of the day as the heavens opened. Just in time for a 15km climb, big grassy inclines with the wind battering us around. Onto some amazing but bleak open moorland and sheeptracks. This is how I think of mountain biking, I was having a fantastic day. When I hear people talking about "Epic" rides, this is what they're talking about. Proper hardy mountain goat style terrain, big rocky climbs and descents, landscapes littered with sheep, fields filled with gorse bushes just waiting for you to fall in them so they can attack you.


I could hear moaning behind me, and it was the chuckle brothers - I'd met them briefly on the ride yesterday when they were much more chipper. Today, Barry Chuckle was complaining about everything. It seemed ages til the lunch stop and we had just got up a big climb only to find that it hadn't finished yet, so they stopped for an unscheduled lunch stop, I joined them for a while and gave them haribo (Sorry Sally!) and hence receiving the name Haribo Lady for a while. It is true though, Kids and grown ups love them so, it put a smile back on their faces.


I carried on, and up and really enjoying myself, not feeling like I'd done 2 marathons in the 2 days previous. There was a monster of a road climb up to the lunch stop where I collapsed and abandoned my bike on the road side. The chuckle brothers were there - still complaining - Barry (Jason) was having a bad day out there, I was a bouncy ray of sunshine (apparently) and sat with them a few minutes whilst I ate a sarnie. I don't like to stop for too long as it's not great for my legs so I carried on once more.

Despite the fun I was having, today was hard, much harder than previous days, the climbing was more intense, the marshy moorland made it draining on my legs, the single track was filled with deep ruts making it a challenge and requiring concentration to be on at a  maximum. Several people didnt make the cut off today and it's easy to see why. But on the same coin, it was the single best days' off roading I'd done to date.


I rolled into the finish after a section on the road which contained plenty of short sharp hills to finish off already weary legs. My bike was pretty caked today, tonights stop was at Llanidleos Rugby Ground, where I was reliably informed there was a bar!


So back on the afternoon routine, bike, tent - the guys did this for me today whilst I went for a shower which was real nice of em, but I think they were just sick of seeing me put it up in a shambolic way! There wasnt a shop nearby today so I didnt do a beer run, but Rob promised me a pint after dinner. "Thanks Dad" ;-)


There was a little ice cream stand too, so I got a round of ice creams in - the sun had reappeared once more and it looked like we'd have a pleasant night. Dinner was once more excellent - how they manage to do that every morning and night, then pack it all up move to the next campsite, sleeping in tents too is amazing. Really excellent job.


So after dinner, we wandered over to the rugby bar and had a couple of pints each whilst watching the rugby team practice. Today was the last day for some of the riders just doing the 3 day mini version but it also meant fresh meat on the campsite of the people doing the 4 day mini version.


You could tell the new people as their bikes were clean, they looked fresh and a little bit like when a child starts school and the other kids have already established their friendship groups.


I was gettting to the point of either carrying on drinking for the night, or tunring in and getting some sleep... the others helped make my mind up on this by starting the walk back - we got round the corner only to find 20 other riders in the bar.... temptation nearly got the better of me, but I went back to my tent. It was pretty cold tonight and the sky had once more cleared.


There was no special stage today so the standings are as they were before and I'm still in 4th which I'm really please about given the high level of competition in my category.

Day 2 Knighton to Clun (ge)

I woke up after a shitty itchy nights sleep with puffy eyes and sore legs. I left my tent to a heavy dew wondering if it had been raining. I put my shades on to hide my tired eyes, and went to breakfast with the others, to much mockery about my rockstar pretentious look. One look at my sleepy eyes said it all!

Breakfast - Weetabix & bran flakes (lesson learnt) french toast and waffles.... good job we're cycling a fair way today eh!?

I was worried my legs would be sore, but I felt totally fine, again - good job! Todays route was undulating to say the least. with 76km and 2300m climbing, it was going to hurt. No doubt. I'd looked at the profile map a few times and was shitting myself about the first descent.

We set off with a quick word from the local Mayor, and as promised the first climb would be a push. 2km in and we had a 15 minute push up all that can be described as a verticle climb, followed by an equally steep descent. I'd looked at this several times and it wasnt getting any less scary looking!

After throwing our bikes over a style (thanks to whoever helped with mine) we were into some woods and back on board. A quick descent and I thought "phew, it wasnt that bad at all!" until I got round the corner, and all I could see was the ground disappear into an abyss. The surface was a loose rocky mixture of topsoil, I was immediately glad I'd changed my front tyre, as my back one started skidding around behind me.

I heard Rafe's voice in my head as I strangled the brakes, "Bum back, feather the brakes" which was all well and good when as soon as you let go of the buggers, you shot forward and down at frightening speed.

Wrestling my bike down the descent, correcting wayward skidding and fighting the urge to hang on the brakes, I finally saw the bottom of the hill, a right turn onto the road and there waiting to catch me was a paramedic. I made the mistake of looking at my front wheel, braked way too hard, and went hurtling right handed into a bush with my front wheel locked out in a rut.

I picked myself out of the bush with other riders whistling past, checked I was in one piece - a few minor scrapes, twigs in my hair, saddle twisted. Recomposed myself and got to the bottom with a bit of shame. Good start to the day!

After 20km of climbing, (what is it with Wales and hills eh!?)

Today's special stage was billed as a descending stage. I'm notoriously shit at going down (you'll be surprised to hear!) and I wasn't looking forward to it. I arrived at the special stage and was told it was in 3 phases - the "downhill run", a less steep section then a fireroad/rocky climb back up to the finish.

The moment someone said "Downhill run" i shit my pants a bit (not literally - I am a lady) but you get the drift. I saw some people in front drop into the course and i warned the people behind to give me a bit of extra room as I'm real slow. People were coming back from their run totally wired and full of excitement... I went into it hardly breathing.

I set off intot he loop and the course was a really nice piece of dry dusty singletrack, steep and "pumpy" it was really twisty but realy rideable, big twisty berms, and I caught up with the guy in front of me, who was walking down the berms. I was really loving it, I find the less I know, the less I worry. Which was just as welll as I got round the corner and there was a 10ft drop off, I left my stomach behind me somewhere, looked ahead, dropped off the back of the seat and somehow landed in one piece.

More twits and turns and some big rooty sections, through the trees, Popped out the end and powered back up the road, which was harder than I expected. I was overtaken by Natasha - Miss lightening, and an Elite racer, I couldnt find the extra gear to push on, so I rolled up the hill and over the line. The day was still young and I didnt want to burn out so soon in the week.

After this, we had a big fire road descent to the first aid station, then back out and up once more. It was like this for most of the day, we hit an incredible black run down hill course (which again when I saw the sign, gave me the heebie jeebies) but when I overtook people walking through the technical descents I felt better about my ability. If nothing else, this week should give me some confidence on my descending.

We passed through some incredible scenery, past a large mansion with a lake and people punting on it. Furhter climbing/descending, a bit of road work and we were back home and dry, tents were already up, (not mine of course) todays camp was a little town called Clun - which of course soon became known as Clunge.

So, as the routine soon became bike wash, shower, tent up, beer run, dinner, presentation (4th again) and this time a trip to the first aid tent to get something for my sore legs - some antihystamine cream and piriton. The medics were quite possibly the friendliest bunch I'd ever come across. I also changed my rear tire to full nobbly too as tomorrow was forecast to rain.

I had a pretty early night tonight after such a shitty nights sleep the night before, still unable to wear my compression tights I started to worry that my legs wouldn't make the week - still I didnt manage to have a stretch yet.... my only regret of today was not manning up on the descent. But another fantastic day in the saddle and out of it, my new friends were making it a lot of entertainment.

Day 1 - Builth Wells to Knighton

Sunday 5.30am

I woke up a bit squished in my tent, I'm a bit of a stretcher and I my feet were wedged to the end of the tent. Breakfast was served from 6.30 each morning, so I had some time before I was due to get up to sort out my kit for the day. I wasn't sure what the weather was doing, but I was suspecting it might be raining. I stuck my head out into the Welsh air and to my joy it was dry out.

I got out of my tent, had a stretch, and went with Rob and Ryan into the catering tent, the generators had been going from around 5am to keep the tent inflated. We had a couple of cups of coffees whilst we waited for breakfast to be served. which was a really decent selection of crumpets, eggs, bacon, porridge, cereals. I had a crumpet, an egg and some really unpleasant porridge (gruel) - I decided to have weetabix tomorrow! The piss taking continued over breakfast, Rob and Ryan's quick wit combined with my sharp tongue was causing much amusement.

With plenty of time before we were due to have a race briefing at 8.45 for a 9am start, which gave me plenty of time to take down my tent, pack up my stuff and load it on to the lorry leaving me plenty of time to fettle with my bike.

The race briefing went over things we already knew - distance (75k)/ascent(2100m)/descent (2100m)  and the cut off time which was a generous 6.5 hours. Today there was also a special stage of an approx 1.5k technical climb about 9km into the ride.

We were set off prompt at 9am to music blasting through the PA system and started the long day out in the hills. before I knew it we were climbing, my legs hadn't warmed up yet, my heart rate was high, (which, along with the climbing was the order of the day)

The route took us onto a off camber sheep track for a while, undulating all the time,about 5k in, just in front of me, the route made a funny fork with an awkward camber, the guy in front took a left on it, whilst everyone else had gone right.

I was blinkered and followed him left down into what looked like it could be an alternative route, he yelled something back when I asked if it was passable - given he'd ridden through I carried on. After about 200m of riding through ferns and nettles I had to dismount and push. The guy had disappeared just like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Up to my left about 15ft I could see the rest of the field passing me by... shit!

I didnt want to turn back so I kept on pushing through the sort of track which was there, to my right there was a sort of path up onto the track everyone else was on, I powered on past - there must be a way out, that guy came this way! I was getting lower down and the other riders were getting higher, I eventually after about 500m deceided I'd just have to turn back, I was pissed off with myself for following the white rabbit. I eventually came back to the fork covered entirely with stinging nettle rash and fern whip, and thoroughly pissed off and right near the back of the group now! Grrrr!

I got back on the sheep track and picked my way past some of the other rider. We still seemed to be climbing, now on loose quarry type rocks, big boulders, and loose gravel. The Time trial would be ahead of us soon and my legs were already feeling the gradient - what the fuck was I doing here!?

After a couple of awkward descents and equally awkward climbs back out the Timed section was in front of me. I rode over the timing mat, and tried to put the hammer down, I felt drained already! I motored past as many people as I could catch - still annoyed with myself for taking a wrong turn so early in the day! The climb was testing, steep and lung burning. Big slabs of rock interspersed with dirt track. It took a right turn with an even larger slab of rock. I past people already walking, the hill swung left and almost threatened to flatten out slightly before allowing me to flip it into the middle ring and power up the last stretch over the timing mat and past the heaving riders at the feed station just after. I grabbed a banana and carried on riding. I wanted to flush out my legs of the lactic that was threatening to screw me over.

The climbing didnt seem to stop all day - I know this isn't true as we took back all the ascent we'd gained, not that my legs knew it. About 30k in we hit a monstrous climb which seemed to go on forever... and ever... suddenly we flew down a massive descent - weeeeee! Just at the bottom of here, we were faced with the front riders coming back towards us.... we'd all missed an arrow and gone the wrong way. The reward..? To get back up the lovely descent we'd come down. People were muttering and moaning.

The rest of the day was lots of climing, sheep tracks, double tracks, open moorland, beautiful scenery some deep rutty bridalways where you had to pick a gulley and stick to it - easier said than done!
We were rewarded with a fast fireroad descent into lunch for sandwiches and biscuits before continuing the route into Knighton which once more took us across testing gradient and some of the most beautiful scenery I'd ever seen.... at least for now.

The last few kilometers were on tarmac and we rolled into Knighton Football pitch over the finish, first things first, clean bike, then recovery drink/snack, deal with tent, shower etc.

After a shower I was hankering for a beer like never before. The sun was shining, the music was blaring, it was like being at a festival. So I walked into the town to collect some beers for me, rob and ryan - it was still hours til dinner so we might as well right?

So we sat in the sun, drank some beer, I changed my front tire for something with more grip as I was told that it would be a bit wetter where we were riding tomorrow in the woods.

6pm dinner was served, we chatted to some new people we'd met during the day, the piss taking stepped up another notch.

there was a tv in the corner showing pics on repeat of photos taken throughout the day, so we had a look at that after dinner, had a mooch about. At 8pm was the presentation for the first stage Time Trial. Each category was awarded prizes 1st - 3rd. After this the times were all posted on the notice board - I was pleased to have gotten 4th place!

I put my compression tights on and thought about bed, we turned in about 10pm. I laid there for half an hour, realising my legs were impossibly itchy. I had to take off the tights, they were making the nettle rash worse.

I tried sudocream on them but that didnt work. For the entire night, i scratched my legs raw, it was excruitiating. The more i scratched the itchier it got. I must have had about an hours sleep. I got up the next morning feeling rotten !

Incoming!

On Saturday I did the last of my sorting, repacked as I suspected, threw in some extra clothes, I text Rob panicking I'd packed too much, he rang me up and put my mind at ease. He seemed so nice.... little did I know...!

Dad picked me up, I threw a few items of clothes out of my bags... he then drove me to cheltenham where Rob lives, when I got there we transferred all my shit into his van - he said I didn't have much stuff..... I now panicked some more, regretting getting rid of the spare clothes. From Rob's we drove to collect Ryan, Rob's sidekick.

Bearing in mind I was sandwiched between two men I'd never met before in a black rapist van, I was feeling pretty comfortable. It was made easier by the fact that they were fast becoming two of the funniest fuckers I'd met in a long time. The drive down was fairly uneventful, banter was building and the awkwardness was lessening. Rob's Tom Tom was a piece of shit and took us on an ass about face route to get there....luckily Rob had done the event before  "I recognise this now... it's just on the right here....."

20 mins later..... "yeah it's just on the right...."

and so on for another 20 minutes.

Eventually it was just on the right as he said  and we drove up onto the campsite in Builth Wells, there were rows of neatly erected tents,  large inflatable tent, various gazebos and the "Merida bus" - a swanky converted horsebox with an array of Gore Bike Wear products.

It was around 4.30 when we got there, and had an hour and a half before dinner in order to register and find our bearings, and in my case pitch my tent - I'd gone for the pikey "Silver" package which meant I took a tent and put it up, everyone on the Gold package got a pop up tent which was put up and taken to the next campsite for them (they were also designed for midgets)

We went to register, collect our holdalls (which were enormous!! and once more I regretted not bringing more stuff) I put up my tent near where Rob and Ryan's were and we wandered about a bit. They knew Alex from Gore and introduced me, there was a handsome man selling cheap once worn windstopper jackets - I had a browse and decided that I should probably get one, since my shitty lidl one pretty much filled my hydration pack. So I decided to later on get one, after being mildly insulted by the handsome man "You're riding!!? The WHOLE week!? I assumed you were supporting" So OK, I don't come across a fit cycling type, but I had a smart jacket for 30 notes.

We sat down to dinner at 6 and everyone was being really friendly introducing themselves, lots of them were on a return visit to TransWales and the stories of previous years sounded good (except the year everyone got the shits... or the year it rained for the whole week)
Over dinner the guys took the piss out of my tent - that I'd be paying someone to put it up for me by the middle of the week. We were getting more and more comfortable with each other, so the piss taking was pretty much constant, this is fine with me, it's where I am at my best.

After dinner we went to chat with the Gore guys in the Merida Bus and had a beer, and they talked about bike components whilst I sat looking vapid, they were all really lovely guys, it's strange as I've never been in this environment before and the people are so much more down to earth than triathlon types, none of the elitism you get in that at all.

I turned in around 10pm and had a pretty reasonable sleep.

See you on the other side

Well I spent the day doing various errands, woken up by Garth at dickhead o'clock meetings about fetes, eating cake, collecting a tent from Ali (thanks!), visiting my Mummy (she was baking cakes and offered me one to take so I could give it to people in return for friendship!) and cooking dinner for Simon. Oh and I finally packed!

It took fucking ages. I had my list ready, but I also had a mound of stuff piled up on the sofa just where it had been since around Monday.

I'd done the last of my washing last night and there couldn't possibly be anything else I needed! I tried to pack in an organised manner but I'm so haphazard in general, I struggled. My list is categorise to make it simpler to sectionalise it instead of ram it all into my bags only to find, knickers mixed with waterproofs and bike cleaning rags.

First and arguably most important was "cycling hardware"  and "consumables and Spares" - Bike, helmet, sunglasses, clear glasses, HRM, Hand pump, Multi-tool, Camelbak, Bladder, Chain breaker, headlight, Cycle shoes, water bottle, Cable ties, CO2 shots, Spokes, Tires, inner tubes, gear cables, Spare Chain, batteries, speed links, rear mech hanger, spare cycling shoes for when my other ones get soaked, brake pads, puncture repair kit (as if I was going to actually repair them!?)

Most of this I'd be carrying with me on each day of the event.

Other categories were "ride kit" - pair of fresh liners or shorts for each day, clean jersey or top for each day, arm warmers, water proof jacket, several pairs of gloves, sports bra's, buffs, long sleeved tops

Camping kit - tent, sleeping bag, roll mat



Stuff to keep my bike in good nick



Stuff to keep my erm.....bits in good nick!

Big Thanks to TBAS for sponsoring me!



Fuel... and recovery

I spent some time today also checking my bike over, making sure it was clean and grit free, as this is the last time it will be in this condition for a while, I've heard TransWales isn't kind to bikes.... my lovely lovely bike :( 

Just look at my shiny ring!

All ready and waiting to go.....

Some casual/off the bike gear - shorts, trousers, compression tights, jumpers, and I'm trying to decide which of these to take...? ;-)

I had a message from the guy Pete had put me in touch with this afternoon, he's offered to drive me down with him and his mate tomorrow to save my Daddy driving to Wales and also will give me a chance to get to know a couple of people before being thrown into an unknown environment.

So signing off now until after the event, where I'll be going all retro with a pen and paper jotting down daily occurences.... so until then...

C U Next Tuesday :-)
(or the one after)

Itinerary & Stage Info

Here's a bit of insight into what I've got in store for the next week and a bit, I've inlcuded the distance of each stage, total ascent and descent and details of "special stages" - several of the days have timed sections where the competitors race each other to get the quickest times over a set route:

Friday 12th: Pack and get last minute shit together
Saturday 13th: Pack because I'll have undoubtedly gotten bored and not bothered and spend 10 mins, shoving everything and more into carrier bags. Travel to Builth Wells, Registration, Pasta Party (try not to get into an awkward-not-knowing-anyone- drunk state)

Sunday 14th:Stage 1 - Builth to Knighton
Distance 81km.
Ascent: 2300m
Descent: 2240m
Special Stage - 1km technical climb

Monday 15th: Stage 2 - Knighton - clun
Distance: 84km
Ascent:2500m
Descent: 2500m
Special Stage: 5k Loop

Tuedsay 16th:Stage 3 - clun - Llanidloes
Distance: 73km
Ascent: 2000m
Descent: 2100m
No special stage

Wednesday 17th:Stage 4 - Llanidloes - Machynlleth
Distance: 84km
Ascent: 2260m
Descent: 2440m
6km "climax trail" (maybe I should pack some condoms after all)

Thurdsay 18th:Stage 5 - Machynlleth - cymystwyth
Distance: 75km
Ascent: 2350
Descent: 2150m
Special Stage: 8.5km loop

Friday 19th:Stage 6 - cymystwyth - cilycwm
Distance: 75km
Ascent:2200m
Descent: 2300m
Special Stage: 6km Night Stage

Saturday 20th: Stage 7 - cilycwm - Builth Wells
Distance: 62km
Ascent:1650m
Descent: 1540m

After Party!!

Simon's offered to come and pick me and my broken bits up after and drive back on the Sunday and join in the merriment of the aftermath (should I even make it that far!)

It's not til I read through what's entailed that I realise the magnitude of what I'm about to put myself through.....

What doesn't kill yer eh?

T Minus 2 Days

Excited isn't quite the word..... giddy, apprehensive, a bit scared, bouncing up n down on my seat with  ADHD all come to mind.


I signed off at work today, got heaps of stuff to do including 2 loads of washing - I already have a large amount of stuff on my sofa, the floor, the kitchen worktops, the shed...and I still need to get a new tent I have no idea how it is going to get in the bag! The bag of spares alone looks fit to explode! But I've been told to take everything I expect I could possibly need.


I was going to be leaving tomorrow as my Daddy is driving me to Builth Wells for the start and he couldn't do Saturday but I am his princess and he has managed to swap things around and is now taking me on Saturday. I wasn't too worried about going down a day early except for the fact that I'm no way near ready. Mentally I am, logisitically I'm not. I had emailed the organisers when I suspected I may be there early offering some help marshalling a MTB marathon that is going on there on the Sat as I would be at a loose end, and not knowing anyone it might have been a good opportunity to make new friends.


So registration is on Saturday, where we get our holdalls (it's a bit of a pain in the arse having to repack but i guess it would have been more of a pain in the arse for them to send them all out) so long as Daddy doesn't mind waiting.


I've got a check list ready for things I need to make sure I take, unlike most girls summer holidays, this checklist doesn't contain high heels, straighteners or condoms, the only lube I have on the list is GT85 and fork juice!

Sleepless In The Saddle

As mentioned previously, this event was the last piece in my training plan. Sleepless in the Saddle, is exactly what it says on the tin.

It's a 24 hour mountain bike race,  round catton park (also the home of the 24 relay run I'd done in 2009) sponsored by Singletrack magazine and Kenda, it can be done in teams of 4 or 5, solo or pairs. If it wasn't for the big one next week, I'd have been very tempted to do the solo - maybe next year.

Martin was putting a couple of teams in for Kenda, and asked if I'd like to join one of them, and since he'd suggested it as a good pre event event, I snapped up the offer. He was short of a team member so I also asked my friend Ed, who I ride with now and then when we can.

With some jiggery pokery and getting bikes to various places in an attempt to save the planet using fewer vehicles (I'm a bit of a car hating eco warrior you see) we were all set and although not packed I had a pile of shit I'd need for the weekend in a heap on my sofa. The weather has been really changeable this last few weeks, so what it does is anyones guess and means lots of spare kit.

So armed with a gift for martin (see pic) our team captain, my kit and a pair of weary legs, we made our way up to catton park.
















We arrived at camp Kenda and met with he other team members and our bikes awaited us, with brand new super fast Kenda racing tyres.

After some tent erecting and chatting and hanging about, three of us went out to recce the course, we'd been reliably informed that it was dry and quick out there.

The course did not disappoint, it is an 8.4 mile long course with a brilliant mixture of fun twisty, rooty single track, grassy tracks, bomb holes, steep sharp climbs, longer less steep climbs, small amounts of fire road, rooty twisty decents hair pin turns, and as assured, it was really dry and dusty and fast!

I didn't take the recce lap fast  - there was a long 24 hours ahead of us, but I'm glad I did it, to familiarise myself with the course.

Once back at camp, we were given jerseys and race numbers and transponders. The lovely Penny and her lovely son (my future husband) Robbie turned up en route to their holiday destination to say hello and see us off, whilst I was chatting to her, the decision was made that I'd be the one to do the "Le Mans" start!

We only had 4 team members as one of them had pulled out, so it was also decided that I'd be doing 2 laps for our absent member... it pays to not miss the team briefing! The rules stated that each team member had to do 2 laps as a minimum so I'd wear "Bob's" transponder for two laps to make the team legal.

The race was to start at 2pm, with the Le Mans start - an approx half mile run to the bikes which were lined up on the start line. The idea is to spread the field out a little in these big events as it is pretty tight out there on the course.

So my bike was in position and I lined up on the start line with around 600 other bikers, I positioned myself right near the front, this is probably just an old habit from run races of yesteryear.

The countdown was given 3....2....1.... "hooooonk!" went the klaxon., and off went a stampede of cyclists-come-runners all hammering it along in spds and helmets, in the first 10 meters someone was floored, it was pretty aggressive. I ran on , hard, my lungs burning. There had been banter earlier that the run was a mile and a half but I'd seen the race briefing which suggested half a mile, but I was a little prudent with my speed just in case.

Part of me was a bit concerned that I shouldnt get too near the front of the riders anyway as I'm slow and would get in their way. Pah! The whole point of the run is to spread the field, if I end up near the front then I've got there fairly. We stampeded round the run course and rounded some bushes and horse fences and got funelled back towards the startline, I had spotted my bike near the last of the Enduro flags and Martin was there waiting with it.

I put on my helmet and went to get on, Martin said not til after I'd run through the start line. So I pushed it through, mounted and was off.

My heart was pounding and my throat was dry, I immediately necked some water and pedalled hard round the first bend out onto the course where it almost immediately climbs for a few hundred yards, before taking a righthand turn, into a dusty grassy descent, a hairpin turn and then onto a fast flat section.

I pounded the pedals and hit the big ring (the time trialling would come in handy on these sections) I looked at my HRM it was through the roof. I decided it was fine to red line it, I was only doing one lap for now, I'd have time to recover, just get on with it get a good lap in.

The course was busy with riders, I fortunately on the run had got myself in a fairly good position. After the first flat was the first longish steepish climb (its the type which isn't long enough to break you completely but to sap your energy for a while and require you getting in the granny ring and later would be sure to provide misery and bike pushing to many)

Once up this grassy climb, you eventually flatten out - most people I noticed on this section, spun out their legs in the granny ring still getting nowhere, but I was flicking back upto the middle ring and accelerating away. After this you are dropped into the first single track section, it was really dusty due to the hot dry weather of late and it kicked up lots of dust. It was really twisty and required trackstands in places, particularly when it was busy like the first lap.

There were about 4 or 5 sections of singletrack linked with stretches of grass or grass with tracks worn in by frequent riding. Within the sections were a few bomb holes, some steep descents, so sharp ascents, and obviously very narrow.

In one section a girl cut me up on a descent and I found myself impailed on a stake whilst loads of riders streamed past, losing me quite a bit of time. I finally pushed my way back in and kept on. My HR was still high as a kite, but I still pumped the pedals hard. I found my strength to be on the climbs so whenever I found some open space, I put down the hammer and overtook as many people as I could, round hair pins, back into the twisty woods.

After a few linking stages and single track sections there are a couple of sharp ascents, the type that if in the wrong gear or tired will catch you out. Lots of people were stopping to push up but I spun my legs, got over the front of the saddle, narrowed my elbows and powered on up. Rounded the brow, took a right hand turn and into more lovely lovely dry sngletrack. It wound its way through the woods dropping you down onto a grass track, where once more I put the hammer down, up another energy sapping climb, another hair pin and into 3 bombholes which snaked across the field. The hill coming out of the last one was steep and kept catching me out right near the top. (on one occasion, nearly rolling me back down the hill whilst trying to get myself free of the bike)

I was really happy with my riding, I was feeling confident, and completed my first lap in 53 minutes, which was great considering about 3 of them were running/transition and the traffic on the course was very busy!

I passed the baton to Ed who hared off for his first lap. My HR eventually came back down but I realised then I wouldnt be able to do that too many times.

My 2nd lap, was after Richard and Martin had each done one. I sped out the transition area and motored up the first hill. The tires which had been fitted on my bike were really fast, and helping me cover the ground quickly, I felt really confident and was flying round the course, bounding in and out of the trees, powering up the steep sections. This lap I completed in 46 mins, which although I knew I couldnt maintain I was very happy with. Just as I was coming in to finish lap 2 it was starting to rain. Ed was nowhere to be seen. The heavens opened. Ed appeared and set out in the most hideous torrential downpour, whilst the rest of us hid under the gazebo and watched the sheets of rain and hail fall relentlessly down, flooding the camping areas.

Poor Ed. We should have told him to wait 20 mins for it to pass, it wasn't like we were in it to win.

The rain quickly turned the course into a slippery muddy, wet rooted not quite so fun place to ride. Ed reappeared some time later caked in mud, and soaked through. He'd also stacked it on the steepest descent (also here Simon had seen a lady with  a suspiciouslty broken looking leg)

People were coming back from laps with their bikes caked, and the wheels packed out with sticky mud. Faces spattered, some people clearly having fallen off striped with mud. The Hope bikewash suddenly became vey popular.

Richard was off next, then Martin. Whilst they were riding I changed my front tire to a Kenda Blue Groove, to give me more grip on the wet roots.

Reports came back that it was drying out a little in places but some bits in the woods were still really sticky and wet and slippery.

My next two laps were going to be a double, as an Alias "Bob" or Liam Darby as the system told me later. I set off at a steadier pace as I'm not confident on the wet and given I was doing 2 laps it was required to drop the pace a little. Add to this that it was also now pitch black, so donned with a super bright Exposure headlamp and an even brighter Exposure handlebar fitted light, I was illuminating my path. I was tentative though and my confidence wasn't what it was earlier.

The first climb was really slippery so I had to get off and push up. The first few sections of singletrack were horrendous, the roots were treacherous in places and thank god I'd changed the front tire because even with the good grip of that, the rear wheel wanted to slip out from under me. I picked my way carefully through the single track and pushed up the slippery slopes. This first night time wet lap was 1:02 - quite a different story to earlier. But also in mind that I had to do two on the trot I wasn't red lining it and it was nearly midnight!

I went straight back out on the 2nd lap, and within 10 mins my headlamp failed. I didnt twig at first, but when I pointed my head to look at my watch there was no beam so it made sighting where I need to be looking a bit tricky in places the bars weren't yet pointing.

The 2nd lap was a minute or so quicker but I was really struggling on the wet roots, I was putting my foot down often to stop myself falling off or hitting trees. Aside from the wet roots the night laps were extraordinarily fun! It looked great seeing lights shining across fields and through the woods.

I got back and Ed was ready to go off and do his night lap, I had some dinner and a beer then got in my sleeping bag and chatted in the Kenda stand with the other team members. I sat down on the floor then laid down, Ed returned, Richard went out, I set my alarm so I could try and ride about 4am, noone else in our team wanted to do anymore until the next day and a few hours sleep was in order. It was about 1am now, so if I set my alarm for 3.30 I'd get a couple of hours kip. I was out before I knew it, I dozed in and out of conciousness, hearing bits and bobs of conversations. Then woken up by my alarm.

I also wanted to ring my friend to wish him luck on his first Ironman so made a sleepy phonecall and got up. My kit was still damp so I put it in front of the heater for a while to dry off then went to get some porridge and coffee.

I eventually got out around 5am, did another two laps (around 58 mins a piece) and during the 2nd lap got to enjoy the break of dawn, it was such a lovely peaceful time of day, the sun coming up over a hill to my left, the woods, streaked with flashes of sunlight, it was amazing.

I got back to camp to find Martin and some of the "Fast team" wandering about, but the rest of my team still asleep. I went to get more coffee and pondered if I should go and do another lap then.

Martin had hurt his foot so wasn't going to ride anymore so I was asked to wear his transponder for my next lap.

Ed went out for another lap after breakfast then whilst waiting for Richard to get ready asked if he could do a lap on my bike, so he went next, had a storming lap and came back raving about how great my bikes is which I know ;-)

I did a lap as Martin, the course was drying out again now and I was getting a bit of speed back and did 49-50 min lap for "Martin" getting more confident once more now the roots were drying up. My previous two laps I'd really had trouble gettting over the wet roots in the twisty section and was getting frustrated.

My 8th and last lap would be the penultimate one for the team so i decided to put everything I had left into it, I pushed hard from the start, it was windier out there today than yesterday but  I knew this was my last lap, I overtook everyone I came to, and got overtaken my noone, i whizzed up and down the singletrack, nipping in and out of the trees like an imp. I was loving it, I was pushing a big ring for much of it, but still spinning. The flatter straight sections I pushed hard, like I was doing a Time trial. I kept an eye on my watch, I'd really love a 45 min lap but it was getting close.

I pushed and pushed, up and down the last of the bomb holes, quick descent and sprinted hard for the line. My last lap time was 46. I'll take that. Ed put in the final lap, I'm not sure how many we did in total, we didnt come anywhere but had a fantastic time and were well looked after by Martin and the Kenda crew and throughly spoiled to be riding with a group of very talented riders.

I'm really surprised that my legs feel fine now, no soreness at all. I'm pondering a solo attempt next year.........I must be mad.

I've come out of today feeling much more confident now than last week at cwmcarn and cant' wait for next Sunday now! Just a small matter of a large pile of cycling kit to wash now!

Everything but the kitchen sink,.....

I enjoy writing lists, and the lists I've written for kit and stuff to take have been mammoth! I'm bound to still forget something or "need" (want) to buy something when I get there.

First there's Cycle equipment (bike, helmet, cycling shoes - 2 pairs in case... etc), then cycling clothing (for all eventualities), then camping stuff (tent, sleeping bag...) nutrition (gels, recovery shakes...), off the bike stuff (casual clothes, make - up, straightners...just kidding, they provide them right?!) not to mention spares! (spokes, tyres, inner tubes, mech hanger, cleaning equipment) and of course no epic bike trip is complete without a large supply of Sudocream!

The organisers provide you with a big holdall to transport your stuff but you don't get that until your register so it's hard to know if it will all fit!

I spoke to someone I'd been put in touch with who said "pack all your cycling kit" and to make sure I'd tested all my kit and had good shorts to wear. I've since put "all my kit" out to one side, it could fill my bath tub, not knowing exactly what space I have to put my stuff is the tricky thing, and not knowing what the weather will exactly do another factor. I'm sure it'll all be fine.... if not, it'll add to my adventure

Just as well I've gone for the Silver option as I don't know where I'd store alll my food for the week.

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

Well I can't really say I've done the best preparation given that it was quite a whimsical idea. But I feel as ready as I could be given I'm not even sure what to expect.

I amended my already pretty hectic training plan to incorporate one off road ride a week, which became a 25 -  35 mile loop of the Ridgeway one night after work either alone and hammering it as fast as I could or with a friend pottering around having a laugh.

My friend Martin was one of the people I'd spoken to with regards to entering TransWales although he reassured me that although it was a "tough and challenging event" that I'm a strong rider and have the mental strength. I think as with all endurance sheer bloody mindedness is a big factor - this I have in abundance.

Something Martin did suggest however was entering some sort of event beforehand, and said "Sleepless in the Saddle" would be a good option, although it was only a week before the start of TransWales it might be a bit close to be doing a 24 hour off road relay race. However, as always, sensibility doesn't come into it so I agreed to join one of Martin's teams riding for Kenda, as well as this I did one of the chain reaction MTB Marathons up in Shropshire - it was more to test if I could cope with the mileage as I'd not ridden that far off road in one go before.

The marathon was great fun, although pretty challenging, lots (and lots) of long climbs, me and Simon got round, pretty steady; I waited for him at the top of the climbs, he waited for me at the bottom of the descents, but there were thoughts going through my head that I'd be doing this sort of tough ride not just once, but 7 days on the trot, no recovery days.....

ah, what doesn't kill you eh?

Except for 2 days wincing when I was going down the stairs. Stop whining Bucks! You're doing t for the challenge, if it was easy there would be no point.

So the MTB Marathon behind me, miles in the bank, a few more rides on the Ridgeway, once more I asked Martin for advice, this time on training. I had thought maybe back to back off road rides would be the answer, but he said to get the miles in on the road and work on technique off road. This suited me better, I ride on the road everyday and my mileage is already pretty high, so not much adjustment was really needed here. The technique however was a totally different kettle of fish!

Last Saturday Martin and I took a drive to cwmcarn trail centre in Wales, I had only ridden it once before, in the wet, on my hardtail, when very new to mountain biking. I recalled the tough climb in the first few miles, but I thought my riding should have come on enough to help me clear it easily!

Man, was I wrong! The first section was fine, then came the steep ascents with big rocks to manoeuvre, gargantuan roots to lift over. I was getting stopped at every lump and bump. Having to push over things because the ascent was too steep to get the pedals turning over and the wheels rolling again.

I was getting really cross, swearing at myself calling myself terrible names. Martin was really patient though, whilst I picked my way up the hill, swearing. By now I was pissed off and hated cwmcarn, I was over thinking everything, the roots, the rocks, the climbs, the big drops down to the sides, my feet being clipped in, worrying I'd not unclip quick enough before I rolled sideways off the mountain.....

Finally we got clear of the ascent and onto a brilliant descent and single track. The rest of the ride was fantastic - what was I whinging about? I think that first half is like childbirth - the sort of unpleasant experience you forget because of the reward the other side. (so I've heard)

So with my confidence partially restored the final piece of training is Sleepless in the Saddle which starts tomorrow.

Other preparation for the event of course is the bike. I'm not known for my high level of skill at maintaining my bikes. After getting a serious bollocking for the state of my bike a few weeks ago, I've made a concerted effort to keep things running smoothly, keep the chain and cassette the colour it should be (not caked in black filth) To be fair to myself I do try to do my own bike maintenance when I can, there's nothing I like more than diagnosing a problem with the bike and fixing it, but it's something which comes with practice and knowledge.

My beloved Giant Trance X2 hadn't yet been in for it's first service, so I booked it into my favourite sports shop - The Big Adventure Store - who had also kindly agreed to sponsor me in TransWales, and generously serviced my bike as part of this for me. It came back running better than ever before, smooth gear changes, no rubbing brakes - I just needed to keep it that way!