Weakened in Wales

Went back to Talybont YHA with NRC for a weekend in Wales. Quite brave it being February. Weather turned out more damp than wet and cool rather than freezing.

Due to car problem had to get a lift and this resulted in bit of a cheese as I managed to forget the bag with my cycle shoes. Only realised on arriving so had no choice but to do the first mornings ride using my trainers. Actually was not as difficult as it might have been though did have a nasty moment when fell off the pedals whilst trying to negotiate a cattlegrid on a 15% hill. Only narrowly avoided crushing goolies on the cross bar.

We had coffee in Brecon, luckily a cycle shop was only 50m down the road so I took the opportunity to get myself some shoes. Also got some eggbeater pedals, reckoning they would be a bit easier to engage on the fixed.

First day route was a bit curtailed due to the weather but we still managed 75km including a tricky first climb southwest of of the YHA. Returned to YHA and had food (still good) and beer (even better) and we retired leaving route options for Sunday open depending on weather.

Sunday was damp/misty. Plan had been to do Gospel pass but at 540m the top was bound to be cloudy. So we reversed planned route and headed northeast via Talgarth to Hay on Wye. One evil little climb on the way caused a bit of mayhem with number stopping due to combination of steep hill and slick mud. Fortunately I kept going, Schwalbe Marathons and MTB experience proving useful.

At Hay group split. Most headed north west to return via rolling route. Four of us decided to tackle Gospel from the harder Hay side. Good climb but top found me strangely lacking in energy. Combination of several weeks hard training/losing weight and running on water (theory: this help body use fat) hit me and I found going hard. My Schwalbe Marathon Slime filled wheels plus the fact I was carrying a backsack probably did not help either. Anyway struggled a bit to get to the top. Recovered during long descent.

Vista proved invaluable, though the four of us became 2 twos as when we were in line hurtling down hill lead 2 missed turn right. Two of us headed to Crickhowell where we got soaked, however we still tackled Blaen Onnau. Easier than Gospel but I still found it tough, still dug in and forced myself to do 260W despite being knackerd.

We arrived back last at the YHA, ride home very hungary and happy find Mrs Ms beef casserole waiting on return. Found I had lost 4 lbs in 6 days, indication overdoing it a bit. Looking forward now to a week of rest and recovery. (In which context not too disappointed to find we had scratched from Didcot rollers as could not muster a team).