The weekend started with a train to Shrewsbury on the Friday afternoon and I found myself sitting in the sun for a few hrs at the village hall surfing the net on my phone.
I got chatting with 3 riders from Yorkshire who turned up and they kindly offered me a lift to the chip shop they were going to for pre ride fuelling.
It was then back to the hall for some sleep before the alarm awoke me at 5.00.
It was a glorious day and the forecast was good, sun and a bit of a N/Westerly wind to slow us down at the start.
This didn't seem to slow the first bunch down though and I managed to stay with them for the first 45km until the climbs at the edges of Snowdonia.
I just had to get in a low gear and winch my 16st uphill slowly and try to smile for John with the camera at the top as I went past.First stop was at Bala 80km in 3.15hrs a couple of Danish pastries + a coffee and I was away again.
The ride climbed again after up and over the bleak open landscapes towards Betws-Y-Coed the day was starting to warm up now and I was starting to feel the heat.
More stops for drink and photo opportunities before the climb past Snowdon and the fast descent down to the next stop at Llanberis
A slight detour took me around the next small hill :-) and back onto the route a couple of km farther along. It then uses roads that I've ridden a couple of times before, but it was nice to ride along there in daylight and not nearer midnight which was usual on the BCM.
This section went well apart from a broken chain (again!!) which was a quick fix, and the ride along the coast past Harlech castle and Barmouth was great in the sunshine with a slight tailwind helping me along.
I sailed straight through Barmouth and across the railway bridge to Dolgellau, where I was surprised not to see any other bikes. I stopped to check the brevet card only to find I'd passed the control (Barmouth)already! I wasn't going to go back so I decided to head for Aberystwyth and ask there what the control was. The plan was to try and get there before Sunset.
There was still a few hills to climb and the last one just before the town was a killer.
I rolled into the control still in daylight at 21.45 (280km in14.45hrs)
The control was in the boathouse of the local club and an excellent spread of food was put on, I did manage not to stop there and start on the cider at the bar and was away again after about an hour for the last major climb of the ride.
The A44 was to take us out of town and at 23.00 on a Sat evening it was more or less empty. It was a good road to use for a night section as it was almost 75km all the way to Newtown without any turn offs.
Another garage control (pies/sandwiches and redbull) had us fed and away again for the last part as the sun was rising through the lanes back to Shrewsbury.
Starting to get tired now I found myself almost falling asleep on the bike, I stopped to get my phone out for some music and tucked in under my shirt.
Playing Metallica full blast as I cruised through the villages and town centre at 05.00 got me a few funny looks, but riding a recumbent I get that anyway :-D
I finally rolled in the finish at 06.00 ready for breakfast and some sleep.
I managed to get about 3hrs before I had to get up for the train home.
The following week was a lazy one off the bike, I took the kids away to Jaywick for 4 days and drunk far too much cider.
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