DIY Audax ride: Caerwys - Bala - Caerwys

I kept up with my personal challenge of riding a 100km+ ride in every month of the year: four down, eight to go. Today I planned a route from Caerwys to Bala, and back. The outward route went via Ruthin and Corwen, then using the quiet roads to the east of the River Dee down to Bala. The return was to Fron Goch then a long climbing section eventually passing Llyn Brenig and finally by way of Henllan and Tremeirchion back home. Nic and I completed the ride in under 6 hours; I felt strong all the way to Bala, but the return leg showed the limits of my fitness, although I finished easily enough. The high point was the awesome full Welsh breakfast in Bala; maybe that accounted for my slower return time. Here is that breakfast:

A breakfast for a king.

The weather was almost perfect for cycling, although the sides of the road and the hills showed the remains of the snow storms that hit North Wales earlier this week.

Me with me with my fancy yellow saddle.

....and there was Nic

The Clwyd Gate Audax

Two weeks ago I struggled to complete the Shropshire Lad audax; rashly, despite the pain of the Salopian hills, I entered another ride, which took place today. This event was longer and hillier than the Shropshire ride, but I had a plan.Today's challenge was 138km and involved climbing well over 7000 feet, in other words up Snowdon twice. In Shropshire I tried to do the cycle and maintain the diet regime, today I tried to balance input and output. I sought advice from friends that do endurance events; as a result of their advice I filled my pockets with jelly babies and my bottles with flat coca cola.

It worked. The ride turned out to be one of my successful bicycling adventures. The first leg followed the River Dee towards Llangollen and ended with a climb up the horseshoe; no problem - I flew up to the Ponderosa Cafe. The next stage was down to Llanarmon yn Ial and on to Ruthin, again I had wind in my wheels, as they say. From Ruthin it was up the vale of Clwyd to Tremeichion and next along the hidden valleys around Bontnwyedd. Then to Abergele for chips. The final section was the toughest with around 32km of climbing up to the Brenig resevoir, and I did struggle here for a short time, before the jelly babies came to the rescue. The last 20 km were down hill to Corwen and the car. All in all it was a great bike ride on a perfect October day.