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  • #21454
    Morganite
    Member

    This is a tread to discuss the Landovery Sportive 21 May

    #23996
    butcherboy
    Member

    i am planning to ride this.

    #23997
    Morganite
    Member

    The long one looks good

    #24004
    Narberth Dynamos
    Keymaster

    I can’t keep up with all these rides!

    #24169
    butcherboy
    Member

    Roger, Mark and myself set off for Llandovery early for a 8.30 start time. On the start line it started raining and we all looked at each other with grim faces and wet gear on, but that was the last bit of rain we had until we finished.

    Roger set off like a bat out of hell (suprise) and i caught him up after about 7/8 miles. Mark was much more sensible and paced himself.

    Guess what? Roger and i went the wrong way again. We seem to do this on every sportiff we ride. We were in a small group that contained a local rider with Llandovery CC on his back, you would of thought follwing him would of been a safe bet. The arrows pointed to a forest track and he thought some kids had changed the direction of the arrows. I must point out that the arrows/directions for this ride were superb.

    By the time we got back on the route Mark was in front of us and we caught him up just as we were coming into the Abergwesyn valley. It is a stunning valley and the ride down was amazing, narrow track with a fair drop on the left.

    There was a feed station at the bottom of the valley and i was ready to refuel but no one else wanted to stop so i stuffed half an energy bar into my face in one go. Trying to chew the bar we rode around a bend and there in front of us was the Devils staircase it honestly looked like a wall. It was very uncomfortable trying to climb this 30% hill with a gob full of food! I managed to grab the wheel of a snail in front of me and sped up at 3mph!

    Thinking we had cracked the mountain, no sooner had we descended at 25% we were faced with another climb of 20% and i think this one was longer.

    For the next 20 miles to the feed station at 53 miles it wasnt that bad, i managed to hook onto a group of 6 riders who were going at a fair pace. We came to a junction about 3 miles before the feed station and guess who was the one who had to stop for traffic? I didnt see them after that.

    Riding through Llanybydder was tough, strong winds and a long climb. We had to turn sharp left then a right over a sheep grid and you just knew what was coming. Llanllwni mountain wasn`t that steep but very windy and bleak up there, it was a long hard grind for at least a couple of miles.

    For the next 15 miles or so it was very up and down, bit like the preselli angel.

    The last 6 miles into Llandovery was flat and very welcome, i was glad to see the finishing line.

    The 3 of us finished well under 6 hours which i think wasn`t bad considering the route.

    Perhaps next year we could do this as a club ride!!!

    #24170
    Roger
    Member

    I echo all of Andrew’s comments!

    That Devil,s Stairacse and then further climbs over the mountain were definitely the hardest I’ve ridden…still “practice makes perfect” and perhaps we should undertake that section monthly as a club for training purposes!

    #24172
    Morganite
    Member
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