Saturday 12 May 2012

The Brevet Cymru 400km Audax 5th May 2012

The Brevet Cymru 400km Audax 5th May 2012
AA2.25 4,900 meters climbing.


Why do you do these long bike rides, I was asked the day after finishing the Brevet Cymru - I really have no idea I said. And I still don't. The Brevet Cymru was a grinding lesson in fatigue, delusions and poor nutritional choices... I should point out now, for some reason I wasn't massively inspired to take many photos during the ride, and I doubt I could have worked the camera during the night stages, so I've only got a handful of images for the day, none of which are very good... still
Anyway, it was 6am it was freezing cold and I was in a village hall in the middle of Bulwark, Chepstow, this could only mean one thing, I was about to ride the Brevet Cymru 400km. lets ride.


I approached the first stages with a degree of ambivalence towards the sheer scale of the task in hand, having had completed a 24hr ride several weeks back with the Easter Arrow, and having allowed my mind to convince itself that I actually enjoyed the night hours we pressed on with the better third of the London Grimpeurs reunited once again.


I'm now developing a sense of familiarity with cycling in Wales, finding some places that I recognised for the Yr Elenydd sever weeks before. We traced a route out across Wales towards the coast.

Justin 'Jonah' Jones and Tim 'ridehard' Sollesse.

One of the most interesting parts of Audax riding is the chance encounters that you have with non-riders, often in small villages in the middle of no-where, people who will ask where you have come from, and always seem to think that to get to where you are is some form of super-endurance feat, only to have their minds blown where you explain the remainder of the journey you plan to take. One guy we met was no exception, wearing no shoes and sporing a head full of greasy matted hair he proceeded to first explain that he'd only that morning lost his car, and his shoes in a public toilet (I didn't ask), then to go onto the subject of his cycling past... I hope the two were not related.

Definitely in Wales now...

Myself and Justin left this inspiring banana based message for Tim at the top of a climb...

Newquay - not in Cornwall it turns out?
At the control at Newquay we continued on our quest to consume what could only be described as a heroic amount of beans on toast. We were also presented with a bowl of half crumble half carbonated custard, as I set about eating this monstrous bowl of food a butterfly was somewhere across the other side of the world flapping its wings...
Newquay to Llandovery - fatigue was already setting in, and so were some rather delusional thoughts, at this point I found myself at the gear stick of a fighter plane, on a fighter escort to a bomber plane, which for the purpose of clarity - was a tandem. How long I was flying for I don't know, but luckily I managed to snap out of it before I lost all control. A quick shot of caffeine (which I now swear by on night rides for maintianing sanity and for getting out of the dark place that is mental fatigue) restored my sanity (for the time being).

The leg between Llandovery and Bwlch, which was planned as the main night section was a real teeth grinder, I was fatigued when I started the ride, more fatigued during it and dangerously fatigued when the night hours set in... the actual route was perfect, a long stretch of one single A road so no issues with navigating. What happened inside my mind on that stretch could only be described an inhumane, I seemed to explore every nook and cranny of my psyche and had things that I thought had been confined to the depths of my mind come reeling out into the present - regrets about an ex girlfriend from 2007, really? still, at least I wasn't visually hallucinating.

Bwylch was a sleep stop, thank god, and I found myself lying down in a warmed room for a couple of hours needed rest. Waking at 4am was probably the worst experience of waking in my life, I'd never more wanted to just get back to sleep, and the thought of going out into the freezing night was a difficult one. Hows your stomach I was asked, though at that point I had no real answer - better just go to the toilet I decided - what happened next could only be described as being similar to a scene from Apocalypse Now, the culmination of 16hrs of beans, caffeine and custard exorcised themselves from my very being like a fire breathing liquidiser. Still, the ride wasn't going to finish itself, lets ride.

With the sun coming up, and knowing that the night hours were behind us, I was again filled with a sense of optimism. My bib tights on the other hand were filled with an acute pain. Clearly having a wet chamois against your skin for 20hrs was inevitably going to be met with some scepticism from you're body. As per usual the last 30km were agony, I just can't be bothered with the last few miles, just want the ride to end. It's only inside the last mile I start to get back to to the sense of achievement and perk up, I also begin to take my mind off the excruciating pain in the chamois area (definitely need to sort this before the Bryan Chapman).

The finish line, which was a village hall in Bulwark, was a welcome relief, as was two more hours of floor based sleep. So that was it, The Brevet Cymru 400km Audax completed, several AA points the better, and now with only one ride left to complete the AA Super Randonneur Series... The Bryan Chapman Memorial Ride on the 19th May...

What have I learnt from this ride - always carry some spare chamois creme and dry clothes at any opportunity, and get some goddamn sleep the week before the event...

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