The Bryan Chapman Memorial 600km Audax 19th May 2012

The Bryan Chapman Memorial 600km Audax 19th May 2012

AA8.25, 8'900 meters climbing

The Bryan Chapman represented the longest ride to date, and was ultimately the ride that I was building up to, not only to complete this Super Randonneur series but also because it had been the ride that I'd been told about way back in January that at the time had seen so out of the question that the mere thought of riding 600km seemed like a physical challenge that I would never achieve without months of dedication and training.

Anyway, I had been up since 4:30, it was freezing cold and this could only mean one thing. I was about the ride the Bryan Chapman Memorial Audax. 600km and nearly 9'000 metres climbing separated myself from the 'Arivee'. The scheduling was straightforward, start at 6am on the Saturday, and finish at 8pm on Sunday, 38hrs in total, and somewhere along the way I was planning to get 4hrs sleep. I was also hoping to manage to hold onto my sanity during the night hours (though also secretly hoping to lose my mind to give me some content for this blog post...). Lets ride...

Stage 1: Chepstow to Bronllys.

The initial stages to any of these Audaxs generally follow the same formula, large groups forming, lots of talking and settling into the routine of cycling for long distances. We encountered some pretty avante garde driving on these sections - in one place a van driver attempted to traverse the entire peleton of about 50 (I think) which stretched so far up the narrow road that by the time he'd made it half way up the opposite side of the road there was a car coming from the opposite way - facing the difficult choice of either ditching his car in the hedgerow or killing 50 cyclists the driver went up onto the opposite verge, cross country style and when the opposite car passed swerved back onto the the road, giving himself enough time to shout obscenities at the guys up front... some drivers just really don't seem to get it, the little egg shaped hats we all wear offer little protection in comparison with the fuck off steel chassis he had wrapped around him.... Christ, back to the cycling, we've not even covered 100km yet...

(Jusin (yellow top) and Adam)

Stage 2 and 3: Bronllys to Nant Yr Arian to Kings Youth Hostel, Dolgellau.

(I'm not sure this photo quite makes it clear but this is at the top of a rather long and steep mountain pass).

(by 200km I'd resorted to photographing myself... )
Stage 4: Kings Youth Hostel, Dollgellau to Menai Bridge.

Stage 5: Menai Bridge to Kings Youth Hostel, Dolgellau (night section).

Stage 5 represented the night section of the ride, and contained all the essentials to a decent night section - long A road stretches with little room for navigational error. Without being able to judge the gradients up and down the roads in front of you and without visual access to the speedometer we might as well have been on an enormous chevron decorated treadmill.

I was tense, sure that another does of insanity was lurking up on me, I consumed all the caffeine I could reach in order to stave it off, not sure if it would be enough. I was waiting for the first signs to let me know whether I was in for a night of hallucinations or delusions.... hallucinations or delusions... hallucinations or... Jesus Christ a man just ran past me along the other side of the road... in the middle of nowhere... in just a t-shirt...

It looked hallucinations it was... and worryingly convincing ones at that... better call an ambulance immediately.

I braced my to break it to the others that I was 'tripping my tits off', and may not be safe to ride when we established that everyone had also seen this guy, and despite being in the middle of nowhere, it was just some maniac out running?? I wasn't going mad.

Disappointingly I actually enjoyed most of this night stretch, I'd been heavily reliant on losing my mind to fill the content of this blog entry - so I'm having to actually talk about the cycling instead.

The Youth Hostel at Kings was a welcome sight at 4am, and so was the prospect of an actual bed at 4:30am - again I was almost disappointed that I'd not managed to collapse in a bus shelter to get some sleep - I must try that on another night ride.

Stage 6: Kings Youth Hostel, Dolgellau to Aberhafesp.

We left Kings Youth hostel at about 8am, having had about two hours of sleep awaking to an empty room and being convinced that I'd overslept and simply missed the whole event - no such luck, it was 6:30am and I still had 220km to ride.

We left this scene behind - Tim Sollesse had thrown is chain into his rear wheel resulting in the loss of several spokes which was in the process of being re-built by several other helpers and riders using the spare spokes that only last week I'd tried to convince Tim were simply extra weight that was holding him back... who knows what else was in his handlebar bag of apparently never ending content. We later discovered that Tim had battled on in the face of these mechanical issues, riding most of the last day solo and finishing with 1 minute to spare before the cut off time!

 (Tims handlebar bag - possibly the portal to the cycling version of Narnia).

Stage 7: Aberhafesp to Weobley.

It was on the long drag out of Newton (around the 500km mark) that our route coincided with that of a Sportive. Approaching a section of the climb with a more steeper gradient we were overtaken by one of the riders whom appeared to be 'attacking' the climb in an effort to 'drop' us, realising our cue myself and Justin gave chase, fuelled only by smug determination (there was little left in the legs by this point) I managed to catch and overtake him, reaching the top and leaving a healthy looking gap between my rear wheel and his front. As the gradient eased he moved up next to me looking to re-assert his cycling credentials at having been beaten by someone on a touring bike. An excuse appeared to be the choice of weapon...

Him: yeah well... I've already got 70miles in my legs
Me: really... I've got 300miles in mine....
silence....

Anyway, hollow victories aside, we got talking and comparing the differing disciplines in cycling (the guy was riding roughly 130km at an average speed of 35kmph - I certainly could not do this so Chapeau to the guy) we developed a mutual respect for the two, and I'd like to think that as his first encounter with Audax he may well end up on the Bryan Chapman next year himself! Oh yeah, back to the route...

Stage 8: Weobley to Chepstow.

I wasn't sure that the tiny 'one horse town' of Weobly was quite ready for 100 cyclists to turn up on a single day - no Weatherspoons and no coffee shops in sight - also judging by bin behind Justin its not a regular occurrence for the local bins to have the discarded wrappers for two thousand Ginsters pasties crammed into them.

Anyway, this was the final leg, just 80km to ride through before we could truly feel like the ride was coming to an end. With the sun setting and the final Km's going down we finally made it onto the final A road back into Chepstow - I'd made a mental calculation that by a certain point I would be so close to he finish and with enough time in hand that even if my bike collapsed in front of me I could simply push it back in time... luckily this didn't happen and it carried me back the entire way...

(wake me when we get to Chepstow...)

 (no time to stop and take a decent photo of this place...)

9: Chepstow: Arivee!

So that was it, The Bryan Chapman Memorial finished in just over 38hrs. The SR series completed and I'd crossed the 20 AA point threshold as well. I was pretty drained, both mentally and physically, and my bike had taken quite a battering over the last few months. Still its all been worth it.