After a reasonable night in a local hotel I
cycled to the start and soon saw the wisdom of not trying to drive there - one
guy was saying that he'd been queuing for an hour to get to where I rocked up
near the entrance to Magram Park.
Inside the park was actually a bit of a
climb to the rather spread out event village.
I passed through and into the multiple holding pens (mostly empty but
certainly able to take big numbers) and was on the start almost
immediately. So that was better than
expected!
Off and away fine, with hills coming after a
proper warm up distance. This is the
first stop - I didn't bother and just kept going. Hills now started coming more regularly - long
ones, maybe just 6 to 8% but just go on forever. And that started to have an impact.
Eventually got onto the keynote Rhingos
climb which just took ages and very grateful for the food stop at the top!
Then a huge descent - Garmin suggesting
78km/h (!) - and then another long hill.
This one nearly did for me - had to stop near the top just to give my
legs a moment before completing. Here's
the view.
And then pretty much a downhill blast
back. No photos of the end as I'd
obviously lost all ability to focus.
I hear that the hills are roughly inline
with continental climbs - least they are the nearest we have. Other than that a mystery why this event
attracts 4000. Unprepossessing villages with cars buzzing around and not the most beautiful landscapes - Port
Talbot steel works being just one of the delights.