Following from the success of the Autumn Epic I decided to revive its evil twin - the Devil Ride - in 2017 - in fact it was exactly 3 years ago on Father's Day. This event was another Epic Cycles job from way back that had stopped running recently.
The route was more challenging, and more remote that the Autumn Epic - at its furthest reaches you could almost smell the sea on the Welsh coast.
Starting in Llandrindod Wells the route went south first, up to the Sennybridge Training Area - a bit of a spooky, military landscape.
Big, main road climb out of Builth Wells
Long-shot picture of the whole "Devil's Staircase" - can you sport it snaking up the hill?
The name of the event isn't a casual thing - the route includes the very long, very steep switchbacks of the Devil's Staircase, and then passes through Devil's Bridge for a double dose of satanic influence.
Road to Tregarron
Mountain road after Devil's Bridge
Most of the route is in utterly remote landscape with very few cars, and very few houses. On the day it was super hot - 35deg cel - and participants returned telling stories of throwing themselves into the roadside streams to cool off.
Finishline
I'm keen to come back to run an event over these roads again - perhaps a hyper-Autumn Epic with a 120mile loop.....
#itsallabouttheroute