I did it!
Its been a week now. I’ve been resting my legs.
I’m sure that this is the feeling when you’ve run a marathon in a Pink Panther costume but its one of the most rewarding feelings. Its good that it should feel that way because it bloody hurts while you are doing it!
On the 49th day of the tour I woke to torrential rain and thunder. Perfect conditions for a bike ride. We met at the start in Porthmadog and after registration we set of on a gentle warm up pace for around 20 minutes. It was quite enjoyable and much of my initial nerves were dispelled. That was until we stopped on a small bridge to allow the group to catch up. We set off round a bend and the road set off skyward! Looking back at the stats I can see that we climbed an ascent that took us up a 33% gradient from 100ft to 1041ft. There was no way that anyone but hardcore riders were tackling that and pretty much all of us got off and pushed. That is not before I got my feet stuck in the cleats and took my first tumble leaving my knee on the road. I also had the further complication of wearing racing cleats. For every few steps I slid back as if I was walking on ice! But, after a Herculean struggle, I made it to the top only to find that I’d worn out my cleats and couldn’t get my feet in the pedals. Luckily the support car was behind us so the bike went on the rack and I hopped in to be taken for repairs. At the lunch stop my pedals were swapped replacing the clippy ones with the pedals from my old Diamondback.
The second half of day 49 was one of the more rewarding. They were supposed to be taking up up another ridiculous track so I revolted and said I’d go solo around the coast A road. A number of people liked the sound of that so with a number of supporters we officially split into two groups. The ride still had a number of long runs up hill but it was what I had trained for and what my bike was made for. We finally arrived in Machynlleth to a fantastic reception.
On day 50 we set off from Machynlleth and I was joined by John Talbot. A number of our riders had gone home after day 499 and John had boosted our ranks keeping the Collier’s team to a respectable level of four riders. The morning run was nice in the sunshine and we reached Borth for morning break. After the break things started to get ugly. Not only did the rain return but there were a few climbs that while I attempted them were beyond my ability and I had to have four wheeled assistance to the top. We made Aberystwyth for lunch and then the afternoon continued much the same. I tried my best but in the end after dropping way back I opted for a bit of assistance to catch up with the group and then cycled the final section into New Quay. I was happy that over the two days I had put in a shift. Not bad for a guy my size after only three weeks training.
Thanks to everyone who supported me. I will leave you with The Great Tour videos and my stats.
Well done that man!