Dusky Valleys 12hr Race

Rob had started on his X1 End to End a few days earlier; I was watching with baited breath, as he rode up through the country with some of his closest friends in support.

Jo and I, on the other hand, were packing our car and Gnarlavan (caravan) for a new race in the Welsh Valleys. It was time to see if I was getting over the affects of the chest thing that has been keeping me off of the bike for swathes of time, until recently.

We pull up to the event in Parc Bryn Bach and start setting up our base for the weekend. There isn't anybody there that has a bike at this point, and we're starting to get a little nervous, but we carry on getting our pitch sorted and settle down to a nice cup of coffee and the last part of our carb loading...

...Salty, cheesy and salt'n Vinegar crisps, with a couple of big packets of sweets. I love carb loading.

At 2 O'Clock, Zoe and Scott turned up and tried to find the waymarked course. It wasn't yet marked, and this along with the lack of numbers was really getting us worried.

Are we here on the right day?

Hope so.

We chilled out until Huw and Mark arrived (The Bike Mechanics), then Luke and we drank more coffee.

More sweets.

Feeling a bit bloated now. Oops.

During all of this lolling around in the Gnarlavan we discussed what we thought the course was going to be like. From the description one of the organisers gave us, it seemed that it might be a trudge up a road hill, a struggle through moorland and a bit of a family gravel track to finish the loop.

"Oh well," we sort of said together. "At least it will be enjoyable for people who don't ride technical terrain." To cut a long story short, which is a major achievement for me, more people turned up and the course got marked in plenty of time for some practice laps.

It was a small event with about 70 riders or so, and we were all doing it to support a local hospice. As many of this type of event often are; this was supported by the local community and this made it a proper "feel good" event.

The Local Mayor turned up!!

At 8pm the racing started, after a good briefing, and off we shot up the hill. I didn't feel too bad, and kept the leaders in sight for almost the whole lap. My pulse was under control and I could breath without coughing and wheezing.

Superb.

Now the course was on moorland for part of it's circuit, but this was South Wales Moorland. So it had little rocky bits, fast ruts, a couple of scary fast rocky corners and then a couple of bombholes, too. This was all before you entered the normal family cycling track, and rode it the wrong way round.

I don't know where Mum and Granny go riding normally, but if this is their normal track for riding with the family then I'm Impressed: It was good fun. Swooshy (as Jo would call it) tight singletrack with some jumps and steep berms hit you for the last few minutes of the lap.

This was a good course, and we all enjoyed it. A lot.

Jo was riding well, even though she hasn't trained much lately, and we raced on a 3 lap strategy: She did three, and I whinged about having to go out again.

Only Joking!

We were doing quite well and riding at our limits, really. My lap times for 3 laps (1hr6-8min ish)were about the same as the leaders of the Male pairs (Huw and Mark) on their single lap strategy (22-24mins). I wasn't far off anyway, but time was being made up because we only had to change our ankle chip a third as often. There is no way I could have done single laps all night, at my present level of fitness, and Huw would have been a right handful!

The problem was that we were the only mixed pair and as we started to get tired, our resolve waned a little. We'd "won" anyway- obviously that doesn't mean too much.

About 6 hours in, lots of people were starting to cough a lot due to the cold damp air of the night. It seemed to have everyone in it's grasp and is just a natural part of riding at this time of year, when you should really be in bed. But,I got a bit spooked. I lay in the van for a while waiting for Jo to come back and I had a small coughing episode. My throat went a bit tight and my chest seemed tight, too.

At the next changeover..."Jo, I need to stop because I'm worried I'll go backwards with my chest. Do you mind?"

"Thank goodness for that!" she said. "I'm knackered!"

It seemed she had been pushing a bit too hard, so it's no wonder her lap times were quite quick.

I dicussed my decision with Huw, Mark, Scott and Zoe as they came through in stages, just to make sure I wasn't being silly. But they all agreed I was doing the right thing.

That made me feel better.

So we spent most of the rest of the night making folk coffee, bolstering them with support, and kicking them out into the cold again. It was really rewarding.

Oh, and I did a bit of mechanicing on Zoe's bike.

The guys were superb, my chest settled quickly, and they kept going for the win(s).

Zoe was 1st place Solo Female.
Huw and Mark won the Male Pairs, and also beat the 4 man teams!
Luke won the solo.
Jo and I, err, won the mixed pairs.

This is a great event which everyone there hoped will grow to the large festival that it could be. The site has everything needed for a good weekends racing.

Well done, Parc Bryn Bach.

After the presentations, Jo and I drove home. I was happy in the knowledge that I can now push hard on the bike and not suffer with my chest. I'm flat as a pancake, but the motor is still running strongly underneath.

Jo was just happy that I wasn't brassed off due to contiued problems.

That was the best result we could have hoped for!

After unloading, I went and spent the day with Rob as he rode through Wales from Bristol to Telford, offroad, on his X1 End To End.

Busy weekend!