A nice ride in the hills
I haven’t been out on my Mountain Bike much lately. Since the end of April I’d only been on a couple of short rides, totaling less than 20 miles, that’s a terrible 20 miles in almost 2 months. I though I’d put that right today and headed off into the hills for what would hopefully be quite a long ride.
I had plenty of food and water with me and the conditions looked good. I though I’d punish myself for not getting out on the bike much lately by starting off with the brutal hill behind Tre-Ddol. My bike was still creaking terribly but I actually rode up it without too much trouble. Obviously it wasn’t easy, my heart rate was up around its maximum and my legs were on fire but I made it without any thoughts of giving up. It is pretty steep!
The next test was the 5 mile climb up through Artists Valley. Again, this felt easier than usual. I found myself pushing a bigger gear than I normally would put able to keep spinning and all felt quite comfortable. I reached the top in fairly good shape and headed off down the MX trails, across to Nant y Moch and then onto the Conti Trail. Partway down the Bont Goch descent I headed off to the right and down towards the mines.
Test number three lay ahead with a long climb back to the top. At first I though I was going to suffer but once I got into it I again found myself pushing a bigger gear and climbing well. It was then back over the top, down Al’s Descent into Artists Valley before a few little climbs out of Artists Valley and the flat slog back home.
35 miles in total with just over 4,000 ft of climbing and a moving time of 3hrs 26 mins. Not bad for me and reassuring with the Isle of Man End2End looming in a few months.
