Cross Mountain 2016

There was no race in the Welsh Cyclo-cross League series this weekend so I had signed up to do ‘Coss Mountain’ instead. Cross Mountain is an off-road cycle event organised by the same group that organised the Tide to Tide event I did a few weeks ago. It is open to both mountain bikes and cyclocross bikes and offers two different routes, a shorter 35km route and the full distance 52km route that I had signed up to do.

Cross Mountain

Having signed up for the longer route I read the course description which said:

We have designed the course to be rideable and enjoyable on both cyclocross and mountain bikes. That said, it is important to remember that the terrain is very different to what you usually get in cyclocross events. The terrain on both routes is a mixture of quiet singletrack lanes, off-road doubletrack, forestry tracks, open moorland and singletrack bridleways.

There are sections of rougher ground, with a few stoney descents where a little extra care may be required. We recommend taking at least 2 spare tubes should you be riding on a cyclocross bike. If you have the option to fitter slightly wider tyres, that would be a worthwhile change.

With that in mind I decided to do it on my hardtail mountain bike. I had of course decided beforehand that it was just a ride out in the hills with like-minded people rather than a race too.

Ready to Ride

The event is based around the small Welsh town of Llandovery, just under 2 hours drive from here. Making sure I had put the clocks back I left home at around 6:30am so as to get there around 8:30am an hour before the start. That gave me time to register, have a coffee, get changed and roll up to the start line for the race briefing.

Ready to Ride

Ready to Ride

I lined up somewhere towards the back so that I wouldn’tbe up the front with the fast guys. However, everyone then turned around as we were actually heading out in the opposite direction, so I was now at the front. Other people shuffled around and the fast guys made their way to the front, but I stayed where I was. We were due to roll out behind a lead car through the town anyway and then had a long climb on a road for the first few miles so positions would sort themselves out.

The event started dead on 9:30am under cloudy skies but it was dry, windless and just about the right temperature too. We soon found ourselves climbing higher and higher up onto the hills of the Brecon Beacons. Lots of this was on narrow tarmac roads, but there were some forest tracks, some gravelly double tracks and a few muddy, rocky tracks too. As predicted positions soon sorted themselves out and I found myself either on my own in no man’s land or with just one or two people that I soon got to recognise.

Out into the Hills

We then emerged out onto the hills proper and followed rocky and mud trails out across open countryside. Much of this was along an old Roman Road. It was a perfect day for it and I was going well. Up and down we went, following the well marked route.

Out onto the hills

Out onto the hills

Disaster Pants!

As we approached the first feed station at the 21km mark I started regretting the doner kebab I’d had the night before. It was certainly making itself felt with some nasty rumblings in my stomach. I stopped briefly at the feed station for a chocolate covered flapjack but what I really could have done with was a portaloo. I held on though as we started making our way around the banks of Usk Reservoir. The stomach pains were getting worse though and eventually it was a matter of either stopping and making like a bear in the woods or  a case of disaster pants. Choosing with the former, which with camelbak, cycling helmet, bib tights etc was easier said than done I hid in the woods. I wasted quite a bit of time and saw lots of people go streaming by as I did my business!

I emerged from the woods feeling much better and of course had lots of people to catch. That in itself was quite a good thing as it’s always nice to pass people. After the reservoir we headed out across open moorland, following little yellow flags in the grass. This was followed by a big hill across open ground and then a nice grassy descent. Before long, feed station 2 was upon us. Time for another flapjack from the huge array of food on offer. The routes split here with the longer route doing an extra loop and the shorter route starting to head back towards Llandovery.

An extra Loop

I headed off left onto the longer route, still catching and overtaking people as I went. There were a few more big climbs, some nice descents and plenty more mud before we arrived back at the feed station again from the opposite direction. Another flapjack and then just around 10km to go back towards Llandovery. It was good to see that there were still people just heading out onto the exta 17km loop of the longer route. I must be quite a way ahead of them. The next section involved a steady climb across grassy, boggy fields and then a descent to the road. There were now lots of people on the course as I had joined up with those doing the shorter route. This meant lots of people to overtake so I upped the pace and started pushing for home.

Soon, we were back out onto the main road and heading for the Rugby Club in Llandovery where I crossed the finish line. My time official time was 3:12:48 which put me in 29th place (out of 106), not too bad really seeing as I felt as though it was pretty easy. My moving time however according to my Garmin data was 2:59:35. If only I hadn’t spent so much time doing a bear impression!

I arrived back at the car a fair bit muddier than I was when I started and a little annoyed that I hadn’t stocked up on flapjacks, sausage rolls and cakes at the feed station. I could have done with some of them now, but instead I got changed and headed home with just a can of lemonade to keep me going – I’d left my driving snacks at home too.

Cross Mountain was a great event. It was well organised and had good marshalling throughout. There was also an amazing array of food at the feed stations which were manned (and womanned) by friendly volunteers. The weather was perfect too.

7 Responses

  1. Avatar forComment Author Mum says:

    I wonder how many riders saw you “playing bears”

  2. Avatar forComment Author Alan Cole says:

    Don’t worry, I was quite a stealthy bear!

  3. Avatar forComment Author Mum says:

    Glad to hear it, lots of practice no doubt x

  4. Avatar forComment Author Ed hill says:

    What are your thoughts about doing this event on a cross bike ?

    • Avatar forComment Author Alan Cole says:

      It’s fine. It’ll be an advantage on the beach and most of the dune section will be good on a cross bike. There were only a few small sections last year which suited a MTB better and there were plenty of people doing it on cross bikes.

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.