Yesterday I completed the 140km Wales Velothon, and that is a huge achievement, but add in 35-40ยบ temperatures and searing sun added in made it a test to the limits.
In the weeks building up to the event, I was determined to beat last years time and ride both mountains, on the morning of the ride that all changed, all goals were now just being able to finish the ride and not end up being scooped up by medics through heat exhaustion.
Cycling Stories
There’s always room for an extra 80-miles?
After completing the Monmouthshire Iron Mountain 40 sportive, I sat in Bailey park Abergavenny with the rest of the girls enjoying the sunshine and chatting about the fact it was less than two weeks until the Velothon. The topic of Bike Bath popped up in the conversation, Nick, Alison and Janet were all going to take part, and there was a spare place in the cars going for me and my bike if I wanted it.
Bike Bath is an 80-mile event that offers the opportunity to cycle through the best scenery of Bath and the surrounding countryside. Perhaps in my naivety, I assumed that it would be a relatively flat event terrain wise, and with reassurances from everyone that it would just be a nice last long ride before the Velothon; I agreed and signed up to ride the 80-mile route in only seven days time.
The Monmouthshire Iron Mountain 40 Sportive
The morning of Monmouthshire 40 had arrived, it was sunny but muggy, with a blustery north-westerly wind that was certainly helping keep the stuffy air moving.
With the start of the Sportive being in the centre of Abergavenny, it meant that for once I didn’t have to get up at 4 am to eat food, load the bike in the car and drive to the starting point. On this occasion, I was able to get up at a time that didn’t involve being awake before the dawn chorus, and also eat food at a time that many normal non-cycling people would consider to be a respectable breakfast time too.
The training plan that very nearly wasn’t.
All the planning in the world cannot cover all eventualities, including illness. That’s just what happened to me, with just a few weeks before the Velothon, and only a matter of days before I was due to ride the Monmouthshire Iron Mountain 40 mile Sportive, and I was not feeling at all well, not just a little bit ill, very ill!!
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About
Hardworking and enthusiastic creative thinker and copywriter based in South Wales.
I enjoy taking complex problems and turning them into simple creative solutions.