Mike reports with news of the second round of the Chain Reaction Cycles MTB Marathon Series powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport, which will be hitting Llandovery, mid-Wales this weekend:
“The May event will host not just one but two different cycling events – one for skinny tyres and one for knobblies. The weekend will kick off with the CycleOps Power Road Sportive which will offer two different courses – a tough yet rewarding 85mile long course which has more than 2,500 metres of climbing in it and the super scenic 55mile short course with less than 2,000 metres of climbing. Both rides have an open start from 8.30–10am on Saturday and entries are still available. To find out more on the first sportive of the season (including maps, course details and profiles) please go to the Llandovery event page on the CycleOps Power Sportive event website.
If riding on the road is not your thing but you fancy a little pre-ride on Saturday simply join one of the CycleActive guided rides which are free of charge. If you want to make sure you get a place please email chris@cycleactive.co.uk.
With Saturday coming to an end at the pasta party, Sunday’s focus will be on the CRC MTB Marathon (start 10am on Sunday morning) which will have four different distances on offer. John has made once again use of the huge amount of trails and tracks the area has to offer and has created some fantastic courses for the 2nd round. We have put the profiles and further course details on the website.
To enter the MTB Marathon please go directly to the entry page where you can either download an entry form or enter directly through the online entry service. To enter the CycleOps Power Road Sportive please go to the road entry page.
With two events on offer we will have a weekend ticket which will give riders both events over the weekend (sportive on Saturday and MTB Marathon on Sunday) for a combined price of £47 rather than £59. There will also be day entries available but there is a £ 5 day entry surcharge. So why not save yourself some money and enter now! 
The last few weeks have been dry in the area creating fantastic conditions for the road sportive as well as for the MTB Marathon. The single and double tracks are dusty, super smooth and just great fun to wiz along. The middle of the week might see a little bit of rain (might help making it less dusty) in the area but following on from that the sun will be coming out and the winds will die down as well. Perfect sportive and marathon conditions as it looks!
With the weather looking warm and dry for the weekend please make sure that you have enough to drink on your ride and that you bring to right equipment with you to carry sufficient water. There are feeding stations on the sportive and marathon course but they are there to supplement your supplies.
As always at our events we will have an event catering setup on site supported by the guys from Cafe2You with the coffee van. Our title sponsor Chain Reaction Cycles will have a retail outlet on site and the guys from Mercedes-Benz will have a couple of spotless Vito vans on display. If you should need pre or post sports massage than make your way over to the guys from the Extreme Sports Therapy Unit and if you should want to polish up your riding skills or get the download on the latest cycling holidays than see the team from CycleActive when you arrive at the event.
Directions to the event location
The event village is based at the Llandovery Rugby Club. For directions to the club please go here. The event will be signposted from Friday lunchtime onwards. It doesn’t matter where you are coming from as you will easily find your way to the event village. The event will be open from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. For the GPS users out there the postcode is SA20 0BA. For information on B+B or a Hotel please find the details for the local Tourist Information on our Local Info page.
