What can I say………last year’s WRT was the best weekend I have ever had on my bike……..until this weekend. What I can’t quite yet fathom out is why? Horrendous weather, soaked through, scared, pain, sweat, tears etc. and yet still the best!
The riding was fantastic but I think it was the company of the other riders that you’d stop and talk to for 20 minutes or ride with for half a day etc. that really made this the ‘complete ride’ that it was.

When I find a bit of time I’ll read through all of the above tales and try and grab copies of some of the great photo’s but just wanted to say thanks to all that I met and made the weekend so great. For what it’s worth the shots that I took can be found here.

https://picasaweb.google.com/112787476630806646930/WRT2011?feat=directlink

So, have just gunned it up and down the local steep hill and………………all quiet…anyone want to buy a Bushnell EBB? 😀

You have a 29er now…you don’t need luck 🙂

@ Ian B

EBB now suitably greased, will give it a spin to see how quiet it is. I’ve ordered a Bushnell EBB which arrives tomorrow just in case! I’ve got 32:20 on the bike at the mo which is equivalent to the 34:20 that I ran on the 26″ bike last year, which I thought was spot on. Bike and kit is lighter this year however the contours also appear much closer. I bought a 21T sprocket for the event but haven’t fitted it as I need to make my chain longer, What d’ya reckon. I’ve got used to riding the wrong gear as I did the Kielder 100 last year with my 2:1 rato on the 26″ and spent about 90% of the time in too tall a gear :oops:.

BTW my route also takes me through Penrhyn Dyfi and Maesywerngoch

WRT SIR9Finally…….WRT bike done! Weighed it in as shown, not including the wooden post, complete with 2.5 litres of water and 2 evening meals, puddings,and breakfasts and it came in at 39.75lbs. Add to that my 1.3lb backpack that I will hopefully not need after the 1st day and I think I have managed to shave a good few pounds off last years weight. 🙂

Shook it down this evening and it felt good, the only problem I have is with Bottom bracket creak. It has an eccentric BB and I have so far tried building it dry – fail, using PTFE tape – fail and lastly I even tried the carbon / carbon high friction compound – fail. I am now about to try a number of tape options but for all our sakes (If you here me coming it will drive you mad in seconds) if anyone has any successful solutions to this problem I would love to hear them!

I here you Ian, have you made any more?

@ dyfers” I have been considering going SS for this but can’t decide whether I’d be doing too much pushing once I’d got a load of mediumweight kit strapped to the bike.”

I normally run 34:17 pretty much everywhere when I ride locally (Rolling hills / bumps of the South) but for this event last year I sought some advice from Stuart who suggested a 19 or 20T on the rear. I figured that if I was to make a change that it should be a significant one and so I went with 34:20 which was absolutely spot on. (A fraction longer than Stuart’s 32:19).I rode with a few guys over the event and could ride everything they could. I was more concerned about being able to climb rather than spinning out as none of the routes are flat you’re always either grinding up or coasting down. I wouldn’t change the ratio but just reduce the weight of my kit, I had a dry bag on the rear(6-7kg), a bar bag (3kg) and a 4kg back pack. 30% or more of the kit I carried I didn’t use.

Excellent idea regarding practice weekend, that’ll tell you everything you need to know.

One thing I am changing for this year is my bike, I hope an extra 3″ in wheel size will make it even better. Check it out, just finished today! 😀

http://picasaweb.google.com/paul.pomfret/NewSIR9#

Nothing stereotypical here me thinks!

Sorry to ramble on so…. 🙄

Matt, I did it it last year and it is by far the best weekend on the bike I’ve ever had. Before this all my riding have been XC racing/enduros/normal biking weekends away at trail centres, but this was completely different.Just head off when you’re ready with a plan in your head and a map on the bike and keep going with the only objective being to get back sometime on Monday before all the Welsh cakes are gone. The scenery we rode over last year was just stunning. I’ve posted my shots from last year’s event here if you fancy a look:-

http://picasaweb.google.com/paul.pomfret/WelshRideThing2010#

Bigface…I hear you…it’s still 3 months before Stuart releases the checkpoints and I am already fired up.

So…not down south eh, looks like my collection of OS maps of the welsh area is going to have to increase this year!

Have you seen the Feb issue of Singletrack? Good article on Doethie Valley and the local area. For me one of the main reasons to keep you pack weight down is so that you can fully enjoy single track sections like this.

e-mail sent…absolutely can’t wait 😀

alfachippy – nice looking bivvy set up there. Where did you camp on Saturday?

This was in a camp field in Tyllwyd. I had got the checkpoint in Llangurig and headed west over the hill to the next checkpoint but the conditions got really bad with visibility reduced to 20m or so combined with a complete lack of the bridleway that was on the map added up to me taking over 2 hours to cover 3 miles. Wet, cold, no visibility I knocked Monks Trod on the head and instead headed downhill on the road towards Cwmystwyth. As I descended what must be a lovely road on a good day the fog began to clear and there in front of me was the campfield!

alfachippy – your directions you gave us on Monday morning were spot on,

Just caught up with this…its pistonbroke you need to thank, I just relayed to you the directions he gave me! Sorry pistonbroke, I got my alias' muddled up in me spiel earlier.

At the risk of sounding like I've just been presented with an Oscar, I have a few thanks:

Stuart and Dee:- For organising the best cycling event I have ever taken part in. It was a fantastic adventure, I loved the relaxed (Get out of it what you like) format and the route took you through absolutely stunning and for me previously undiscovered part of the country.

Matthew (Chew) and Luke for motivating me on the climbs, allowing me to use my brakes less on the downhills and for the company. This also applies to the group of 4 that I rode with from Devils bridge to Nantsyddion.

JohnClimber for the local knowledge, Checkpoint 12 ticked off without incident 😉

Mozzies and midges for going away for the weekend.

Trivia:
12 checkpoints gained
150 miles covered
16,380ft climbing
Approx 23 hours in the saddle
10,813 Kcals burnt
1 stripy badger tan on my head due to forgetting to apply sun lotion 😆

Night1 🙁

Absolute luxury

I am still on a high from the ride even though I can barely climb the stairs and have already started thinking about how I can shed a few kilos of my kit for next year…..bring it on….I think my wheels may be bigger by then!

May I just add…..woooooohooooooooo…..can't wait 😆

All loaded ready to go, rear pack appears to be heavier than at anytime before and so I feel a last minute un-pack…re-pack at the start to shed a few grams. I am absolutely pooped now with all the faffing 😳

Perfect preperation for the weekend.

See some of you at The Allepo at 11:30 for lunch.

And this is what the broken rim looked like…..oooer. Best get out to the garage and start swapping my wheels over.

Somebody stop me I've just finally worked out how to upload photos 😀

A picture paints a thousand words…. 😉

It steers like a drunk cow

Over active, I know what you mean the 1st time I rode a loaded up bike a couple of weeks ago it felt like I was riding with a flat back tyre all the time.
I have found that it helps a lot if you can get the front to rear weight balance right. I have moved my saddle bag from behind my seat to the front of the frame just behind the head tube, between top and down tube and it made a big difference as firstly the weight of all my tools is removed from the rear and also the pack on my rear rack could move forward quite a long way. Tyre pressures will also need to be increased…. 😉

[The Aleppo is a bit of further for me from Brecon ]

IanB I am heading up from the South via Abergavenny, do you fancy a lift?

Definitely count me in for lunch at the Aleppo, I'll go for the Sausages and Mash.

I finally got out for my practice overnight cycle ride at the weekend to see how this wild camping worked. I laid out all of the kit that I had been accumulating over the weeks and rationalised it based on what I need vs like and managed to trim my kit down to an amount that actually fitted onto my bike! All up it is still weighing about 18lbs including food and so is still someway off light let alone ultralight.
I also changed my gearing from 34:17 to 34:20 and for the rolling hills round here worked really well giving the bike a similar feel to my unloaded bike with original gearing.

Camp kit is an Alpkit affair with wee airic, pipedream 400 and hunka and I was fricking roasting. Eventually I had to just lay on top of my bag to keep comfortable. Anyway to cut my ramblings short it was great and I certainly learnt plenty with quite a few adjustments needed before the weekend. The biggest of which is a change of wheels as I discovered that the rim on my front wheel had failed….how lucky was that? :

I hear you, which is partly why I plan to keep it relatively low tech! I'm sure I will get a few surprises along the way as a result…some good…some not so good !

CW for me so that I can visit Nant yr Arian on the way back up if I have anything left…….bog…what bog, looks like I need to review the maps once more!

I've certainly got a pub roast dinner pencilled in for Sunday, followed by a bit of a power nap / siesta.
I have visions of me resting in the afternoon sun on the side on a suitably picturesque hill, although fully expect to be pedalling on through grim rainfall though. 🙁

I'm thinking that for the 1st night that I'll camp somewhere south of the Claerwen Reservoir / Northern Tywi forest, so hope to cover 40-50 miles on day one.
For the 2nd night I'm looking to cover a similar distance, so hope to get somewhere near Devil's bridge, which will leave a nice 30 mile cruise back home with an option to take in a bit of Nant yr Arian. Probably not the best thought out or efficient route but I can't wait to get started.

Hi all,

Newbie here, I've done little riding in the area, have never wild camped, but now look like 'man at Alpkit'as I've bought so much of their stuff. I'm planning a trial wild camp next weekend.
Will be single speeding (With either 34:19 or 34:20 following Stuart's advice) and would like to get all 13 checkpoints. I was planning on a relativity flexible route that will take me in a CW direction and expect to cover approx 130 miles using my very scientific 'count the squares' method on 1:50000 maps…….clearly not worked out the amount of climbing. Looking through the listings here it looks as if I may need to zoom in on a few areas. Anyway OMG I can't wait to get started…..lets hope the dry weather continues…just added crocs to my pack list and I don't want to upgrade to waders 🙂