My Community
General Category => Club Runs => Topic started by: harpo on May 31, 2015, 09:30:02 PM
-
Next Sunday is the dragon ride and Mr Chapman is doing it for charity, was thinking of joining him on some of his route, the western side of beacons. I would suggest we take the most direct and flattest way to abercrave, then meet up with Steve there so we can do loop with him, and come back a more direct route, approximate miles is 100, be nice if Andy, Jason, could do route for us, weather is going to be good, anyone else up for it?? Ps nice steady pace
-
I'm up for it!
Doing the same Gran Fondo as Steve but probably different start times
May see you all out on the road!
A good warm-up for Velothon
-
What you mean Andy? You coming with us or are you doing the whole thing? If your doing the whole thing, will take some strapping with me just in case we bump into you!;)
-
Yup,the whole thing
May need more than strapping if my legs fall off!
-
I hope to be back on the bike this week so hopefully I'll be up for this, weather forecast looking a little too good, hopefully it won't catch too many people out on the Dragon Ride.
-
Could you do a route jas? I reckon its about 100 from bridgend , so bit further for you! We could start nearer loop, I'm easy
-
I'm in Haydn!, what time and where sunday mate?
-
Not sure Neil, will have to find out Steve start time and eta where we are meeting him, will post on here as soon as
-
Sorted cheers butt, if yf you want text me on 07867312012
-
Hmm, if things go well for Steve I would suggest the following from his start time;
70 to 90 Mins to top of the Bwlch,
120 to 140 Mins to Penderyn,
230 to 250 Mins to Glynneath,
250 to 320 Mins to Caehopkin
Did you want to meet him at Caehopkin then?
Never ridden the dragon rides so not sure how organised they are to get away on time.
-
Either there or glynneath
-
Harpo's Adventure;
https://www.strava.com/routes/2488024
May have to trim the route down :o
-
Blinking hek! That's longer than dragon ride!lol trim away!
-
You've had it if you want to go via Caehopkin... if we chop off Talbot Green & Maerdy and head north from Brackla it still comes in at 115 miles;
https://www.strava.com/routes/2488024
And about 119 miles if we head out via Neath, a few more miles but less climbing.
Only other option I can see is to avoid Caehopkin and go via Devils Elbow.
Thoughts?
-
I will go which ever way you want, in for a penny, in for a pound! Mind you we got option of me driving us to Neath,put bikes in truck, only suggestion thou, thoughts???
-
Guess we need to know times first of all and I'll be cycling over to Bridgend.
-
Van to neath sounds a good option, mays as well do the dragon ride lol
-
Guys Im hoping to be away between 7.30 - 7.45 if thats any help.
-
I would have thought you would be at Caehopkin approx 11:30 to 12:00, guessing off Strava times.
-
I just did route on strava, but unable to share it with you, durr!! start bridgend( will come pick you up jas) afan way, neath, glynneath, abercrave, trecastle.llanddeusant, gwaun cae gurwen,pontardawe, neath then back home, strava says 107 miles, 7690ft climbing! oh and drop you off! thoughts?
-
Sounds good to me where we gonna meet?
-
hangfire wait to see what Jason wants to do, hes 15 miles from us that 30miles to add for him,just be patient! ;) terry said he might be coming to, and who ever else wants to come
-
I'll take a look on Strava later or in the morning, don't worry about me cheers ~ I can always pop the bike in the back of the car and drive over.
-
Just had an email from the dragon ride and my start time is 9.03 and I can't go any earlier. Don't know if that changes anything for you guys?
-
I'm not racing or time trialling so may be interested depending on whether I can join you for a decent amount of time and still get home at or shortly after lunch. That may not be possible with me being well east of the rest of you and much of the dragon route, so don't try and cater for me in your planning. Some of those routes put forward looked great if possibly a bit long for me to do fully. I'm guessing Steve's revised start time gonna change things though! So I'll just take a look at final plans and see if I can fit in somehow. Cheers
-
I think it might be too long a day for me, I'm guessing for Steve's 09:00 start we would need to be at Caehopkin for 13:00 and perhaps an additional 4 hours on top to complete the ride and get home making it about 17:00 to 17:30 finish :unsure:
-
Never heard of caehopkin....sounds like its an important feature?
-
I think Harpo wanted to meet him there and cycle the west side of the beacons.
Not sure about others but I would be up for meeting Steve up the Bwlch or Treorchy, we could climb it from the other side and all have a similar start time... perhaps follow Steve around Devils Elbow and back down to Rhigos/Glynneath.
It's approx;
22 miles (1hr 15min) from Cardiff to Treorchy (if Rob can make it),
16 miles (55mins) from Brackla to Treorchy (bit less if we stop up the Bwlch),
The all important time for Steve is approx 24 miles / 1hr 20 mins from Margam to Treorchy.
-
Mr Chapman, what's your eta at glynneath, just before you start to climb the coelbren?, need to make my mind up what I'm doing
-
Steve
I have an 8.15 start time,would you like to start together at your time?
However once we climb the Bwlch I don't want to hold you up so OVW Team Tia may fragment early on!
Let me know what you think
Andy S
-
Steve i will see you out side Margam park by Dual Carriagway if you want some company until you meet up with the A Team in Glyn Neath. Good luck for Team Tia.
-
Harpo - Should be back in Glynneath around 12.45 i recon if the first 60 miles go ok.
Andy - If your happy to start a bit later then great, i don't want to go mad early on anyway, but i know all that goes out the window on the day.
Wayne - Great see you there more the merrier.
-
So anybody coming meet at 10.45 in physique, that will give us plenty of time to amble to glynneath, weather really good, perfect for the Beacons :D
-
I'll meet Harpo and anyone else at 10:45, I can then make a decision around Glynneath on which way I should head.
If Harpo can text Steve to make sure all is Ok for tomorrow and we'll try to meet up, but where do we think is best to try to meet Steve?
There's a bus stop in Glynneath at the junction Steve should pop out at;
https://goo.gl/maps/LAJc3
-
Have a good one, that's not going to work for me now Steve's not off at the crack of dawn, and I have by far the worst saddle sores I've ever had for the last week or so, so may not fancy the bike or have to cut short anyhow. :(
-
All is good for tomorrow, That looks a good place to meet, hope to see a few of you there.
-
Steve,do you plan to stop at the Penderyn and Ystradfellte feedstations?
I try to avoid the early ones because the queues for water can be long,and last 2 or 3 Dragons I have had support(my long suffering wife and boys)meet me with stuff up Rhigos(30miles)and Caehopkin(70).
What do you usually do?
Do you want my lot to have stuff for you also?
Andy
-
Sounds cool, enjoy your day. I won't be joining unfortunately
-
That sounds like a good idea Andy thanks. I don't normally stop at the feed stations especially the early ones either but the weather tomorrow is looking good so picking up a bottle on the Rhigos would be great.
-
Ain't got time for food stops got to meet us! ;)
-
Good luck to Steve and Team Tia tomorrow. I hope you all have a great ride. It looks like a fantastic day for it. I'm a bit strapped for time so I'll post a different route starting at 9am from Brackla for any Amblers who haven't quite got the time to join Harpo's group supporting Steve.
Mark
-
Andy, why don't you start at your original start time, you should get to us the same time then
-
Inevitably I was thinking the opposite to everyone else and planning to go out on the course the opposite way round.In fact I may struggle to get out by 9 tomorrow so I'll play it by ear in the morning but may see you somewhere at some point!
-
Not a bad idea Tom, you see everyone and the route that way without having to share road space with all the unknowns! Only thing is you may be amongst traffic the whole time, though I've no real basis for saying that, just seems like a possibility. Conversely I wouldn't be surprised if you experience very little traffic because it stays away or gets stuck amongst the dragon riders that assume the roads are closed! Will be interested to see how you get on with that approach.
-
I know I said I might join you guys but the timing does not work for me. Have a great day Steve and also all the Oggies that hook up with you en route.
-
I peeled off at Defynnog otherwise I would be looking at closer to 150 miles, stuff that.
Hopefully Harpo hasn't destroyed Steve by setting a gruelling pace ;)
Good weather and lots of riders, I've never ridden the dragon ride but I was really surprised by the amount of riders still hitting the devils elbow as I cut back across it ~ Bit of a nightmare to be honest just trying to get through everyone as there were bodies scattered everywhere.
-
Steve start time was smack on and i meetSteve and Andy just outsideMargam Park. We set off at a good pace and we found a group of riders riding at a good pace and settled in. We lost Andy on the Afan road. Sorry Andy. On the way up the Bwlth my chain came off and the last time i saw Steve was at first feed station. Steve was looking strong today. Come on team Tia.
-
Well done Steve! Jason and I flew to glyneath to meet Steve. He was only 10mins late, we were preparing ourselves for long wait because Andy Samuels was organizing picnic on top of bwlch! We did well up the Colburn and through the beacons, no one passed us, a few swear words were shouted at me cause I was fresh and excited, that didn't last long. Jason peeled off at sennybridge. Really lumpy till the black mountain, never been that way and it was stunning! Food stops were busy so we called at shop , Steve had second wind, and started the long drag home, I left him to cimla hill on his Todd, I was really feeling it by then!
-
Andy, how did you get on?????
-
Thanks to Andy and Wayne at the start and the great support from Jason and Harpo, felt the pressure a bit to meet the boys at 12.45, felt good at the start and pr on Strava for the Bwlch, Rhigos, and Devils Elbow meant that I was only 10mins late meeting Harpo and Jason. The boys then done a great job looking after me over the 2nd loop to Sunnybridge ( I've had sleepless nights about that section ) once the Black Mountain was out the way it pretty quick on the home stretch. Finished up 143miles in 8hrs 40 min and a cracking goodie bag consisting of a lot of leaflets and a box of cereal! Thanks again boys! Looking forward to the Velothon now
-
Wow, that sounds like some goodie bag
Andy, how did you get on?????
Anyone heard from him (he needs to get on Strava)?
-
Tough day at the office yesterday boys
Feeling fine until turned into the wind up past the resevoir to Sennybridge,then the slog up and over to the base of The Black Mountain did for me
Then slow slow slow up The BM
But amazingly suddenly had 2nd wind and had loads left to gun it down to Port Talbot,and 30mph!!(may have been hallucinating mind,the state that I was in!)with the wind behind me along the new road there
10hrs 3mins.
I hurt this morning.
Well done Steve,good pace there
Thanks to Wayne for some early work.
Good day for a picnic
-
Good effort ! That's one long day....