4 out for the slightly shortened Bank Holiday epic, Allan, Rob, Jason T and myself.
Set off in cool conditions but at least able to get short sleeve shirt and arm-warmers out, sun trying to make an appearance.
Steady pace out via Groesfaen to the first climb of the day, Church Road, up to Pentyrch. Gentle warm up to prepare the legs for what was to come later.
Rapid descent to Taffs Well, then Tongwynlais and Caerphilly Mountain via Heol-Y-Forest and Pen-Y-Bryn. Pace still pretty steady at this point, climber(s) still holding back and 'measuring the effort'.
Slight detour from Rob's part of the route, led us to ask directions of a local in an estate off Van Rd in Caerphilly. Classic answer, "don't know why you'd want to go up there for, (about Rudry) there's nothing up there 'mun'!!
Rob starting to get the bit between his teeth, shot off up the climb to Rudry, leaving the rest of us to wonder.......
Great views from the top but weren't there for long as we headed down to Lower Machen, sharp left turn after the church and onto the climb to Ochrwyth, toughest of the day so far, only just over a mile long but with several sharp inclines reaching 15%, even tougher was going down the other side, steeper, wet, twisting and poor road surface, meaning great care needed.
Followed the B road through Risca, Cwmcarn and Abercarn to climb up to Hafodyrynys, only a mile at 8% but the climbing was now starting to tell. Quick blast along the A472 and A4042 took us to the Old Abergavenny Road rejoining the A4042 at LLanover before turning off again at Oak Lane for the highlight of the day, 4 miles of climbing, 1500+ ft of ascent, gradients of 15%+. Throw in water, mud, potholes and generally bad surface and this makes it a very tough climb. Rob hit the climb hard from the off whilst I stayed on Allan's wheel for as long as I could, trying to warn in advance about the various sections, Jason bringing up the rear. Lost Allan's wheel after about 1/3 of the climb and was glad to make it up the climb with having to stop as conditions were v. slippery. This is a tough climb, views from the top almost worth it!!
Waited at the top for Jason but realized he must have missed a turn, so I descended while Allan and Rob carried on (mutual agreement). Met Jason about a mile down the hill and had the joy of climbing back up. As both Jason and I had done some extra climbing we missed out the final climb and headed for home.
Coffee, ice-cream and walnut cake at Hapus in Machen provided just about enough energy to make it back to Llantrisant, very tired the merest rise in the road prompting a down shift in gears.
Good day out, thanks for the company.
91 miles 6 hours 2199 meters (enough to qualify as an epic?)
