Cwmystwyth Adventure

Well. Quite a ride today. Or perhaps I should call it an 'adventure', as this was not your ordinary 'bike ride'. No, this had it all. 30 minute climbs, short sharp gradients, wind, snow, ice, sleet, rain, sun, moors, woodland, wildlife, desolation, isolation, suicidal sheep, lakes, chocolate spread sandwiches, cafe stops that didn't quite work out, mars bars, numb fingers and many of those moments where you suddenly realise the insignificance of humans in certain areas of the world. Yep, this was a Ride among rides. I am sat here munching on some cheese and biscuits in my ongoing attempt to refuel. So if I suddenly stop writing (not that you'll know), I'm having a nibble. Do excuse the interruption.


I suppose I'd better start from the beginning (always helps eh?). My Dad has been saying for AGES that I need to ride through the Mystic Cwmystwyth 'It'll be the best thing you've ever done' 'It'll beat the pants off the so called roads back home' (Ok, those may not be his exact words-in any shape or form, but you get the idea). So I decided to do it today. I did myself an extra round of toast this morning (you read correctly! Pushing the boat out there!) and rather made a chocolate spread sandwich to take with me that Mother would have been proud of. I would have done the old Audaxers favourite Jam butty but didn't have any jam :( life of a student eh? I knew I'd be traversing some pretty remote proper Upland roads, so I put my waterproof in a plastic bag (no shortage of initiative here) and strapped it onto my pannier rack and managed to avoid taking too much tinsel off. Did I mention my bike now sports some rather fetching silver tinsel? Yup. Mr Festive or what? Anyway. So yeah, I took the main road out of Aber and headed deep into the heart of Wales...or at least I did after getting up to Nant-Yr-Arian. 20 minutes of climbing from cold, wrapped up in full winter gear. Yeah, you get the picture :/ bit 'damp' to say the least.


So I eventually climbed into the snow line, or above the snow line. Or through it? Whatever. This was a bit unexpected and a bit unnerving as I knew I was going to be going a lot higher later on! With this there came a new level of chilliness and I soon couldn't feel my fingers. Luckily, I'd also brought a nice pair of liner gloves with me just in case! Quick stop sorted that problem, and before I knew it it was onto the main road heading in the direction of Rhayader. I don't remember much about the 10 miles before Rhayader as I was feeling a little grim. My back was a bit sore/cold/stiff, my fingers were numb again, I couldn't feel my face (it was only after my shower after getting back that I became convinced it was still there and hadn't dropped off somewhere) and my legs hurt. All in all a little worse for wear! I blame Pilates on Wednesday, soothing and comfortable my arse! Those weird movements and stretches left me feeling a little battered this week. Good workout though, I recommend giving it a go, especially as it really works the areas cycling neglects.


Finished my cheese and biscuits :( was perhaps a little optimistic expecting them to last the whole of this session. 


So yeah, Rhayader. I stopped in a bus shelter for 10 mins to give my back a rest, eat my butties and avoid a little rain shower. It was at this point that I realised I'd already done over 2 hours and hadn't even got onto the meaty filling of the ride yet. Rhayader is a lovely place, well worth a visit if you're around here. Holidayed there many a time in my yoof-and throughly enjoyed it! So then I joined the road signposted 'Aberystwyth Mountain Road'. This was more like it. I'd ridden parts of it before when I was about 10, on a mountain bike, in about 30 degree heat. It couldn't have been more different today. The actual climb out of the town is really quite severe, climbing about 1000ft in maybe a mile? Anyway, I had to weave quite a bit unfortunately-although not as a result of being tired, more in an effort to avoid the various icy patches! That was slightly ominous. 

The view back from the top of the initial climb. 

Then it was along the top of the mountain road and then down towards the Elan valley (kinda)-again, really nice place and well worth a visit if you're ever around.

The view from the top of the mountain road, snow capped peak in the distance. I think. Camera is a bit sh*t. Could be a smudge for all I know!

I was stood there snapping away, turned, saw that and thought: hey that's coming this way. It was Snleety hain. Yep, snow, sleet, hail and rain all mixed up. Very strange.

What can I say about the next bit; it was a bit 'grippy' at times. Big patches of stuff that looked like ice, and sometimes turned out to be such, but more often than not were just water. Bit hairy. There are some truly phenomenal roads though around there though:

Let's hear it for Google Street view!

And again! Weather wasn't that good today...

Ideally, I'd copy and paste all the Google street view images, but that would probably be a fairly major copyright infringement in some form or another. Anyway, I highly suggest you have a look at this in street view, and travel along the B4518 a bit to just get an impression of how amazingly remote it is up there. Rhayader in google.
Here's another pilfered shot, just descending into Cwmystwyth properly:

Ride safe indeed.

Unfortunately I found the headwind once I got into the valley, soooo it was quite a chore to get down. Saw some frighteningly low numbers on the speedo, but then again-it was a stupendously strong wind. Honest. 

Pic Overload. Some of the old mine workings in Cwmystwth.

Looking back the way I came.

Sun! 

I was acutely aware of suddenly being among trees and 'proper' grass again at some point. Interestingly, the wind dropped, the temperature picked up-and so did my spirits! I had survived the legendary Cwmystwyth! Ok, so I'm probably making a much bigger deal of it than is absolutely necessary, but it really has to be experienced to be appreciated. After that it was  a simple matter of getting back to Devil's Bridge and then potentially the biggest decision of the day:


Go left, and be back home in about 30-40 mins. Or go right, and get to a cafe in about 30-40 mins.


 Bearing in mind at this point I was on about 50 miles, and a good 3 1/2 hours. I went for the cafe option :D as, I said to myself as I made the turn, I would subsequently be able to do more, maybe another hour or so after the stop-thus nullifying any adverse training effects of cake. (as if there are any I hear you cry!). Long story short, I got back to the Nant-Yr-Arian cafe...only to find there were no tables free inside :( and to make matters worse, they had no chocolate cake! :O I hung aroud in the queue for about 10 mins looking forlorn and cold (which wasn't that hard to be frank) hoping some nice old couple would offer me their table and maybe buy me some lunch-but alas, to no avail. Instead I bought a take out coffee and a Mars bar. Rock and roll. I downed the coffee in about 5 minutes outisde, nearly making myself choke in the process; why is the stuff in the bottom of the cup always so much hotter than the rest? And set off again. I decided to add another loop that's quickly becoming a favourite of mine, going up onto the hill tops again out of Ponterwyd to Penrhyn Goch via the Pendam reservoir. None of that will make any sense to 90% of you I'm sure, but just so you know :) I got to Penrhyn Goch and decided I may as well chuck another loop in. This one goes through Bontgoch. A truly gorgeous valley, literally 5 miles out of Aber. I've done it every time I've been out this week it's that good. Interestingly, the timer ticked over 5 hours at this point-and in all honesty I felt waaaay better at this point than I had in the first two hours! My slow and steady build up of training load over the past few weeks seems to have worked-as this was without a doubt the hardest 84 miles I've done route/terrain wise-but paradoxically probably the easiest in terms of actually riding them. Bodes well eh. Shame there aren't many 5 hour 3rd Cat races.

Just about to descend into Bontgoch.

The reverse view of above: back down towards the sea, Aber off to the left out of view.

So then I went home. Chucked in a sprint or two-I am training after all. Felt good. Lay on my bed for about half an hour afterwards feeling rather empty. Funny how you can feel fine up to the point where you stop riding. Suppose the easy answer is just not to stop! Or not.


So 84 miles in 5 and a half hours. Some of the most remote and quite frankly epic roads I've ever done. This wasn't just a training ride, this was an adventure. 


Vital Statistics and other stuff:

• Food consumed; 1 chocolate spread sandwich, 1 'Honey Stinger' Strawberry Waffle thing-Gorgeous, give them a try, 1 Mars Bar, 1 cup of coffee (that counts right?).
• Kit shortcomings noted: cold ears, numb face, cold wrists, chilly chest in full on wind at times, cold ankles (bizarrely, even though I had shoe covers on).
• Stops: 15 mins in Rhayader bus shelter. 20 mins at Nant-Yr-Arian cafe (10 of those spent in queue ¬_¬), many hours fiddling with my phone to get it to take pictures with numb fingers.
• Suicidal sheep count: 2.
• Insignificance in the Bigger Picture realisation count: 1.
• Lights taken with me:3.
• Lights used:3.
• Time spent writing this piece that could have been better utilised sleeping or eating or something: 1 hour.

And I leave you with this thought: 'It truly is by bicycle that one really understands, experiences and bears witness to a landscape. You cannot intimately know or appreciate the true nature of an area until you have cycled through it'. 

I came up with that believe or not, right then. And with that I'm off to find some more food and sleep.