The Beacon Message Board

For those who missed out on the Beacon Brecon club run, but know that deep down that they'd love to do a 300km ride one day, me and Lord Whiteman of Drayton have entered this 'easyish' 300km ride from Tewkesbury on July 9th.
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/16-6/

Suspect we'll be alone, but others are encouraged to waste a day of your life simply pedalling and discussing the world's issues and eating bacon.

Are you seeking sympathy, counseling or treatment?
I can recommend an excellent behavioural therapist who will have you both back to sanity in no time.

It is also easier than the Beacon's Brecons 300. There are only two notable climbs, Clifton Bank and out of the Usk Valley. The last 50km are through the lowlands of the Vale of Berkeley.

It is a great event with a large field, many trying to complete within 12 hours.

Phil R, Martin McGowan and Chris Ashford set off this morning on this epic ride. I left them at Tenbury due injury. Weather not as bad as forecasted.

I got off to a good start taking a wrong turn on way to HQ & getting there with minutes to spare before start. The three of us finished together at 7pm. The weather was dry up to Tenbury Wells but it rained then for a good part of the way to Taly Bont, coupled with head wind made this the hardest section of the ride. Many thanks to Chris & Phil R who ended up doing most of the work on the front as I struggled at times. The last section after we crossed the Severn was fast, aided by a tailwind & as a bonus the sun came out on this part. All in all an excellent day out & I highly recommend this event.

Well done boys, takes a bit of doing. How long did it take you?

hi Dave...we took 11 hours of actual riding time (308kms and 28kph running average) and 13 hours elapsed time to finish...i.e. we started at 6am and finished at 7pm, albeit it with 2 or 3 nice stops.

As Martin said, this is a great ride and fairly fast 300kms route with only two hills of note...we inadvertently took a small, Wyniattes Way-like alternative up the big hill around Usk, which wasn't pleasant at all, but it was certainly a fast last 70kms heading north when back in England.

Big thanks for Chris and Martin for the excellent company (and excellent riding), and also to Phil W who turned up at silly o'clock despite a bad back and hence ended his ride at Tenbury after a superb domestique role for the first 80kms.

11 hrs! As someone who does intervals of less than 11 secs (frequently) and classes a 45 min crit as an endurance event, chapeaux to you all.

Well done, you three!

Yosser wrote:As someone who [...] classes a 45 min crit as an endurance event [...]

So what was the fifty, Dave? (You know: the one you rode at the sort of average speed most people do for a ten.)