Irish Mail 400kms Audax
Posted: 11 Jun 2018 10:03
Me, Andy Wrightson and Jon Williams rode the Irish mail 400 on Saturday. This John Hamilton audax is not run every year, but is one to look out for as John's routes are always 'testing'. Yr Elyndd anyone? The route starts and finishes at Upton Magna just outside Shrewsbury and heads to Holyhead and back over the Welsh mountain roads.
We started off at 7am, after Jon and Andy camped in the adjacent field, well... glamped, in a van/awning combo which looked very luxurious compared to the tiny tents that surrounded them. The weather was set fair for the day, with no rain forecast, very light winds, and sunshine...perfect. We raced off to Lake Vyrnwy (74kms) at a good pace, and then the hills started...the sun came out, which made the climbs of Bwlch-Y-Groes, Trawsfynydd and Pen-y-Pass a long toil...beautiful though. On the big climb between Bala and Trawsfynydd, we saw an audaxer walking back down with a completely severed rear hangar...we saw him 6 hours later, after he bagged a lift to Bala, gave it to the local bike shop, got it mended then rode back and carried on...a great effort!
the 100kms after Lake Vyrnwy has nearly 2500m of climbing so a tough section, but arriving at Pen-Y-Pass youth hostel after a long 5kms climb was one for the memory bank.... We crossed into Anglesey via the beautiful Menai Bridge, and rode the dull(ish) 20 miles up to Holyhead and a truckstop café at 208kms (nothing but the best, eh). The return to Menai (250kms) was via the more scenic coast road, and it was great to see the sea and sand and frolicking holidaymakers as we travelled south.
Crossing back onto the mainland, we followed the A5 for 100kms all the way to Llangollen (350kms), but it was now getting dusk so traffic was very light, and we had the road virtually to ourselves. Riding past Llyn Ogwen with Tryfan Mountain in full dusk sunshine was for me the highlight of all the views we had all day...a fantastic 12kms descent into Bewts-Y-Coed and an audax favourite of a late night spar stop for a coffee and refreshments.
Arriving at the manned control in Llangollen around 23:30 saw us enjoy a quick nap, loads of soup and a warm welcome, and we relished a break there for 45mins or so...before the overnight ride back to Upton Magna, arriving at 02:20.
This is a massively recommended ride, particularly if you can guarantee the weather and guarantee the company that I rode with...A huge thanks to Jon and Andy for sticking with it, riding strongly for further than some people drive in a week, and the laughs that made the day go surprisingly quickly.
Highly, highly recommended audax
We started off at 7am, after Jon and Andy camped in the adjacent field, well... glamped, in a van/awning combo which looked very luxurious compared to the tiny tents that surrounded them. The weather was set fair for the day, with no rain forecast, very light winds, and sunshine...perfect. We raced off to Lake Vyrnwy (74kms) at a good pace, and then the hills started...the sun came out, which made the climbs of Bwlch-Y-Groes, Trawsfynydd and Pen-y-Pass a long toil...beautiful though. On the big climb between Bala and Trawsfynydd, we saw an audaxer walking back down with a completely severed rear hangar...we saw him 6 hours later, after he bagged a lift to Bala, gave it to the local bike shop, got it mended then rode back and carried on...a great effort!
the 100kms after Lake Vyrnwy has nearly 2500m of climbing so a tough section, but arriving at Pen-Y-Pass youth hostel after a long 5kms climb was one for the memory bank.... We crossed into Anglesey via the beautiful Menai Bridge, and rode the dull(ish) 20 miles up to Holyhead and a truckstop café at 208kms (nothing but the best, eh). The return to Menai (250kms) was via the more scenic coast road, and it was great to see the sea and sand and frolicking holidaymakers as we travelled south.
Crossing back onto the mainland, we followed the A5 for 100kms all the way to Llangollen (350kms), but it was now getting dusk so traffic was very light, and we had the road virtually to ourselves. Riding past Llyn Ogwen with Tryfan Mountain in full dusk sunshine was for me the highlight of all the views we had all day...a fantastic 12kms descent into Bewts-Y-Coed and an audax favourite of a late night spar stop for a coffee and refreshments.
Arriving at the manned control in Llangollen around 23:30 saw us enjoy a quick nap, loads of soup and a warm welcome, and we relished a break there for 45mins or so...before the overnight ride back to Upton Magna, arriving at 02:20.
This is a massively recommended ride, particularly if you can guarantee the weather and guarantee the company that I rode with...A huge thanks to Jon and Andy for sticking with it, riding strongly for further than some people drive in a week, and the laughs that made the day go surprisingly quickly.
Highly, highly recommended audax