Mille Cymru

One ride to rule them all, one ride to find them,
One ride to bring them all, and in the green hills bind them
In the land of Cymru, where the dragons lie...

I told people that I was going for a weekend bike ride in Wales.
“Where in Wales?” they’d ask. “Most of it” I’d reply.
This was no ordinary ride, it was the inaugural Mille Cymru, a 1026km ride organised by John Hamilton, the self-styled Lord of The (Granny) Ring. It takes in mountains and coasts, hills and valleys, rivers and reservoirs, with a time limit of 75 hours and support only at nominated control points with around 50 miles between them. Initially the ride was limited to 60 entrants; this sold out quickly and a change of route and sleep control was put in place to allow an extra 30.

It takes the form of three loops, one of North Wales, one of South Wales and one of mid Wales, with a main control at Llanwrtyd Wells where there was a bag drop and separate hall full of camp beds for sleeping.
Unfortunately, the ride clashed with the last three days of the Tour de France.

Prologue, Thursday 22nd July
Tour de France - Rest day

People start to arrive at the village hall in Upton Magna, near Shrewsbury, for registration. Some riders would eat a pre-ride meal here, some would sleep in the hall or camp in the field. A good time to meet up with old friends, and to nervously talk about expectations of the following days.

I’d been at a meeting in Cambridge, so couldn’t do my usual ride up to Upton Magna. Instead I drove up, arriving in the hall in a smart shirt and trousers - to suffer comments from everybody who is used to me turning up on the bike.

Day 1 The Fellowship of the Wheel - 356km, 4,727m climb
Tour de France STAGE 18 - Salies-de-Béarn Bordeaux 198 km
Contador leads Schleck by 8 seconds

Breakfast starts to be served in the hall at 5am. Riders are assembling bikes, carrying out last minute adjustments, making sure their bags are packed. With no on the road support, everything that may be needed during the day has to be carried on the bike.

For some this is little more than a spare tube, a credit card and a mobile phone. Others carry toolkits, spares, warm clothes and waterproofs - plus the essential “bonk” rations to eat when you run out of energy miles from a shop.

90 people entered, 73 turned up to ride and were waved off in three groups at 15 minute intervals, starting at 6am.

1. Upton Magna – Lake Vyrnwy (66km, 734m climb)

Despite the climb, this is always a fast stage. It’s a good way to warm up and start to form groups of similarly paced riders on the road.

Skirting outside Shrewsbury the route then led us onto quiet, reasonable roads with only moderately graded climbs before a fast descent to the lake and the crossing of the dam.

The cafe had opened especially early for us, offering a very basic menu (only beans on toast or a toasted tea cake), but fast service.

2. Lake Vyrnwy – Llanberis (97km, 1466m climb)

This section starts benign, with a flat ride alongside the lake. A fast road, but perfect for riding two abreast and chatting - before the nasty kick up to Bwlch y Groes, which is the highest public road in Wales.

The day was cloudy and not too warm, ideal for this ascent. The first time I did it, on John’s Irish Mail ride in 2008, it was very hot and I was overheating even though it was still early morning.

I rode for a while with a fast rider from Denmark, before stopping at the summit to wait for the other lads that I'd been riding with.

Once past the summit, there is a great fast descent to Bala which makes up for the hard climb. The route then diverged from the Irish Mail, heading over to Betws y Coed and Capel Curig for the run up to Pen y Pass.

With minimal headwind and a glorious day, this approach was painfully beautiful and surprisingly easy (compared to the alternative climb out of Beddgelert). Up and over the top then another fast run down to Llanberis.

3. Llanberis – Dolgellau (67km, 816m climb)

Pete’s Eats is a tradition in Llandberis for any outdoor sports people; big portions of reasonably priced food makes it very popular for climbers, walkers and cyclists. Being slightly ahead of the bulge we got served quite quickly.

The only slight problem was that with a full stomach we then had a harsh climb up past the quarries to Waunfawr.

Dropping down to Beddgelert, we picked up the Brian Chapman Memorial route in reverse to head down past Harlech (and its castle), cross the wooden bridge at Barmouth then ride along the estuary to Dolgellau. More fantastic scenery, with easy rolling climbs.

4. Dolgellau – Llanwrtyd Wells (115km, 1712m climb)

Leaving Dolgellau after a feed at a cafe in the town, we immediately started the climb up to Bwlch Oerddrws (by Cross Foxes). It made a change climbing this in the late afternoon heat rather than in the early hours of the morning. The descent is fast with good sightlines; on warm dry roads I was hitting 85km/h. Up to this point I’d been riding mainly with Postie and Hummers, afterwards I settled down with Jwo, and ended up riding the rest of the ride with him (though we’d see Postie and Hummers regularly).

The next part started to wear us down, with a particularly nasty bit by the reservoir on the run in to Llanidloes; a steep descent, cross the dam, then immediately back up the other side with a 16% gradient and a long hill. Not much fun at all! We had a quick stop at the Spar convenience store in the town, before heading off to Rhayader and a very fast run down to Newbridge-on-Wye.

The final section - with only 20km to go to the control - was a nasty bit of road with several steep descents and ascents. No chance of getting up enough momentum to carry us over the top, we just had to grunt and grind. Bad enough with over 200 miles in the legs, but we also knew that we’d be riding this road twice more, once in each direction.

We rolled in to the control to be treated like royalty, with plenty of food, hot showers and a personal escort round to a nearby hall where we were given beds for a five hour sleep. Unfortunately I managed to leave my earplugs on the bike, so the obligatory snoring rider disturbed my night.

We were up at 5:30, rode round to the main hall for a slap up breakfast, then went off to ride to the seaside.

Day 2 The Two Coasts Total 311km, 4,125m climb
Tour de France - STAGE 19 - Bordeaux Pauillac 52 km
Contador leads Schleck by 39 seconds

5. Llanwrtyd – Pendine (91km, 745m climb)

This stage was a relatively easy start to the day, with an early feature being a fast descent to Llandovery. I remembered that hill, as I knew I’d be riding back up it later on. The weather forecast had been for drizzle and cloud; throughout the day we’d be stopping to put on waterproofs when it got a bit much and taking them off when we were overheating.

The drizzle never got really irritating, if anything it helped to cool us down on hard climbs - but did make it harder to take photos.

The cafe on the sea front at Pendine had good food, but was a little slow (geared up for holidaymakers rather than cyclists on a mission).

6. Pendine – St. David’s (77km, 1419m climb)

Immediately after the cafe, the hard climbs started with a vertical hill up to a cliff path. We then started a routine of riding along high ground for a while, then dropping steeply down to a village or inlet before climbing steeply out - on narrow roads with no ability to carry forward momentum. It was very pretty, but it did sap your morale as you looked ahead to see a hill with a single steep ribbon of tarmac and you knew that you’d be riding up it in a few minutes.

Tenby, Pembroke and then St David’s got us along the southern coast. We controlled at an ATM in St David’s then found some food in a cafe above an arty tourist shop. Good food (organic and vegetarian wraps and a variety of cake), but quite slow service.

7. St. David’s – Cilgerran (53km, 737m climb)

The rolling coastline hadn’t been completed, we left St David’s to go to Fishguard and Newport. We saw Joth and Emma by the side of the road on this section. It turned out that Joth was suffering from bad nosebleeds that they couldn’t stop, so they ended up having to abandon the ride having completed the hardest part of the day.
Along this section we started riding with Flatus and Sam - who had never ridden a brevet before, but wanted to try one out as he was considering PBP next year.

The control at Cilgerran was a small pub, with a fantastic atmosphere. The locals were really interested in what we were doing and extremely friendly. Apparently we’d just missed seeing all the young ladies on a hen night (well, more strictly hen afternoon). A good free spread of food got us ready for the final leg of the day.

8. Cilgerran – Llanwrtyd Wells (90km, 1225m climb)

This was gentler than the previous sections, but had a couple of fairly long climbs. On one of these Jwo decided that he needed a break and to refuel, so he dropped off the back. We climbed up through drizzle and failing light to the radio masts on the moorland at the highest point of this leg, before dropping down to the relatively flat run to Llandovery. After here was a climb up what had been a long fast descent first thing in the morning. It wasn’t as bad as I’d remembered, just a bit of a slog so sit back in the saddle and pedal.

We arrived back at Llanwrtyd at about 11:30pm, Jwo was only about ten minutes behind us. Following another good feed we headed off for bed - and another five hours actual sleep time. Sunday would nominally be a short day, 231km before returning to base, and we were doing well time wise so didn’t want to stress ourselves too much.

Day 3 part 1 - Return of the Dragon Total 231km, 3,765m climb
Tour de France STAGE 20 - Longjumeau Paris Champs-Élysées 102.5 km
Contador beats Schleck by 39 seconds

9. Llanwrtyd – Llandovery (64km, 970m climb)

This was taking us to Llandovery the long way around, including a magnificent climb over Mynydd Eppynt. We saw plenty of military vehicles out (this is a training location for survival courses), but little else on the road this early on.

10. Llandovery – Aberystwyth (77km, 1376m climb)

After following a long river valley, we started to climb to follow roads around the Llyn Brianne reservoir. I’d not been in this area before, the views were absolutely stunning - even if we did have to follow a very long and winding road around the edges of the reservoir.

The road after this heading to Tregaron met up with the Elenith’s route at the phone box. This is a particularly famous phone box for UK audaxers - it is many miles from anywhere, just sitting nestled in a valley at the junction of two very minor roads.

I managed the stiff climb away from the phone box - something I failed to do without putting a foot down on the Elenith - then enjoyed the fast downhill to Tregaron where we stopped at a convenience store to take on supplies.

There was plenty more lumpiness on the road to Aberystwyth, but the most memorable part was nearly getting squashed on the main road in to town. A tanker decided that it was a good idea to overtake at a pinch point in the road - leaving literally a couple of inches between me and his truck.

Very, very scary - Jwo thought that I was going under. This was pretty much the only incidence of dangerous driving I saw on the whole ride.

The boat club control on the sea front at Aberystwyth was well stocked with sandwiches and other nibbles.

We’d seen Hummers leaving as we arrived, we were the only riders there. After stuffing ourselves and watching a little bit of the Tour on the TV in the corner, we left just as a couple of others arrived.

11. Aberystwyth – Llanwrtyd (91km, 1420m climb)

From Aberystwyth it was pretty much uphill all the way to Devil’s Bridge, where we picked up the Elenith route again.

The Elan Valley is a spectacular place, starting with the dynamited remains of the mining village then moving into open country with fantastic views.

The route diverged from the Elenith towards the end of the valley - rather than climbing up and over the top out, we turned right and followed it around by the reservoirs, seeing the Victorian dams and waterworks on the way.

It was amusing to see a signpost to “Aberystwyth via mountain road” - that’d be the way we came!

The kick in the tail of this section was retracing our way down the very rolling road that had given trouble at the end of day one. It didn’t get any easier on the second attempt! We saw a handful of riders on their way back out, including Postie and Hummers.

Despite the hills, we were back at Llanwrtyd Wells by about 8pm, and after another feed ready to start winding our way home. We’d decided it was too early to sleep here, so would push on to a control stop at Llanbadarn Fynydd, where we’d been told there were some sleep facilities.

Day 3 part 2 - Home to the Shire
Llanwrtyd – Upton Magna (127km, 1274m climb)

The return along the rolling ride wasn’t exactly easy in the opposite direction, but it wasn’t as hard as I’d feared. There was a steady stream of bike lights heading towards us from riders finishing off the previous section.
Whilst overall profile was a steady climb up to the control point at Llanbadarn Fynydd, this section seemed to fly by. It was hilly, but nothing like as nasty as the sections we’d covered over the last couple of days. We were in the control by midnight, being looked after by a lovely couple who ran a local bike shop. A quick feed, then we decided we could afford 3.5 hours in bed - no point going into sleep deprivation, and I had to be in shape to drive home later that day.

It was a fitful sleep, and we both ended up getting out of bed after 3 hours, before the wake up call. Many more riders were in the hall then, though few had had any sleep at all. Some more food, and off into the dawn. I love riding at daybreak, especially when it is a benign route. We had a long downhill section, followed by only marginally hilly bits as we got back towards Shrewsbury. We caught up with Nuncio and Miniog, who had ridden straight through, towards the end of the ride. I’ve ridden across Wales with this pair a couple of times before, it was good to finish off the MC1K with them.

At the Arrivee there was the usual collection of tired riders and helpers. John presented us with the Mille Cymru medal, which had been hard won. I sat around for an hour chatting to riders, and watching the final rider (Matt Chambers) roll in with a few minutes to spare. A big cheer from the hall greeted him, the 53rd completer of what must be the hardest ride in this year’s UK calendar.

Grand Total 1,026km, 13,890m climb (13.5m/km), 73 starters, 53 finishers

I finished this ride in good shape; very little muscle soreness and minimal damage to my rump. It had been a fantastic few days, with great company on the road and one of the best teams of helpers I've had the pleasure to meet en route. John's organisation skills were showed off nicely by the ride, which gives me great confidence that LEL 2013 (which he is on the organisation team for) will run smoothly.