SPACE Race 08 - Offa's Dyke

Summary - for those who understandably don't have the stamina to read the whole thing!..

The summer challenge for a small band of engineers and guests (SPACE - Special Projects Annual Challenge Event)  is rapidly becoming a regular fixture! Following the BHF Oxford to Cambridge event a couple of year's ago, they wanted to do something harder this year. Ox to Camb was 90 miles in torrential rain from 7am to hot sun by 3pm.

I came up with Offa's Dyke - 190 miles over two days and across the Welsh border's hills and valleys.. Should be tough enough, and they had the whole wet summer to train..

First, the participants..

Myself                                  Tom (route master)    Garry

Martin E                                Garth

Andy B1 (driver, photographer)  Andy B2

Gav (Support crew)                 Mike

Malcolm (driver)                      Martin C

Fri 19 September   faff, pack, faff... faff and off to Chepstow

Last minute booking of van and minibus from a local company meant we could pick them up just before we went rather than have to get them on the way in to work or the night before etc. We finish at 1pm on Friday, so it was straight into Kempston to pick up the transport with Malcolm (minibus driver) and Andy B1 and Gav. The hire company hadn't even received the minibus booking, but fortunately happened to have one available - phew. No mention of their name as they didn't give us a discount for charity! Not the speediest specimen but would do the job. Back to work to load up. Plenty faffing getting bikes in van and laughter at my old steed, pictured for posterity...

It's now a mix of parts old and new but fits like a glove and has done some serious miles. In fact this would prove to be it's last adventure as the chain kept jumping off the worn front sprockets under load. I had replaced the chain a couple of years ago but the worn sprockets were a step too far, and I can't find any replacement ones that fit this vintage carrier! The bars are off an old mountain bike fitted with a new indexed gear changer, replacing the friction changers on the down tube (left on to provide cable guides!). 

Anyway, the team got their lovely little babies into the van except Garry, who had to put his new racer in the back of the minibus, wrapped in a blanket to protect it from the attentions of the other specimens in the van - a bit girly and unnecessary as we will see later..

All aboard and off. The van left for Chepstow while the minibus went via Flitwick to pick up Andy B2. Uneventful journey in lovely early autumn sun. We stopped off at Tesco in Chepstow for last minute supplies - bananas mostly in my case. And on to our overnight stop at YHA St Briavel's Castle, arriving at 5pm ish.

Great place to stay; much of the castle is as it might have been whilst preventing marauding English from a bit of pillaging, but with a few electric fires thrown in. All stone and creaky, huge floor boards. Shown to two small rooms full of bunks and clean linen - the guard room and the hanging room - nice! Had a home brewed beer (iffy) before good value tea in the castle - soup & stew, then retired to the local pub for some fortitude and rude banter before the weekend's challenge. Back to our spooky beds at 11ish under clear and cool starlit sky. 

Sat 20 September    95 miles

Up at 6am in order to breakfast, pack and prep (mix fancy carb drinks..) for 7am depart for the start, back in Chepstow. Managed to just about keep to time. Cold, still and misty dawn, but promised good weather later. More faff (lots more) in Tesco car park (see pic) from where we started. Eventually just had to leave and hope everyone had finished faffing. Short steep hill to start so legs warmed up quick.

Here is the whole route courtesy of the Tom and the great Google Earth application. Save to your computer, then do File->Open in Google Earth and read in file. And here are the terrain profiles for the two days (thanks to Vicky) - caused much doubt/derision in some of the workforce that we could do it, and much worry by the team that they could indeed do it!!

Once we got going, the sun came up slowly over the hills, and there were some great sights across valleys filled with mist to the hills over which the sun was slowly climbing.

All started well - two groups quickly forming, halted only by Garry clipping a high kerb as we cycled along the river Wye and flying across the verge, through some rotten tree timbers and down the bank. The group stopped to assist/laugh/rest/pee and eat jelly beans while he rescued his precious steed, mercifully fairly undamaged apart from a broken computer cable. Garry was fine if a bit surprised by his excursion. The other group caught up and were equally amazed/amused. 

Into Monmouth and a navigational error had us cycling up the dual carriageway! 2 miles later in Rockfield and another mistake adds a few more miles to the journey..

There was a random distribution of maps - all had the chance to carry a copy but only some choose to actively use them. Thought I'd be lazy and let others do it. Mart and Andy B1 did most of the navigating, and as predicted it was quite tricky - lots of back roads and tricky turns. Over the two days we only had a few glitches which weren't bad enough to spoil the event. 

On to Grosmont and a steep little climb in the sun into the village. Once there we discovered that Mike had snapped his chain on the short steep bit! Plenty of faffing, the van turned up and while some faffed, there was time to visit the little castle there (and have a pee!). The van team put Mike's bike in the van and Mike rode Gav's that we had brought with us. Gav had done all the training and eventually overtrained! His thigh muscles called it a day a week before the event so he came as support (we had already paid for his bed anyway!) and brought his bike with him - inspired idea. The boys took Mike's bike and offending chain to a bike shop for repair. Duncan eventually arrived, a bit behind the second group. He had got separated and taken the wrong route. The sweeper minibus (Malcolm) had found him and corrected him - but he still refused a copy of the map! The same happened again further down the road on the A465 to the pub just before Pandy. He was happy to go at his pace, and we made sure the minibus always had him in sight!

The question of a lunch stop came up here, but I'm not one for stopping for long breaks just in case you need the time later in the day for breakdowns etc. All agreed we carried on. We were stopping fairly regularly for short breaks and everyone was eating high carbohydrate snacks and drinks.

Then came the long climb to the highest part of the two days before the drop into Hay on Wye. Hot sun and a hard grind up the hills - every man for himself! Although we did all gather at the top before the drop down into Hay and wait for the van for a lunch stop. Only the van never materialized - still sorting out Mike's chain I think, so we carried on to Kington through the rolling countryside. Here we met the van for a fairly long stop while Mike tried his bike out - wrong chain apparently - he had a fancy gear set that needed a narrow chain, so he couldn't select all gears. I think he carried on with it, and put up with limited gears. 

Onwards to Knighton.. the hills getting harder and harder to climb in the warm sun. I'd managed to pick up a slow puncture, so would climb a hill then pump the thing up, before riding down and up the next hill and pump up again. Some fat bloke on a fancy racer caught up with Mart C, about 200yds behind me. I noticed them talking, then he caught me up. His engaging small talk consisted of 'bloody hell, have you done all that on that thing?' as my bike clanked along reassuringly/frighteningly. cheeky monkey. 

On and down into Clun, a lovely little village. Mike and Andy B2 were sitting on the village bridge waiting for us, with Andy B1 and his camera. I kept on to the Youth Hostel to fix the puncture before tea. It was 5pm so a fairly respectable finish time for the day. 

Waited for ages for the vans to turn up at the hostel with tools and wash stuff for shower. Eventually they arrived with the others and all had a most welcome shower, change and I recharged with some powdered recovery drink (PSP Go Recovery - strawberry flavour) - not bad if a little strange - like gloopy milkshake! and puncture fixed. Then off to the White Horse Inn for pre-ordered tea - excellent fare after a hard day in the saddle, and plenty of it. Had a look round the castle up the road, before a couple of pints, at which point everyone was ready for bed - in our little YHA bunk beds in the mill...

Sun 21 September    95 miles

Another early start - up at 6ish to prepare to leave at dawn, 7ish. This time we didn't have to drive to the start - we were already there!

Had the rest of my cereal and a banana, and filled the drink bottle with PSP Go. Vaseline on and plenty layers - including new Altura night vision jacket (excellent for gentle cycling in cold conditions), and Gekko Polartec tights, great thermal breathable tights.

Gentle start to the day in the cold and mist. Almost too gentle, but I thought we had a long way to go so wouldn't hurt starting slow. Within a mile or two Mike's chain had snapped again. He and Andy waited for the van while the rest of us carried on - they were plenty fast enough to catch us. 

So we sauntered along the valley sides as the sun rose - through Bishop's Castle and Montgomery (Mike/Andy had caught us up, then Andy got a puncture so we left him to catch us up again!) and on to Welshpool. All very civilized!

A483 out of Welshpool was the only big civilized road we did, and was a pleasant change to start but soon became a bit of a grind, so a stop at Pool Quay was a nice break (and time to apply some sun cream - see pic) before setting off again for Oswestry.

Then it was time to take to the back roads again and more tricky navigation, especially around the town roads.. Chirk viaduct and aquaduct looked great from the road (unfortunately no pics), then on through the countryside to Minera. Here we had a good long stop before the last hard climb of the weekend. After that it was 40 miles downhill to the sea (apparently!). Plenty bananas consumed, and it was down to the bottom of the valley before the uphill bit. 

In the end it was a bit of a damp squib - or we had got used to big hills!! All made it to the top and down the other side to the next meeting point, a pub, where the support crew were sunning themselves enjoying drinks and a proper lunch..

As promised the rest of the day was fairly flat to the finish. A day that we had thought would be a real challenge, was taken quite steadily and proved no problem at all. 

We wound our way through Prestatyn town and down to the sea front for another 5pm finish. A beer or two before photos, more faffing getting kit into the vans and off on the A55/A41 with a tea stop on the way at a Harvester near Chester. Mixed grill and Guinness all round! Back down the motorways and call in to work to drop everyone and bikes off before heading home just after midnight. Shower, bed.

In summary..

Great weather - pretty much perfect. Excellent value YHA accommodation.. Bike done good (just), a good group and a fine craic!

Total raised approx. £2,250 for Bedford Hospital Primrose Appeal and St Johns Moggerhanger

last updated: 04 January 2009