Ras Helfa Fawr

Had an almost rest day yesterday after the Fondo, just ran over to the Beacon to play on the boulder wall with my new booties. Got very tired quite quickly.

Tuesday night race series tonight with a new race from Llanberis, no idea if it has a name yet, but it went to the Helfa Fawr bunkhouse and was probably 3 and a bit miles with some ascent. I was still feeling pretty tired, but didn't run too badly, finished in 27:53, position unknown, but I beat Emlyn for a change, so that was nice.

Medio Fondo Cymru

Here's the stats:
142km
3100m ascent
1 clif bar
1 banana
1 flapjack
1 sausage butty
1 power gel
average windspeed: 192 mph
rain: yes, that too.
6h33

The first 90km was quite good. Managed to chain gang across to Ysbty Ifan into a nasty headwind, which was good. Long section from Plas y Brenin where I was on my own pretty much until Maentwrog. After Trawsfynydd it went gruesome, special mention should go to the 4 mile climb into a bastard headwind just as it started raining.
Probably not the most fun I've ever had on a bike, but it's good to do these things. Isn't it?

I have arrived!

Today I joined the North Wales fellowship of climbers, which basically means I can now be accepted in North Wales as a proper outdoorsy type, instead just being regarded as "that freak who rides bikes".
Completed my intro course at the Beacon Wall, which was all good fun. Then went over to Llanberris with Sue, via the cheeky DPC backdoor and paid a visit to the lovely people at Joe Browns. Tried on about 6 pairs of climbing shoes and Sue bought me the best ones.
Pretty good day.

The last 2 months in summary

Well, even blogging a simple training diary seems to be beyond my ability/organisation/enthusiasm. Must try harder in future. It seems like lots has been going on in recent weeks, hence the lack of blogging, I got busy, lost the impetus.

In no particular order then:
SSUK at Drumlanrig - brilliant! Fell out of love with my Karate Monkey, got well beaten up trying to work it around the trails and trying to keep up with Biff. I lost. Made up with the Monkey the day after though.

Paddy Buckley recces: no, I'm not doing it, but I did a couple of days in the hills with Phil from Tod who's aiming to do the round later in the year. Interesting to see how doable 20 miles is when you walk the climbs!

Anglesey century: took advantage of a rare weather window a couple of weeks back and churned out 100 miles on the surprisingly hilly Anglesey. Out for 8 hours, averaged 15 mph while riding, 1800+m ascent, all good.

1000m Peaks recce: did the Aber - Ogwen section with Emlyn & Justin in a leaisurely 3 and a bit hours. good visibility, handy iawn.

Snowdon bike: hiked up the miners track, pinned it down the Llanberis path. The best descent in the UK? I should coco.

Promise to be more regular in future.