Not quite a road century

I had intended to do a 100 mile road ride yesterday, but it didn't quite happen. Woke up ridiculously early, so I was on the bike at 6.30am, but it was a glorious morning and I was plenty warm enough with just a jersey, arm warmers and gillet. Rolled down to Llanberis, climbed up Pen y Pass in a rude head-wind, then down to Betws y Coed. Shortly after that the GPS batteries died (no, of course I didn't take spares). through Penmachno and past Llyn Celyn to a cafe stop just north of Bala. Then Trawsfynedd, Prenteg, Beddgelert, Penygroes.
The first 95 miles felt fine, the last 4 miles took 30 mins. Felt quite tired afterwards.

99.6 miles
3290m ascent
7h 40m
Max Speed 45 mph
1 malt loaf
3 chocolate brioche
2 boiled eggs on toast

Ras Moel Elio

Mental.
Moel Elio is my local run, from the front door I can be on the summit in 40 mins, so I know it quite well. The race stars in Llanberis tthough, so there's more climbing to do, but that was OK. What was quite definitely NOT OK was the wind that was blowing over the summits - it wasn't quite blowing you off your feet - it would have had to be ooh, about 3mph stronger to do that, but I was blown off course a few times and when it started hailing, well, that just wasn't funny. I estimated the wind speed was 50 - 60 mph, apparently someone measured gusts of 80 mph on the ridge!
Anyway, it was nice to drop off te front of Moel Cynghorion and eventually get out of the wind. For some reason I wasn't happy on the descents, but had a decent run otherwise, finishing 28th in 84:57.

Dyfi Enduro

What a great event - it's so good that virtually everyone I know stayed away this year! No matter, it probably just meant that Saturday night was slightly less beer-fueled, good to catch up with Chipps and Emily though - and Stef & Gemma (eventually).
The course at the Dyfi is a lot of fun - well, the descents are a lot of fun, it helps if you enjoy climbing because there's 3500m of it, but nearly all doable on the Singlespeed.

The numbers:
Distance: 60km
Ascent 3500m
time: 3h43m
Gear Ratio: 32:19
wheels: 29ers

The food:
2 clif gels (first one 20 mins after the start!)
1 flapjack
2 bits of fruit cake
1 chocolate brioche

The pain:
Yes, after 2 and a half hours quads, calves and lower back were aching in unison.

The fun:
Lots of it on all the downhills :)

Looking forward to next year!