Velothon Wales 2015
Two years of failure to get a lottery place for Ride London obviously left me susceptible to Mrs VCSE’s invitation to join her on the previously unheard of Velothon Wales. I didn’t even bother with an entry to Ride London this year as it seems that anyone who vaguely fits the profile of MAMIL plodder living near London is pretty much guaranteed not to get a place (don’t they realise that they could easily substitute the ‘middle aged’ for ‘old’ with VCSE?)
Mrs VCSE is known for going for a swim before getting on her bike and then (inexplicably) deciding that the best way to relax after riding is to go for a run. In a flagrant disregard of rule #42 my wife’s chosen recreational pastime is Triathlon and we would be joining a whole bunch of rule breakers from her club in Cardiff.
I can’t remember when exactly I assented to coming along for the ride but i’m pretty certain it was in the off season when i’m generally less concerned with where i’m riding and for how long than with; “Exactly how many base layers will I need under my rain jacket today?”. I recall mention of 15,000 riders and closed roads but other than the occasional reminder to ‘save the date’ for the 14th June the Velothon didn’t figure that largely in my thoughts. Things started to get serious after a route change was announced increasing the distance to 140km. My recollections of what came first is pretty hazy but it may also have been around this time that I became aware that our route would also take in climbs of the Tumble and Caerphilly Mountain. Both climbs have featured in the Tour of Britain; the Tumble most recently in 2014 where it was categorized as a Cat 1 summit finish. Having seen World Tour riders get dropped and popped on both climbs on the ToB I was in no doubt that getting the decidedly non World Tour VCSE carcass over the top would be quite a challenge.
We warmed up for the main event with ten days with our friends Paul and Jan Simpson in the ancient volcanic landscape between Murcia and Alicante. Paul and Jan are Great Britain Ironman age groupers and we hooked up with them again in May after staying at their rental villa last September. A little less than 500km and no ride with less than 1800′ of climbing was the best possible preparation when the most challenging climb in North West Flanders (Essex) is just over 300′ high. We took in this particular ‘bump’ North Hill a few times the week before the Velothon and I did a couple of shorter rides in the days leading up to weekend (Mrs VCSE would probably describe this as ‘tapering’).
On the run in to the event I wasn’t too sure what to expect. There was quite a lot of ‘noise’ about the road closures from the locals accompanied by suggestions that the organisers had not done a great job of communicating said closures to said locals. The visions I had of angry Welsh folk ignoring closed road signs and hurling abuse at me were soon dispelled when we got in to Cardiff city centre to sign on. The expo had some decent stalls and anyone needing a last minute addition to their kit was being catered for. They say that a fool and his (or her) money is easily parted so needless to say Mrs VCSE and I came away with a new jersey (me) and gilet (her) despite bringing kit with us that would have satisfied every possible climatic condition.
We had figured out that the ride from our hotel to the start pens would add another 10km to our total and perhaps a little ambitiously pledged to keep our pedals turning when we finished to ensure we clocked 100 miles for the day. With an early start time we were on the road at 7.00am which ensured traffic free roads even where they hadn’t officially been closed. Pretty much the only people we saw were other riders; the numbers swelling as the roads converged on Cardiff Castle.
I can claim at least 15 seconds of fame thanks to my Photobomb of former Welsh rugby international Colin Charvis as he set off at the same time as our group. The route quickly left the city centre and we found ourselves riding on the kind of roads that are the general preserve of articulated lorries and white vans through a series of industrial estates. The smoothest lines followed the trucks wide wheel tracks the curb sides providing a home for debris that was already claiming plenty of puncture victims. The back roads that carried us between Cardiff and Newport weren’t all that dissimilar to those along the Thames ‘delta’ near VCSE’s home town, our progress witnessed by a few bored looking ponies (there must be some kind of bylaw that insists on the presence of a collection of some tired out old nags to keep the grass down). At this point our speed was pretty good around 18-20mph and we didn’t have any kind of incline to tackle until we had left Newport and started to head inland.
For all the talk of protests from locals outraged that roads should be closed to ensure the safety of 15,000 cyclists I didn’t see any examples on the ride. I mention this now purely because the only reported incident was some tacks left on the road near the Celtic Manor golf course. Perhaps the irony was lost on the person doing it; didn’t they know that cycling is the new golf? While hundreds of us waited for the road to clear someone commented that we had probably been stopped to ensure we didn’t put the golfers on the nearby green off their putts. This interlude had been preceded by a sharp little climb that was easily in double digit grades and some riders had already been forced to walk; a prediction of what was ahead perhaps?
Continue reading Can you feel like a pro and an amateur?* – VCSE’s take on the Velothon
Velo Club Sud Eglise 