The first day of the Trans Wales and I had 2 near death experiences before lunch! The first was a fast grassy descent that turned rocky & I was going too fast & got in a channel that had a massive rock at the end with nowhere to go. I thought I was a goner but I hung on over the back wheel and somehow the bike went up the vertical side and I just bruised myself bashing into the back of the seat. I slowed down a little after that!
The 2nd was on another descent where a family of sheep decided to walk out of the heather just as I was passing. I slammed on the brakes and did a rather stylish endo (my 1st one ever!) narrowly missing the 3rd sheep, luckily landing back down rather than going over the bars. The sheep seemed pretty unconcerned that they were a whisker away from death!
We took it a little easier after that and made it to lunch with just one more mishap, in that we (about 20 people) got lost! It was the garmin that saved us. We went down a bridleway and through a field with cows then popped out on the road, right by a Trans Wales arrow. The boys thought we were amazing, must be all that orienteering practice :-)
The special stage was before lunch after just 4 miles. I wasn't even warmed up. I quickly ate a gel and wasted time nipping to the loo to try and give it a moment to work. The special stage today was a 1.5km climb. We pedalled as hard as we could and I had a strange out of body experience with the effort. It seemed to go on forever! As I rounded a corner and saw the finish way up the hill, I wondered if I'd make it. Of course I did but had to get off and lie down as soon as I'd gone over the timing mat. It took ages to return back to normal! Very hard indeed. My legs were pretty rubbish for the rest of he day after that. We were back an hour before the cut of time though so happy with that.
So far it's been brilliant! Sun shining, friendly people, OK food and a feeling of being part of a massive adventure. We'll just have to wait and see if we did enough to win the stage and get the leaders jersey!
News update: We did not do enough!!! 2nd place and lost 34 secs to the leaders. Let's hope they are bad at downhills as tomorrow's stage is half and half!...
Guest blog from Lisa:
I get to be guest blogger due to the fact I'm riding with Steph as the other half of the female pair under the Skedaddle banner, having been gifted a fantastic jacket by them... I'm cheap!! I can confirm the sheep nearly met his maker... Hysterical but scary at the same time, they just kept following their buddies-the endo was pretty cool from The Fountain-unsure the sheep learnt any lessons from the experience though. Today's special stage was horrible for me, quite near the start indeed - but after a very long slow pulse raising grass climb! My heart rate was already high before I started! Went over the timing mat just behind Steph but dropped slowly back. Watched with interest a mixed pair who had the (very large) man towing the (very little) lady on a dog lead, presumably as not stated as a 'no' in the rules that was ok-not sure of the benefit tho as it's the average time of a pair! And would you follow 2 females you have never met before when lost? Seems many would... interesting! A mostly sunny day, some gorgeous scenery, excellent banter and finishing with a 'proper 'shower at a football club was already very welcome (warm might have been nice ;) )
Route Distance: 81km | 1st Special Stage (within): |
Total Ascent: 2300m | Distance from start: 9km |
Total Descent: 2240m | Technical Climb: 1km |
Predicted Riding Time: 7 hrs | Ascent: 140m |
