Lon Las 2008 - Day 2 (Dolgellau to Builth Wells)
Well after a good night sleep at the Gwernan Hotel at Dolgellau, (I can recommend the accommodation as 5 Star B&B. The food, beer and breakfast were just the order of the trip) we left in the driving rain with a quick descent into Dolgellau. An instant climb out of Dolgellau followed with an ascent of 1,300ft according to the Garmin Forerunner. The roads turn into lanes and a slow descent to Machynlleth. Here we managed to stop and dry our clothes and fill our stomachs with some mushroom soup and a cup of tea in a café. A quick trick was to use a newspaper to dry our cycling shoes. We then visited the bike shop and bought a dry pair of socks and some jelly beans. As soon as we left Machynlleth we were challenged by the highest ascent of the trip, a gradual climb of 1,650ft according to the Garmin Forerunner. We carried on cycling through the bad weather and arrived at Llanidloes. Here we had a late lunch (4pm), to my surprise we walked into a vegetarian café. I asked a question
“Are we in a veggie café ?” Steffan
“Yes, they don’t serve meat” Huw
So I ordered some veggie salad and I must admit I enjoyed every fork full. We then carried on and came to a mutual decision to continue on the A470 as some of the guys we’re flagging. We formed a team formation and did a quick 30 miles into Builth Wells. I think we arrived around 7pm just in time to watch the footy. We stayed at shocking accommodation called Cedars Bed and Breakfast in Builth Wells, the guys reminded me of it throughout our stay. Entering the accommodation you’re struck by an old building stuck in the 1970 in décor, the bedrooms are very small and have little visitors as we found some evidence in our beds. The final reminder is the smell that strikes as soon as you enter of deep fat fried food. We had some good food out in the centre of Builth Wells and several pints and wine. This helped with the sleep although I decided to go and find some water and ended in the bar with a pint of Stella.
My Garmin Forerunner 205 kept the data of day 2. To view on motionbased click here.
Lon Las 2008 - Day 1 (Holyhead to Dolgellau)
We started the day in Holyhead in the Dublin Ferry B & B. We had a good room with a double bed and 2 singles, I took the double as I organised the trip. We arrived late that evening and fitted in some pints of Guinness. On the rush to pack the car I had forgotten the official maps, we should have been fine as we had a Garmin satellite navigation device. Anyway on leaving Holyhead we were faced with the problems that the route road was closed for reconstruction and no diversion signs. We finally found our way to be stopped by road construction again. This time we risked crossing the HOT HOT Tarmac and to our cost we had some flat tyres soon after. We arrived Caernarfon at 2pm (very late) and found a bike shop to get the bike repaired and also got a copy of the maps from our support driver. We then left and headed towards Porthmadog, here we decided to take another detour and follow the route over a toll-road(30p for motorcycles). We then managed to get back on route and decided to make up some time and head for the A470 for Dolgellau. I attacked the hills and decided to go alone for the last 15 miles. I finally arrived Dolgellau and tried to find the accommodation for the night, the Gwernan Hotel, Cadre Idris. I made a mistake in booking the Hotel not thinking of the location. The Gwernan is located on the top of Cadre Idris, quite a challenge at the end of the day. But I managed to get to the Gwernan and order a pint of shandy and 4 others for the lads. To my surprise the others arrived quicker than expected as they managed to get the support car from Dolgellau. I was gutted !!!!
View Pictures of Lon Las 2008 Day 1
Due to me losing the data of Day 1 from my Garmin Forerunner 305 as it couldn’t store all three days, here is a link Courtesy of Simon Andrews Garmin 705.
Last Training Run (s)
Well i’ve now finished my last training runs. I’ve done 2 training runs and they are detailed below :
Sunday 15th of June 2008
I decided to complete the CTC Stevenage Circular Cycle - A Half Century Challange. The ride was approximately 50 miles and had many riders. It was my first experience of cycling in a group and I left with Group D which started 15 mins after the initial group. Instantly we seemed to make a group of 14 and cycled quickly through the route. The route was mainly flat and I managed to cycle at an average of above 17mph. The group finished all together and I would recommend a CTC cycle to anybody who enjoys a good challange.
http://www.stevenagectc.org.uk/
Saturday 7th of June 2008
Not what I had planned. It was a 65 mile journey around the Chiltern’s with the 2 Simon(s), we all had a lot more in the tank, although mechanically my bike has been challenged with some quick repairs required before the ride. I managed to break my chain and my rear cassett. I got the parts from
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/
Although the packaging confused me as they we’re all packed in bubble wrap and not in the original packaging. I hope thay are originals ???
A Ride To Brecon Beacons
It’s getting close now till the ride. So this weekend I was in Cardiff for the weekend and decided to cycle to Brecon Beacons for a test on some hills. The ride was also to test the conditions of the taff trail. I cycled mainly on A and B roads to the A470. The route is on my motionbased page and some details are below :
1. Leave Caerwenallt
2. Turn Onto Rhiwbina Hill ( Left )
3. Turn Right
4. Take 2nd Exit On Roundabout (Pen-y Croes)
5 Head towards PontyPridd
6. Get on the B4273 towards Ynysybwl
7. Head toward Mynachdy, Perthcelyn, Miskin
8. Get on the B4275 towards Abercwmboi
9. Carry on towards Aberman
10. Carry on towards Penywaun
11. Carry on towards Hirwaun
12. At Hirwaun get on A4059 towards Penderyn
13. Go Forwards to A470.
14. A470 towards Merthyr
15. Get A4054 Towards Cefn-Coed y Crymmer
16. Straight Across High Street
17. Get on the Taff Trail back to Cardiff
I picked up the the taff trail before I arrived at Merthyr in Cefn-Coed. However, I missed the route several times as I was confused by the sign posts. My main aim for the taff trail was to figure out the type of tyre that is required. I used a Continental Ultra Gatorskin (Road Tyres) and found that this was fine as 85% of the taff trail is concrete. I would suggest if you want to go quickly from the Brecon Beacons to Cardiff I would choose the local roads that I used on my route. To view the image library click on the image below :
Why did you put green petrol in the car ?
When your daughter asks you
“why did you put green petrol in the car you should put black” Beca Ford
you realise how stupid you are! Yes I shouldn’t have put 50 quid of unleaded petrol in a diesel car. What is the cost of the pain ? Who knows, to date
- 120 quid to take out the petrol.
- A bad night sleep thinking of the oncoming bill.
- A wife who’s not to date killed me - I’m sure that’s to come!
- A waste of a day off.
- A night stay with my parents in Cardiff. Who remind me that they’ve never done such a stupid thing !
- A daughter who is 27 years younger and has a higher IQ.
Has anybody else experienced this ? I have read this and I don’t like the title “A Costly Mistake“. I must thank the Star Garage in Cardiff for such a quick turnaround and also know I know about the website goodgaragescheme.com.
Penblwydd Nain !
Penblwydd Hapus I Nain heddiw. She’s 56 today. Dyma film bach o’r plant mawr (Owen, Llew ag Beca). Click on the link to view the video ! Download Apple Quicktime to view the video.
Broadband Checker
As I live in a house that has TPON (Telephony over Passive Optical Networks) , the only way to receive broadband is via a work-around which is a copper-overlay, as the name suggests, involves laying (extra) copper along-side the existing fibre. I’ve now managed to move to Sky Broadband which is free for the 1mb service. No point in paying for a service that I can’t receive. However, soon BT will be rolling out a new technology called the BT 21st Century Network (21CN) rollout. To date my phone number doesn’t have an upgrade date. But I’ll keep on checking in hope for a broadband solution > 1mb.
A good website for checking your line details can be found at Sam Knows.
Energy Drinks for the Ride !
I’ve decided to use a mixture of products to help energise me for the Cycle ride of the Lon Las. I first started using a Energy Drink called PSP22 Energy from Sports In Science (SIS). This is apparently according to the literature a complex carbohydrate energy fuel for high-energy performance. I’ve opted for the orange flavour drink.
After the ride I thought about a recovery drink. The only product on the Market that I found is from Maximuscle (The company that has Josh Lewsey in their adverts) called Recovermax. The drink is a unique ratio of carbohydrate and protein helps restore body glycogen levels. I use the Fruit Punch flavour and I can highly recommend that you try another flavour as I will not be using this flavour.
Finally, during the ride I will be opting to use a PowerBar and some Jelly Beans. Believe it or not the Jelly Belly company do sporting beans that contain added Vitamins B & C and provides 25g or Carbohydrate and 120mg of Electrolytes.
The other riders (Simon A and Simon M) suggest that I’m cheating using such products. But today I found that Simon A has purchased some at Evans Cycles over the weekend.
WordPress 2.5 image upload problem : Finally Solved
I’ve had no problems with Wordpress 2.5 until I wanted to upload some files on my mac. I had no problems installing via my PC. I didn’t realise that I had any problems until I went to make a blog post and upload an image. When I tried to upload, I was greeted with the following:
So what was the solution, I did a lot of searching of the web and came accross a solution that involved editing the .htaccess file on the root of the wordpress directory. I added the following code to the file to enable the image upload to work.
<IfModule mod_security.c>
<Files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</Files>
</IfModule>
As soon as the change was made the problem was fixed and thus why you I’ve been able to upload a screenshot with this post!
Lon Las Route - Pictures / Guide
I’ve found this document that describes the Lon Las route in 6 days for a tour. It gives a brief idea on the route. This is an easier route than the one I’ll be doing.
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Date: 01/03/08