60 of the miles were on the mountain bike on Friday. For those of you who know the area, it was Caerphilly, Nantgarw, Pontypridd, Merthyr Tydfil, Hengoed, Ystrad, Risca, Bassaleg, Draethen, home. Phew. I went up to Merthyr on the Taff Trail Route, Sustrans 8 and it took AGES. There are passes under the A470, narrowings, dogs, pushchairs, walkers who don't hear me coming despite my bell (including one reading a Kindle) and not enough signs. I got lost in Pontypridd (again) and was helped by a kind lady who said 'everyone gets lost around here' and sadly went down a huge hill again near Merthyr, having missed a white arrow on the path which replaced the normal blue and red signs. Helpful or what? That time I was going so fast down the hill I nearly went into an open-backed removals van but just managed to slam my brakes on in time. As I stopped I heard 'OI!', looked round and found one of the local residents saying 'you've gone wrong, everybody does' and pointed me back up the huge hill. Sigh.
When I got to Merthyr (which I'm sure is very picturesque really but right now is mostly a building site) I thought there would be another Sustrans route to point me back to Hengoed. Nope. I found that I would have to retrace my steps past the narrowings, dogs, pushchairs, walkers and lack of signs. Progress on the Sustrans is slow, so I decided to take my life in my hands and welly it back down the A470 to Hengoed... Ooh, scary stuff! I don't like roads at the best of times, and that is a FAST road. Nearly a dodgy moment when a baby rabbit came out of the left verge straight at me, changed its mind and went back into the verge. Phew.
Eventually I got to the turning off (I have never, ever, been so pleased to see a roundabout sign) and stayed on the footpath to Nelson where I could pick up the Sustrans again. Then it was mostly downhill to Risca and Bassaleg.
I'd taken with me a Snickers bar, a bottle of Lucozade, water and a peanut butter sandwich. It wasn't enough, and by 55 miles I was running on empty. In the last 5 miles home there are two enormous and challenging hills. And I had no fuel left... At one point I was going so slowly I was surprised I was actually moving. I was overtaken by a MAMIL (middle aged man in lycra) on a road bike who left me for standing (not difficult, I was pretty much standing at the time). He shouted out 'You OK?' as he whizzed past but by the time I'd whimpered 'no not really' he was 200 yards up the road.
I did cycle the whole way - getting off and walking would have been admitting defeat - but I was absolutely spent by the time I got home. Or nearly home, at 58.3 miles. There was NO way I was going to stop at 58.3 miles, so I cycled up and down the flat bit of road by the old factory until I got to 59.7 miles and then made it up the slight hill of the lane to home. 60.2 miles. YAY! Really, the flat bits are fine!
It was hilly (it's the valleys, it's always hilly) and I was on my bike for over 6 hours.
I've recovered well since. Apart from a total lack of power in my right hand - it's still tired from all that gear-changing!
Just to prove I haven't learned my lesson, next time I'm going to do 70 miles...
But I'm aiming for the flat bits and taking Jelly Babies with me...
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