Howies Coed-y-Brenin Enduro. It went up, then down, then up and up and up….

It all started with this tweet…

It finished like this…

Here’s a brief idea of what came in the middle…

After waking up the morning after signing up to the Howies Coed-y-Brenin Enduro I had an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach.  As I slowly came round I realised I had committed myself to 52km of off road riding and I’d made the ultimate mistake in telling people about it!  Oh well better start thinking about some training.

Being a stupidly enthusiastic mtb’er the idea of more miles on the bike didn’t seem so bad.  I worked out a rough training plan for the next 8 weeks.  Now anyone that knows me realises my riding is more about the jumps, drops, flat pedals and pads than spd’s, cycle computers and distance.  A slight change of mental approach was required.

After a few weeks of training I decided that a good mental boost would be to do the full event distance.  A day off during the week gave me the perfect opportunity to spin round Llandegla’s black route three times.  It was a fun ride, tunes blasting in my ears, head down, doing the distance.   I came off the end in reasonable shape so felt good going into the event weekend.

The weekend in question quickly made its appearance.  We met the rest of the team at the registration tent on Saturday, they had a great tent with bar/cafe/dj set up.  Good food available as well as some great ales.  Sunday morning we headed over to Coed-y-Brenin for about 9:00am and got a good parking spot.  I set about putting the bike together and making sure all was in order.  I popped my number on the front, got the GPS bolted to the bars, sorted my pack and was feeling smugly organised by about 9:30am.  As ever nothing is simply.  I soon discovered my x-fusion uppy downy seatpost, which has worked perfectly, was having a fit.  Aaagghh!  I stripped it as best I could and had bits of seatpost, bolts and cables strewn over the roof of the car as we approached the start time.  I decided it was best to get on with it and put everything together

I found the rest of my friends and as we headed over to the start line I was accosted by a complete stranger!  ”You’ve got the wrong number, you’ve got the wrong number.” he kept saying.  WTF I’m thinking.  Our stranger goes on to explain he’d registered two numbers and somehow I’d got one of them.   I madly dashed up to the registration tent, got the correct number and swapped numbers with 106.  Now I’m 108, or am I 106 and he’s 108! Whatever.  Ok, now we’re set to go.  Surely there’s nothing else to go wrong.

It can!  Stood in the start melee I had another dawning realisation.  I had agreed to shoot as much of the event as I could using a gopro on a chest strap.  Where was the chest strap, where was the bloody gopro!  In the car was the answer.  I rushed back to the car.  Grabbed the chesty and gopro and raced back to the start.   After a very brief briefing there was a bang and the roar of a motorbike.  We saw the guys at the front race off up the starting hill.  The first of many we would struggle up that day.  Ok so here we go I thought.  I started the GPS and pushed off.

The start went smoothly, a few people fell over for inexplicable reasons but overall the pack of riders happily started a long fire road climb.  As I knew I would, even after some serious talks with myself, I set off far too quickly.  My heart rate went through the roof and I was sweating bullets.  I wondered how long could I keep this up.  The fire road went up and up and up, my god, it went on for ever.  We headed north towards Pont y Llyn-du where we had a mentally fast road descent followed by another road climb towards Moel Gwynfynydd.

 The riders were, as you can imagine, a really mixed bag.  There were thin, fat, short, tall and just plain weird and those were just the bikes people were riding.  People went past, I went past people and so it went on.  The riders began to thin out a touch.  Fewer people overtook me and I overtook fewer people.  It was interesting to see the differences in riders.  I had an interesting tussle with a very fit lady on a hardtail who would kick my arse on the ups who I would then overhaul on the descent and more technical riding.  I overheard an interesting comment as we started up after the first serious descent.  A rider talking to his friend said “I’m not nearly as good a rider as I think I am.”  This could have been due to the pair being blown away by a couple of riders who’d taken the descent without apparently touching their brakes given how fast they were going!

The first 1/2 of the trail took us higher and higher with some stunning views.  The cloud cover was dissapointing but, to be frank, welcome.  After we peaked in height for the first time we were treated to some oldskool mtbing with forest bashing and an intense rutted, rocky downhill section.  Throw in some bog trotting and a good old hike-a-bike section around Tyddyn Mawr and some would say you’re in nirvana.  Here soggy bog and what felt like near vertical grass slopes combined to create a special kind of purgatory.  I heard later that no one had cleared this section on their bike, that made me feel slightly better.

 Some contouring on fire roads led us to the slopes of Moel Hafodwen which provided a nice breeze and more amazing views.  Diving back into the forest we took some more technical sections into the first feed station.  The food was welcome even though I hadn’t exactly starved myself.  Lots of water, sweet and savoury snacks as well as High5 energy drink on offer.  I was grateful for the chance to stretch and get some more water, others simply dodged those refuelling and rode straight through.

 The next section was pure joy and punishment by turns.  A quick road climb led us into a long section of the regular trails at Coed-y-Brenin.  The riders had thinned out enough that I could let the brakes off and make the most of the inappropriate 6 inches of travel I was dragging round with me.  I really let rip.  I couldn’t help but squeal with excitement. Then I was presented with a choice.   I’d reached the junction of the regular or long route.  All I could think was pain or no pain. Pain or no pain. Pain or no pain.  My legs were saying ‘no pain’ but my ego chose ‘pain’.  I turned away from the direction of the centre and started to pedal away from comfort.

 The next leg took in more trail centre riding, which I loved, then there was an almighty shock.  From the road junction near Gelligemlyn all the way up to the slopes Rhobell Fawr,  a climb of nearly a 1000ft.  It was truly relentless and painful and then a little more relentless.  We were all in the granny ring grinding it out.  Round every corner and every junction there was more up.  The views were amazing when I could wipe the sweat from my eyes to see.  My helmet was full of sweat, squeezing it against my head produced a rain of sweat down my face and onto the bike.  Good job the GPS is waterpoof.

I thought about resting many times but just kept pounding it out.  I couldn’t bear the thought of having to get back on the bike and continuing to go up.  I’d rest at the top I told myself.  If only it would appear.  Finally a gap of cloudy sky appeared above the road.  A block of view sandwiched between the wall on one side and the slopes of the hillside on the other.  I’d reached the top.  I slid off my bike and staggered around a bit, legs geting used to standing again.  Munching energy bars I plugged in the ipod for the first time to get some motivation.  I watched a few riders coast over the brow and head down the other side before getting back on the bike.

 The route took us into the woods again and then I saw a sign.  ”4km to the feed station and it’s all down hill.”  That’s the kind of sign you want to see.  The route took us into some mentally steep descents on grassy, rocky slopes with ruts and drops.  Pure adrenalin.  We countered the hill some more then I found myself in nirvana.  A section of pure singletrack bliss.  Contouring and descending a thin ribbon of pine needle covered track cut into the side of steep wooded valley.  No room for error, the up-slope side would occasionally bulge into the singletrack creating a pinch point.   The focus required to nail this was intense.  I blasted through this section with the odd squeak of joy before being deposited on to the road at the bottom with a huge grin on my face.  It may have all been worth it just for that trail I thought.

There’s always a price to pay and almost as soon as I hit the bottom my legs began to cramp terribly.  Standing didn’t help and every turn of the pedal sent a spasm into either the calf or quads.  I chose pain and I was really getting it.  I just kept peddling hoping it would go away.  We had to walk down a footpath to a narrow bridge over a truly amazing waterfall into a crystal clear pool of very cold looking water.  I dreamed of  jumping in to cool down and try to help my cramp.  Not being sure of how far it was to the end I decided to just bash on .  The cramps eased slightly.

The second visit to the feed station arrived and I took on more water.  I asked how far and was told 10km.  Bummer! I was already 3hrs 30mins in and I had set a target time of 4hrs.  I was going to miss this by some margin.  A quick mental revision and I moved the goal posts to 4hrs 30 mins and I got back on the bike.

 Being familiar with Coed-y-Brenin I was soon on fire roads and linking sections I was familiar with.  As I crested one rise I realised this was the final downhill into the carpark and the finish of the Enduro.  That wasn’t 10km that much I do know.  I dropped into the singletrack going full bore and had an amazing time trying to ride smoothly, fast and not kill myself.  Before I knew it I could see cars and people and what looked like the finish line.  I popped out in the car park, there were people waiting for friends with cameras at the ready.  I was waved on by the marshall, drifted into the timing tent and high fived the guy behind the desk.  Damn, I’d done it and under 4 hrs.  Result!

Hannah will be editing all my GoPro footage and more video she shot herself on the day so keep your eyes out for a film coming soon. You can keep up-to-date with Hannah by following Maia Media on Facebook.

Hot-tub with the team + beer and freeby howies cap.  Happy days.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2011 at 9:48 pm. It is filed under Adventure, Bike, Mountain Biking, Trip Reports and tagged with adventure, Coed-y-brenin, cycling, enduro, Films, GoPro, Howies, mountain biking, Wales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.