2 Falls and a swim

Day 3 started bright and breezy, we start the same as every day: get to the front with all the fast guys and try and hang on for as long as possible. just by giving it the beans early on we manage to gain a few vital minutes letting us tail off during the day but still getting home inside the critical 7hrs cut off and missing the ride home in the broom wagon.

Today starts with a killer hill it feels like sea level right up to the top of Snowdon in one hit. Passing through a forest we exit onto one of the fantastic high level bridle ways of mid Wales. the views are spectacular, as normal we have a head wind which is doing a good job of cooling the sweat from our over heating heads. we soon come to our first incident of the day, somehow I manage to snap my gear cable (a cable that runs from my handle bars down to my rear wheel to select what gear i am in), a quick adjustment and its now a single speed, its not perfect but will do the job until we can get another cable.

An un planned swim

eyeing the river i look for a good line, I’ve just broken my gear cable so I’m stuck in a hard-ish gear, a couple of riders are tentatively picking their way through the river holding their bikes above their heads. I see my line and stand up to transfer more power to my back wheel, I enter the river at a good pace, more than fast enough to carry me through to the other side. my line is still good the exit looks good I’m going to make it easy, but my line is fading the water in getting deeper, out of the corner of my eye I catch a photographer, what’s he doing there I think to myself, just as my front wheel dives deeper into the river and I fly head over the bars completely submerged, I start swimming gasping for air. Bugger that’s not meant to happen.

Swift get away

after a fast exit from the river we make a swift get away, no one will have noticed and what’s the chance of the photographer getting the shot, my hint should have been in the title of the photographers website rightplacerighttime.co.uk, by the end of the day the picture has been circulated everywhere and has even ended up on the desktop of the store pc, thanks Graeme ;)

flying along at full pace it doesn’t take long to dry out my cycling kit and we soon reach the 1st water stop in time to find a new cable and get ready for the 2nd special stage of the event at Nant-yr-Arian. We each gun a can of red bull and head for the start line. Flying from the start quickly dropping the gears we head up the first and all important hill, getting out of the saddle we honk for the top and big ring it down the other side. Speeding down fast enough to gain a few vital seconds on the less technically competent riders. I find a great line near the bottom and fly past a fellow rider, on the exit of the rough stuff I slow to pass a fallen rider, Phil from the Army has had an epic fall and is looking very worse for wear, the chopper is on the way and the rescue team are already with him. its a sobering moment no matter what your experience or how easy the trail feels, things can and do go wrong. The thoughts don't last long as I’m soon on the killer descent of nant yr arin a swoopy fantastic single track I take a couple more riders on this section and am soon heading for the start of a monstrous uphill, I settle in and keeping my heart rate as high as I dare. 500m from the top I get a shout from behind, stu is just there he has had a stormer of a climb and the shout spur's me on to find an extra gear, drop the chain a few cogs and charge for the finish line, stu finishes a few seconds behind, we've clawed back 4 places we now lie in 12th. Phil has a ride in a chopper and spends a few days in hospital, lucky for him no broken bones just heavy bruising, get well soon Phil.

Fall number 1

stu's at the front and is charging, I'm stuck behind a slow rider and cannot get past but being a bit impatient I'm following too close behind, the guy in front squeezes past a fallen log I’m too close to make any adjustment and I clatter straight into the log I loose the front wheel and end up covered in mud, nursing a bloody knee and hip. But with no time to lick my wounds I need to get out of the way climbing back on the bike I head across a cow muck covered farmers yard to pull over and check the damage. The blood had stopped flowing, no point in sorting now, head back and grab a shower later and await a painful experience with a scrubbing brush and semi healed wounds.

Fall number 2

heading down a final track to the campsite, I’m, following Stu, the track has been well eaten by 4x4's and has the feeling of a roller coaster lots of woops, sharp crests and deep pools of muddy water. Stu hits one of these woops a little too fast the front wheel dives and he heads over the bars. He times it just right to land on a rock splitting is knee, a little worse than mine the blood continues to flow right back to the campsite. Like me stu has a unhappy experience in the shower trying to clear the wound of all the mud.

Day 3 ends we're a bit bruised and battered but we've have had a great day, gained a few vital places and ridden some fantastic trails, roll on tomorrow.