The Black Mountain No Longer Frightens Me - 23rd July

Saturday was a beautiful day and I repeated my favourite ride the Trecastle Road loop. This time I had Phil with me or maybe I should say I had to try and keep up with Phil. We met another cyclist going the opposite way and stopped and chatted with him for a while. He'd obviously been cycling for years and was doing many more miles than us on this particular day - but he still seemed quite impressed with the route we were doing apparently it involves a grade 2 climb - whatever that means. He also said that to cycle through Wales is fantastic and that we'd really enjoy it, I felt like asking him to join us.

Me on the Trecastle Road 

Eventually we said goodbye to our friend and cycled on and the scenery was as stunning as ever! the only thing spoiling it was that there seemed to be a lot more traffic than normal - I counted 46 motorbikes along the road to Brynamman. . Once again I got over the big hill, this no longer frightens me.

Me on the grade 2 climb

nearly at the top

Here's our route. Would have done under 4 hours if we hadn't chatted for so long

People Wonder Why My Hair's Gone Curly - 22nd July

The forecast had shown that the weather would be dry - so why was I now cycling to work in the most torrential rain.

It was as they say bucketing down, the roads were flooding and I was soaked through to the skin. I had no choice but to press on and besides I knew a hot shower, cup of tea and toasted teacake were waiting for me in the office (before I clock-in). What I hadn't appreciated was that even my change of clothes in my rucksack had got wet and consequently I spent the rest of the day slightly damp - no wonder my hair's gone curly!
Another milestone as today I also cycled home from work, by which time it had stopped raining and the sun was out  hooray.

For some reason my garmin didn't work for the outward journey but I did a time of 1:38:20. This was slower than the week before but not surprising considering the conditions, plus I also stopped to put up a site notice as it was on my route.
These are the stats for my journey home - bit of a struggle really

Overall

Time:	01:46:19
Distance:	17.13 mi
Elevation Gain:	930 ft
Calories:	1,866 C

Timing

Time:	01:46:19
Moving Time:	01:42:33
Elapsed Time:	01:46:19

Avg Pace:	06:12 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	05:59 min/mi
Best Pace:	02:34 min/mi

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	930 ft
Elevation Loss:	246 ft
Min Elevation:	10 ft
Max Elevation:	711 ft

A Warm Summer's Evening Run - 20th July

I managed to make it to one of  SBOC Wednesday evening orienteering events. This one was in Penmaen Burrows overlooking Three Cliffs. I was one of the last to start and hardly saw a soul all the way round my course, just me the map, the compass, the dunes and oh yes my little dog.

Seren cools off in a trough of cold water after her run

I enjoyed my run but still so slow .....did a time of just under an hour and didn't come last.

A Bumpy Ride In The Wind -19th July

I managed to get a quick bike ride in between sorting out my daughter's social life and cleaning the house! I headed out towards Brynammman with a view to climbing up Pen-Rhiw-Wen but there was a strong gusty wind blowing and at the last minute decided not to go for the climb. Instead I dropped into Lower Brynamman and through Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen and back down towards Pontardawe. But this wasn't a good road for cycling as there was a lot of heavy traffic and I won't be repeating this route.



Still had to climb up onto the Gwrhyd, which was a bit of a struggle I really need to work on getting up steep hills otherwise I'll end up pushing my bike. But my reward for getting up the hill was a chance to watch a beautiful  pair of red kites hunting for food over the Gwrhyd.

Was That Mark Cavendish I Was Cycling With?

Phil and I did the Carreg Cennen loop. Well I say Phil and I but in reality Phil was just a florescent dot on the horizon as I tried to keep up, how can he be so much better than me already ....Grrrr he says its because he's got proper cycling shoes so I'm getting a pair now!

Eventually I caught him up mainly because he wasn't sure of the way and we cycled together enjoying the stunning views of Carreg Cennen Castle

Carreg Cennen Castle

I've now mastered the art of drinking and eating while cycling which is going to be useful for the bike ride.

My Journey To Work - 14th July

I cycled to work - yippee. This was quite a milestone for me as I had often wondered if I'd ever be able to do this again -cycling about 20 miles and then doing a days work is exhausting, but I was fine. The weather was perfect and I felt great especially whizzing past all the queues of  cars attempting to get into Swansea but going no where.

I wasn't going to leave my beautiful bike outside all day, just incase she got nicked, so I took her into the office - hope nobody minded.
Here's my route

Three Days In A Row - 11th July

After bombing out the day before Phil was brave enough to get back on the bike on the Monday for an evening cycle . There's no such thing as an easy ride around here so we opted for a ride over the Gwrhyd  to Llangiwig Church a distance of about 8.5 miles. When we got there Phil seemed more interested in the Golf Course than the pretty church! On the mountain road we pass this little chapel

The Little Red Chapel on The Gwrhyd

We were out for about 1 hour. Although this was only a short ride it meant I'd been cycling three days in a row.

Phil Gets A New Bike - 10th July

I think Phil had decided that the only way he was going to see his wife and son was to also get a road bike and it was  with great excitement that his shinny new bike arrived on Saturday. We couldn't wait to get out on it and  decided to ride down to Swansea the next day where the air show was going on,  Charlie joined us.

The Swansea Airshow was fantastic

I  thought Phil was going to be a bit cautious initially but there was none of this he just jumped on the new bike and sped off in hot pursuit of Charlie and I had to go flat out to keep up. Basically with these two it was a case of keep up or get left behind - which I was really happy with because it meant I was coming out of that box labelled 'cancer patient'. It took about 1 hour 30 minutes to get down to Swansea, we could hear the the aeroplanes as we approached.

Phil on Sail bridge

Look at all the people on Swansea Beach

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By his own admission Phil found the cycle home hard going and in the end I was waiting for him... ha ha This is what he posted on facebook

got my new boardman, first ride for years was from home to the swansea air show with sarah and charlie, and back..50 miles later, dizzy, feel sick, shaking, no legs...just typing up a "Free to good home" sign

Here's our route

Tanya and Sarah Start To Fly - 9th July

Tanya had been having bad dreams about getting over the big hill (Pen Rhiw Wen). This is the climb towards the end of The Bike Ride and  its also part of the 'Trecastle Road loop'. So she decided to attempt this loop just to see how 'bad' the climb was going to be and I decided to join her. Its great to have company on a training ride and we pelted along chatting about this and that and generally having a good laugh (must be getting fitter  to be able to cycle and chat).

Chance for a brief rest while Tanya changes into her shorts

It was also great to see Tanya relishing the scenery as I had done on my first excursions especially since she's been giving me a lot of stick about how I find everything  so' wonderful'! We made Usk Reservoir about 5 minutes ahead of schedule and decided to  press on and it felt like we were flying  we're both getting fitter and this was feeling good. I'm also getting much braver on the descents and we were just flying down these .. yahooo. Eventually we joined the road that leads to the big climb and things got a bit more serious and my little friend fell quiet, the focus now was on getting up the hill we just took it slowly and steadily climbed, there was no enjoying the scenery now we were just pushing on up the hill and eventually with legs burning we both made it to the top!!!! the descent down the other side of Pen-Rhiw-Wen is fantastic and the new fearless Sarah was hammering along  just about hanging onto my bike when suddenly I was aware of Tanya alongside me singing 'she'll be coming round the mountain when she comes' - what a nutter. We nearly got taken out by a couple of sheep which would of been a bit of a shame after surviving the climb.
Anyway thanks Tanya  for a great training ride I'm so glad you'll be doing this with me.
 Here's our route

Jane Gets An Unexpected Visitor - 4th July

The Monday after our epic journey to The Lakes, Hannah and Charlie were playing with the Cwmtawe Brass Band in a concert at Margam Orangery. They had to be there 2 hours before the start of the concert to rehearse so rather than just waiting around for a couple of hours I seized the opportunity to catch up with some desperately needed training

I decided to head for the coast and cycle over to Porthcawl. It was the most perfect summers evening for cycling and lots of people were out on their bikes. Now in the Swansea Valley we're a friendly lot and if you see another cyclist you always acknowledge each other even if its just a grunt or lifting a finger off the handle bars. But here I was saying hello to other cyclist and just getting blanked so I quickly gave up on that! Cycling by the dunes and the sea on gentle hills was very pleasant and in no time at all I was in Porthcawl. I decided to visit Jane. She had a real surprise and for a few moments thought I'd cycled from Rhiwfawr, anyway had a cup of tea with Sis and then headed back just in time to catch a wonderful concert though I was a bit of an embarassment to my children as I enjoyed the concert still wearing my flourecent cycling gear.

Cymru Am Byth 1st - 3rd July

Phil and I had the absolute pleasure of taking the Welsh Junior Orienteering Team up to the Lake District for a weekend of competing in the Junior Inter Regional Championships (JIRCs). Whilst this was a complete honour for us both it did mean that I wouldn't be able to get much cycling done for the third weekend in a row. I took my running kit just in case there was a chance of a run.

The biggest challenge of the weekend for Phil and me was driving our wreck of a minibus all through Wales and then onto The Lakes and back -  we affectionately named the bus Myfanwy. Believe me she looks good in this photo!

Well Myfanwy got us there and back and the Welsh Team did brilliantly and Mrs Wales as I became known to the organisers was very proud. Here's the fabulous team 

No chance to run and so no training all weekend :( but still had a good time).

Brief Encounter - 28th June

I was keen to do the Trecastle Road (beetroot sandwiches) Loop again and so as soon as I'd recovered from our flying trip to London I once again headed out up the valley. As I turned into the Trecastle Road there were a group of DoEers aimlessly wandering across the road ladened down with immense rucksacks, some with saucepans dangling. As I approached they started encouraging me 'keep going!' 'you can do it love!' they shouted - blimey must be looking tired already I thought. I pushed on still savoring the magic of this place, this is the view from the highest point on the Trecastle Road you can see Pen-y-Fan in the distance.

                                       
Eventually I stopped for a breather in the tiny village of Pontar Hydfer as I munched on my museli bar this magnificent buzzard swooped down and landed on a stone cross in the church yard right in front of me we shared a brief moment and then he took off again. I pressed on up a hill past the Usk Reservoir and out into the open moorland eventually joining the road to Brynamman. But before I reached Brynamman there was a small matter of a big hill to get over. I slogged on. The road seemed a lot quieter on a Tuesday afternoon, but just as I was thinking how wonderful no racing motorbikes to contend with  I heard the distant whine of an approaching motorbike the noise kept getting loader and sure enough 5 minutes later two bikes screamed passed me. Once again I made it to the top of the hill but  I was more tired this time (maybe because I hadn't had a beetroot sandwich) the last few miles were a bit of a struggle but I made it. Here's my route

Discovering Churches 25th -26th June

I'm soo behind writing this blog, lots been happening but not as much cycling as I should be doing. On the weekend of 26th June my neice and nephew were baptised so we had a very special day in London with my brother's family and friends. Here's photo of some of the girls in my family outside the church

 On the saturday before the baptism I managed to get out on the bike in the evening. Once again it was raining and I found it hard to believe that there were warnings of a looming heatwave in the news. I headed out over the Gwrhyd and went for a little explore and found Llangiwig Church. I've lived here for nearly 20 years and this is the first time I've visited this remote pretty little church

here's my route

How Lucky Are We! - 23rd June

I was mad enough to go training with the Welsh Junior Orienteering Squad, Charlie was training so rather than just wait in the car or something I decided to join in. We met at Penmaen on this beautiful summers evening. How lucky are we to have such a beautiful place to do our training - right on our doorstep!

We started with a warm up run through dunes and then were put into pairs, I was paired with my great friend and long time running partner Margaret who had coaxed me into doing the training and now was so pleased to see me actually running. We did a mock relay race this involved running a set lap in the dunes handing over to your partner who runs the same lap while you recover. Everyone was told to do 5 laps apart from Maragret and I who could do 4 - well you can guess how many laps Maragret and I did yep 5! we then had a warm down run along the beach which turned into a bit of a scramble up the rocks as the tide had come in. I thought training with the squad was going to be a bit hellish no pain no gain sort of thing but it wasn't like that at all in fact it was a lot of fun so thanks to Mark and Alice- WJS coaches for organising the training and letting me join in.