As childcare duties had curtailed any plans of riding over the weekend, I was determined not to waste the Monday by staying in bed or pottering around the house. I was determined to get out and do some riding. Also with having a bad chest for a couple of days, I needed a good workout to clear the lungs of all the sh1t that had collected in them. The question remained though, what to do? Should I go exploring a route over Llangollen area, or take a trip to Llandegla for a play in the skills area followed by a trip around the Black ? I know, how about this ‘Willy Wave’ lark. I’ll have a go around The Marin, I mean, having seen the times others in my age group had posted, how hard could it be
So with the alarm set for 8:30, there was just enough time to watch the film on the T.V. followed by an early night. Eventually, at 01:30 having flicked through every channel and reached the conclusion that there was nothing else on TV worth watching I made my way to bed.
As I opened my eyes at 09:30, having pushed the stop button instead of the snooze on the alarm, I jumped out of bed and made a quick cup of coffee, which I let cool down as I packed everything into the car, (there’s nothing like pre-ride preparation
). So, at 10:10 I was on my way, and with a little Meat Loaf playing on the stereo to psyche me up, nothing was going to deter me from putting in a good flying lap.
20 minutes into the journey, it dawned on me that I had forgotten my helmet. After 5 minutes debating whether I really needed it, I eventually turned around and made my way back to pick it up. A quick scan of the garage to make sure nothing else that I needed was hanging up and I confidently got back into the car and set off again.
Having eventually reached Llanrwst, passing through more lights than Blackpool Illuminations, I pulled up into a relatively quiet car park. Clear trails I thought to myself, great. Just then a group of 15 people of all shapes and sizes, each dressed in trousers, identical anoraks and ill fitting piss pot helmets turned up. Trust my luck for ‘care in the community’ to decide to turn up at exactly the same time as me! As I unloaded the bike from the boot, and said a quick ‘Hi’ to the guy in the car next to me, I heard their leader tell them that there ‘was no rush’ and that the ‘faster ones should go first, so they are not held up by the slow ones’ – Fantastic !
To waste a bit of time I thought I’d warm up by doing a couple of laps of the car park, and once everyone had disappeared, decided to unload any extra weight I may be carrying
After some last minute preparations, and with a push of the ‘start’ button on the Garmin, I was eventually off.
Up the first single-track I headed, not too quick at first as I didn’t want to burn out too early. Breathing wasn’t perfect, but I thought it would soon clear. However, I was wrong! I eventually made it to the fire road wheezing like a 40 a day smoker, I paused and took out my ventolin inhaler. One, two blows of that should do the trick, all the time conscious that the clock was ticking. I continued up the road, painfully slow. At this rate I wondered what would die first, me or the battery in the Garmin. A hundred yards up the road and it was no good, I wasn’t going to make it round like this. So I took the first escape route I found and headed back to the car via the last single-track descent. Embarrassingly looking at the Garmin, I noted the reading of 15 minutes.
After a couple of minutes of self pity, I thought that I’d give it one more chance. That 15 minutes might just be the warm up I needed to get my lungs going. So, off I set up that single-track for a second time. Having reached the first climb without keeling over I started the long climb up, passing the point I turned off on the last attempt I felt pleased with myself, passing the second escape point I felt even better. Then it was the tight left and the climb to the top. Would I be able to resist the temptation of getting to the start of the downhill section without turning right? To be honest I was that knackered I don’t think it registered as I passed it. At this rate, I was going to need a calendar to time myself not a Garmin. Eventually I reached the top of the climb and started the descents. Pretty uneventful, but at least I was still alive. As I hit the road to the Hafna mines, I convinced myself that would be the best place to make my exit to the car. Unfortunately, as I reached the road I also reached the group of dribblers. There was no way I could turn down the road with them watching, so I made the big climb up thinking of where the next escape road was. As I got to the road with the view of the house by the lake, I saw someone ahead looking like they were struggling more than I was. As I got closer I recognised him as the guy from the next car to me in the car park. With an unexpected burst of energy I took him with a cheerful ‘Hi’. Once out of sight, I had to slow right down and try and remember to breath. Last time I do something stupid like that
Anyway, I’m halfway around now, so might as well continue. Surely all my bad luck must be behind me. As I started to feel a bit better, well at least I could breathe now, I tried to pick the pace up. Coming into the Dragon’s Back, I decided to take the corner a bit wider than usual to get a good run up. Big mistake, next thing I knew was the front wheel going from underneath me
After picking both myself and my bike up, I jumped on to continue, only to feel a little pain from my left leg. Only a scratch I told myself as I pushed on. When I eventually stopped to bang the bar end back in place with a big rock, I looked down at my leg to see this
So with only two climbs to go and the final descent I was nearly home. I slogged up the climbs with my eyes closed and my leg pounding and finally reached the top and the start of the last descents. Just got to safely negotiate these and I’m home. So there I was
flying,
going quick, bribbling down the last couple of sections, when I suddenly encounter some guy walking his dog down the middle part of the descent. After a screech of the brakes and a shout from me, he stood there like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car. His dog came bounding over to greet me like a long lost relative. Having thanked him for getting his dog under control I carried on to the car park relatively hassle free.
So there you have it, my first attempt at a wave around the Marin. The time ? 1:53:39. Disappointed ? A little, but to be honest, I’m just glad I got around alive. Will I do it again? Too ‘king right I would!