Obviously you'd lose that too!

... a bunch of fashionista, mug and camera dangling gravel bikers that I had assumed were in the WRT. It was only after a tuna sweetcorn I came to my senses and realised that with all that Crikey, how much and sculpted facial hair I was much mistaken. The were doing the Welsh section of the GB enduro and it was very tough apparently even for Yorkshire men

I saw them after I'd just ridden down this...


I was going to say something but decided it'd be character-building for them.

I felt like I wasted the weekend a bit, riding over from Sheffield in the rain...
...eventually... left me a bit tired for enjoying Wales properly but I gave it a good shot and returned home suitably spent. Day off today to recover before work and wash the sheep/cow poo out of (everything).



Cakes and Checkpoints appreciated as ever.
More to come.

TrepidExplorer wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 10:40 am Day off today to recover before work and wash the sheep/cow poo out of (everything).

My bike is in the garage with everything still attached. Had to go right back to work.

Hopefully can get ten minutes out today to at least throw some stuff in the wash / put it out to dry.

115 miles and 4000m (13,000ft) of climbing for me

Fair play for doing the full route. That must have been quite tough after all the pushy bits!

Edit - Aww... I lost one of my socks. Must have left it on the floor in the carpark. I wouldn't mind so much but they're particularly comfy (and not cheap).

Wales at it's fluffiest! Great weekend and some wild camping with RichinNWales... nice to bump into some folks from here too... was more sociable than I was expecting but missed the mass gathering at the start. Some nice new trials from the GRs... thanks as always to Dee and Stu
WRT 2020 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr
WRT 2020 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr
The view to the Lleyn and Bardsey was great.
WRT 2020 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr
WRT 2020 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr
WRT 2020 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go ... mage%22%3E

that is a nice looking bike. you must have good taste mate......................

ton wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 3:19 pm that is a nice looking bike. you must have good taste mate......................

It's still going strong Tony - a pleasure to ride

Okay, now I'm back in the land of the internet living, I'd like to thank everyone who rode this years WRT. It was good to catch up with everyone again but I can't deny that it was a little unusual and obviously lacked the 'carnival' atosphere without the usual start ... although, anyone who witnessed me getting bowled over by a horse and nearly trampled by a second on Monday morning must have believed the circus was well and truly back in town.

I’d like to say thanks to you and Dee for the decision to stage it, although it was different it WAS still the WRT and as subtle as the tee shirt

Hopefully next year we’ll have a proper party

For thew first time I made a full bike loaded kit list......
Nothing was forgotten* and everything worked fantastically, nothing was needed and nothing was missing

* note to self, also do a cycling clothes kit list..... I forgot to pack cycling shorts.... so I rode for the 3 days with Y fronts under boxer shorts, under my black denim shorts.... I survived but moaned to myself quite a bit.

Anyway
Here's out route, starting 10 miles North West of BB towers and riding anticlockwise to pick up the tee shirt on Monday morning.


There were 3 of us Mike on his 29er, Me and Sam on Fat bikes


Having a minute on FFS hill


Ice cream stop at Dolgellau


Beach riding at Barmouth


Up to Pont Scethin


The lunar Solo appreciation society camping after a couple of pints in the pub


Falling asleep to the sound of this river was nice


Sunday morning and ready to roll


It's in the rules, right?


High above Barmouth on the all new FFFFFFS hill, which was a very steep downhill on last years BB200 just outside of Barmouth.
We reversed this route to Machynlleth


Plenty of hills and scenery spotting


Luckily for me, Sam's ghetto tubless tyre was giving him issues after damaging the sidewall on another rocky downhill.
I say luckily so that it gave me catch up each time he needed to keep stopping to put more air in again.....
The young is wasted on the young....


Another restock in Mach, before the climb up towards Dylife, where we turned off left towards the back way into Bear Bones Towers

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jCqJk1]
Rather than camping on the gravel next to the sloping forest gravel roads, Mike spotted a flat topped hill in the middle of an empty sheep field, it had a bridleway through it so we camped up there on the path.


The sunset was amazing


Remember The Fast Show? Sam doing a "Brilliant"


The moon was very bright, but we did get some star and satellite gazing done before calling it a night



Wafting the smell of Bacon then scrambled eggs over the Bear Bones Towers valley


Sam


Mike


And that's without a full water, food etc

Yet another fantastic WRT and Bear Bones ride.

Thanks Dee and Stuart and all of you for making this possible

And to close this post,
https://youtu.be/iHNmafKVDqc
Sam and I nearly taking out the side of a van, and me landing after a cattle grid onto wet sticks across the road before I managed to brake to avoid the same van......... #BloodyCyclists

Great pictures John!!

Good write up john and thanks for route plotting and company not forgetting sam
Nice chilled and relaxed pace

Oh dear that van clip was not something I needed before going to sleep...

JohnClimber wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:52 pm
The sunset was amazing

That makes me want to get on my bike and head out somewhere, anywhere. Cracking...

A very different WRT feel but glad to be out after so many months cooped up.
Managed to Pringle my rear wheel on day two and had to nurse it home all day Monday which was a very slow affair, might also have something to do with the extra weight I’ve put on over lockdown.
Cheers Stu, cheers Dee.

(150 quilt was bang on)

Ditto what everyone else said, missed the mass start but loved the August weather.

Brought loads of food but after eating tea and breakfast at the Star I brought most of it home, ha!

Only 8 months till the next WRT !!!!

barney wrote: ↑Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:31 pm Brought loads of food but after eating tea and breakfast at the Star I brought most of it home, ha!

lol... same, though I did eat my porridge somewhere near Nant-y-Moch.

It wasn't great.

Full thing for those that like lots of reading and mediocre pics.

https://trepidexplorer.blogspot.com/202 ... 0-was.html

Trep, as usual that was quite literally vaguely exciting. I've read it all but will have to go back over it again to savour some of the little cameos and nuances. Brilliant work.

Telford Travelodge - very Alan Partridge is that . And I never knew you were a closet mine hunter too . Fizzy fishy sweets have now been added to bikepackers standard fare I reckon. Yes Borth bus-stop is more than frugal and yes we also just avoided a Ranger wake up call at the visitor centre last year although we slept well - however there is an excellent pitch in the dunes nearby.

Again, vaguely exciting .

(heh heh, swear filter, not vaguely exciting obviously: awwwwwesommmmee )

Happy to report a cheque for 2k is winging its merry way towards the offices of the Wales Air Ambulance ... well done everyone

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 4:54 pm Happy to report a cheque for 2k is winging its merry way towards the offices of the Wales Air Ambulance ... well done everyone

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 4:54 pm Happy to report a cheque for 2k is winging its merry way towards the offices of the Wales Air Ambulance ... well done everyone

One of the best bits of the weekend... thanks for this Stu! What’s the running total to Welsh Air Ambulance over all the years? Do you keep a total?

What’s the running total to Welsh Air Ambulance over all the years? Do you keep a total?

I don't keep an exact total but we were over 20k a couple of years ago so I assume we're somewhere around 25k now.