So, here's my little write up from gritfest last weekend.
Firstly, a big thank you and congratulations @Matt Page, family and friends/ team, for the warm welcome and for putting on such an excellent event - many people commented just how special it felt to be at an
actual event again, with
people, and lots of them.
I didn't ride over on my bike in the end, combination of the weather forecast for heavy rain all day Sunday (which never happened), and listening to my family's advice "Don't go being a twit now" (quote from "Hot Fuzz").
So car it was, which meant I could take not just a "normal"/bigger tent, some luxuries like a proper pillow, but of course also lots of extra/spare clothing, which for a while was almost a bit stressful as bordering on making choices on "outfits"
which had me almost wish I was limited to what I could take on the bike
Just to remind everyone, this was not a bikepacking event, but a race, although obviously as it was gravel based there was a big overlap. I realized that this was a somewhat different crowd than on here when, soon after I had installed myself in the luxury of my tent, arranging and rearraning piles of stuff, bedding, cooking things, food, pairs of shoes etc.,I had a total of three people walking past and commenting "wow, that really is a small tent" (it was nothing special, a Lichfield treklite 200 1/2 person tent) "that is proper hardcore" "that's a really small tent you have there, I like your setup" - maybe they were just trying to be friendly and make conversation...
After a bit of wandering round and checking out the stalls, I had a very comfy nights sleep.
Saturday morning and start of the ride/race, and there was a
very impressive collection of riders and bikes lining up at the start. I hung back to the very tail end of the start, being very much aware that I was like the farm cob in a stable full of fine thoroughbred racehorses
I couldn't give you a detailed account of the course, other than that it was perfect weather conditions, and 75km of blissful riding through gorgeous wild countryside on generally long sweeping ups and downs on obviously mostly gravel, with a few short road sections in between - just gorgeous over there
IMG_20210619_173731_670 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
In between the timed stages, there was time for an obligatory log stack shot (trust me, there was no difference between my timed stage and non timed riding speeds
)
IMG_20210619_173731_656 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
One interesting aspect was that there was pretty much no mobile phone coverage both at the event base, and out on the course. Which I thought was really nice at base, as people had to find other things to do than look at their phones, like talk to each other. Out on the course, when passing the three people who had crashed, it was a bit more sobering and food for thought about the consequences of an off with injury in such a remote area...more justification for me to continue at my uber cautious speed on the downhills
Riding at the back, I met and chatted with a couple a few times. They were on mountain bikes, but said they thought the course was more "bumpy" than they expected, which even I thought was surprising, as everything was pretty much super wide smooth gravel heaven - they also said they were expecting it to be more of a "drink beer the night before, be hungover on the day and ride along bimbling with a headache before hitting the beer again" kind of event, so they weren't going to do day 2 (I told them about the real ale wobble, which might be more their thing)
From a safety point of view it was great, and no criticism of the event at all, but for the second half of the ride I was always conscious of the sweeper following behind me (I have to say, doing his best to be discreet and out of view), which for me was a tiny bit off putting, as it was just different - normally I would have stopped for a bit longer to enjoy the views, take lots of pictures etc. -but then it was a race event after all.
This picture I just really like, stopped there for a few minutes to stretch out my back
IMG_20210619_173731_611 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
On the way back, after the gorgeous last section riding around Llyn Brianne and back on the way to Cilycwm, my late arrival back was masked by about half the field getting waylaid in this pub at Rhandirmwyn Bridge and rolling in late after a pint or two
(took this photo on the Sunday)
IMG_20210620_104614 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent partaking in ample rehydration and eating, ambling about the place and chatting to people - oh, including Alan from twmpa cycles, you know, the wooden ones? - really nice, friendly atmosphere.
Alas, a headache made its presence known by early evening, which would turn into a migraine overnight, and which meant I didn't ride day 2 (didn't want to be even more of a liability!) - not sure why, definitely not dehydration or alcohol, on reflection probably some tight muscles which I probably should have massaged or something... but hey, I am a Woman Of A Certain Age, so my body does odd things whenever it feels like it, just have to accept it and ride it out....
So instead, I just went on my own little bimble up the valley on Sunday morning, very nice. Not planned, but as it happens I turned a corner and found myself on the day 2 route just as several riders hurtled down a hill, so I took the opportunity to take a few snaps, some very smiley riders clearly enjoying themselves.
IMG_20210620_163010_841 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
Back to HQ in time for more coffee and to watch the leaders come into the finish. Some incredible riding there. Oh, and I'm still a little bit (ok, quite a bit) star struck that Josh Ibbett was there
This post is already way too long, sorry, but finally just my thoughts again on the whole "being last" thing (let's face it I had plenty of time on Saturday to think about this
). It's the one thing we all secretly dread, isn't it, being last, looking like a fool... I've done it a few times, now, and have learned that 1) nothing bad happens 2)nobody is horrible to you, in fact a lot of people are really supportive about it and respect you for having a go, and 3) this weekend I thought a lot about how those of us who are slow/ last/ not very good at things (whilst still thoroughly enjoying themselves) might just make events a whole lot more inclusive and encourage others to have a go. I know from myself that I wouldn't have done half the things I have done if it hadn't been for watching and reading the results and stories of people who were last, struggled, gave up even. So I'd like to think I did my part for some newbies to the wonderful world of bikes and gravel
Would I recommend this event? Yes, definitely, either for people who want to have a bit of a blast and some friendly racing in a great part of the world for it; or for people new to off road/ gravel biking, who don't quite know where is a good place to do it; have no or few mates to do it with; and/or who like the relative comfort and safety of an organized event.
Once more, thank you Matt and team, top job
). Another mate of mine, in Germany, said "there's got to be some events there if it's that good", which made me google a bit and I found this one. 
- will let you know when I hear anything.
. I'll write something about it tomorrow...