With gusty winds around and a cool start I went out fairly well covered. At times the sun came out and I was feeling overdressed but with a cross-wind I didn't feel that too often - unless I was out of the wind or moving slowly. I had also chosen a non-direct route to avoid winds on the wide open usual main roads while trying to keep things z2/3 to really save my legs and power for the climb to come. I'd ear marked myself 1.5 hours there (and the same back) with around an hour for the climb/descent/stops. So 4 hours total ride time. On the ride out it became
obvious the wind and rolling terrain was killing my average speed and increasing my ride time. I diverted to the main road and it felt like a relentless headwind.
Average was good, but I took another diversion to a road I thought would shelter me,
it did but was far too rolling to help. Whoops! Thankfully by then I'd nearly reached Abergavenny. I stripped off arm & knee warmers, pocketed with my Gilet and headed over to The Tumble. Took a wrong turn and ended up on a dual carriageway sliproad. Dammit. Retraced steps and found a different way to Llanfoist but did spot the cycle path below the dual carriageway I'd aimed for. Next time! Tweaked kit on the road just before and still had to stop at the bottom to get a stone out of my shoe.
Annoyed with all the stops and the busy traffic I started the climb a bit hard. Through the sheltered trees at the bottom things where very warm, further up past the cattle grid/trees things opened up and there was more relief from the air, but the sun was out there in force! I reined myself in knowing the bottom switchbacks are brutal. They didn't disappoint! I sat wherever possible and just paced things by power, trying to hold below 250W but at parts it became a paced stood grind in 34*30 just to keep moving before sitting in the 32t to recover. I had expected this so was sure not to bury myself too much, yet looking back at the data now I was at the top end of my Z4 HR (166-184bpm) for the entire climb (182bpm avg). Surprised I didn't blow!
There was a vintage car rally on ('Two Rivers Tour') and much of the climb you could smell oil and clutches. All the different cars did make for some nice distractions through the pain! Just at the cattle grid - anyone riding The Tumble will know at this point you've done the steep ramps of 'Fiddlers Elbow' but are about to leave the shelter of the trees for the top slog. You normally don't want to lose traction here as stopping just as things ease off feels strange and hurts. There was temporary traffic lights! Slowed to a crawl to avoid stopping, but had to when a car in front stalled. Only a couple of seconds, I got going again and as things opened up I could see a couple of riders up in front. I had a couple of carrots to chase!
Settled into the grind, counting pedal strokes until gradient eased enough to spin out & recover a little before the lower gradients of the top drags. As things eased I caught the first of my 'carrots', giving him a couple of words of encouragement as we passed another of the vintage cars broken down in a lay-by (was maybe 3 or 4 of them scattered over the climb!). He was struggling, looked like he was under-geared really grinding it as I was able to pass him sat at 80+rpm. I'm sure he secretly hated me! I settled into a good rhythm, recovering enough while keeping the cadence up so I slowly increased the power. I caught carrot #2 just before the false flat and lower gradient of the top. Exchanged a few words with him about the smell of clutches nearly all the way up. Manged to empty the tank a little towards the line, but was pretty cooked at that point. Had a good chat with the guys at the top before taking a couple of pictures.
EDIT: Really enjoyed the descent, trying to clear a few fears I have of descending at speed.
Very confidence building, breaking 40mph! Found the traffic lights annoyingly at the cattle grid, but also probably helped me not to hit it a little too fast. Also had to slow up on the descent for an accident which had happened near the bottom, gutted to see a nice old car with a huge scrape from bumper to bumper from a caravan who'd obviously been decending too quickly and sideswiped him.
Trying to navigate from Komoot on my mobile (mounted to the bars)
I came unstuck where a cut through road I'd used on the way in was only 1 way... I didn't find the maps on Komoot great for finding streets so just loaded Google Maps instead. Far more familiar with that and easily found my way back to the road I wanted. The cross headwinds on the ride back really sapped my energy. Was firstly trying to maintain speed, then had to settle on pacing by power, but realised even at fairly Z3 power I was cooking myself so had to settle by pacing with HR. I thought I'd eaten enough but
hit the wall once back on the rolling terrain at Wormbridge. I figured it was a lack of sugar and crawled to Locks for an ice cream to get me home. Ride home was a real slog, but that £1.20 ice cream and a Boost Duo really helped,
my HR being lower, speed & power feeling easier after the stop. Couple of instant brain freezes from the ice cream really indicating I was probably overheated and dehydrated. With the winds feeling cool I obviously hadn't been drinking enough!