On Monday I made the 6 hour car journey to Snowdonia where I would be camping for the week. When I set off from Dorset the weather was amazing but the further north I drove, the worse it got….
The drive was long and very boring but keeping my sights set on the mountains I kept pedal to the metal and smashed it out! Upon arrival in Snowdonia I headed to the Llanberis campsite where the wind was blowing and the rain was pouring. The tent went up and I attacked the bottle of rum that had accompanied me for the journey! The pitch I had for the tent was on a steep hill so it really was a rough nights sleep, this got worse and worse!
Traffic got bad #sheepissues
Kate and I scaled Snowdon on Tuesday in horrendous weather, we ascended the Pyg trail and descended the Llanberis route. The weather really was terrible giving us no views whatsoever on the climb and at the summit. The descent was a good time to scout out my lines ready for the record attempt.
Big views at the summit of Snowdon…
On Wednesday we were very kindly offered a room at the Royal Victoria Hotel Llanberis by the manager Ann. This was absolutely amazing and thoroughly needed if I was going to attempt a record the following day. The hotels food and accommodation was incredible and gave my body the essential rest before putting my body through some serious tention and pain. I really recommend to anyone visiting the area to stay at Ann’s hotel, the staff are fantastic and the food is also great. Perfect for adventurous people walking or cycling in the area that require descent sleep and rest!
Checking in to the Royal Victoria Hotel Llanberis.
Dinner at the Royal Victoria Hotel was incredible.
The race run was at 5:05pm (adhearing to the cycle rules on the mountain) on Thursday 6th August. The top section was incredibly rocky and slow, this meant I had to pace myself and really ensure no early mistakes were made. All went to plan here…
Battling my way through the rocks
The middle section of the course is extremely fast hitting speeds of in excess of 50mph. This photo was taken by Kate of the ‘speed section’ of the mountain.
Just a few moments after passing through this section my front wheel exploded throwing my over the bars. Luckily I stayed on the path and avoided toppling over the edge of the mountain. Unfortunately there were no photographers at this point and no footage of the incident. I walked the rest of the way down the mountain carrying my 15kg bike (around 1 hour) got in the car and drove straight home! Not a good result but I WILL RETURN IN FULL FORCE WITH A NEW WHEEL!
Thanks to all of my sponsors and Ann for making this possible. I look forward to attempt number two.
flying over the rocks with my ‘magic carpet’ suspension thanks to TF Tuned.
