Etape Cymru 2011

I’ve done a few interesting sportives in Wales, from the Gran Fondo Cymru to the Dragon Ride, so when I heard of a new one offering closed roads I entered straight away.

The Etape Cymru promised to be a great end to my 2011 sportive season. It’s only the second UK sportive to be held on closed roads and the route offered up a good mix of climbs and scenery. What I got was an intense, challenging and scary experience.

Just getting to the start was fun. For once we set off with enough time but couldn’t find access to the car parks and ended up parking on a verge next to some marshals. We ended up missing the start and weaving our way through a mass of oncoming riders to get to where we could join in.

Having missed the masses we had clear roads until we caught the field that had been slowed by narrow lanes and the first few steep pitches. Having not studied the route in detail I wan’t quite expecting the onslaught of short sharp climbs that made the first part of the race the toughest. At times it felt more like I was in Cornwall than Wales.

The first 50 miles of the ride were tough, due to the climbs, narrow roads and technical descents. I felt like I was having to concentrate more than normal, which is a bit of a shame given the scenery. The second half of the race took a turn for the worse though.

It all started when I began finding bunches of riders a junctions. Initially we thought we’d missed signs but after back tracking found none. As we continued the situation got worse and a large bunch of us towards the end found our way back by backtracking against the outgoing signage.

The big problem with going of route was the uneasy feeling of not knowing if you were on a closed road. Although later on it became apparent that traffic was ignoring signs. At one point 30 or so of us came face to face with a Transit in the middle of the lane. I have no idea how someone wasn’t run down.

Post ride I found much criticism of the event but thought that the following quote was fair and apt:

Riding on roads in the expectation that they are closed to cars is more dangerous than riding on open roads with the knowledge that cars are present.

From: cyclingweekly.co.uk

Thankfully the end of the ride was less intense and I caught up with a few riders. I got chatting to one guy, Mark, and enjoy good conversation through to the finish. That’s what I love about sportives – you never know what you’re going to get or who you’re going to meet.

I really enjoyed the final few miles. Mark rode strong and I pushed to keep with him. Near the end we bunched up with a couple of people and I ended up leading a bunch in. One guy, on a nice set of wheels, took of on the final half mile. I was going to let him go but my after doing several sprint finished on Kenilworth Wheeler’s bash rides I knew I had more in me. Gritting my teeth I took to the drops for a last time, got out the saddle and drove with all I had. I overtook the bunch, crossed the line doing 55+ kph and nearly took out the girls tasked with removing timing chips. Brilliant!

I don’t want to dwell on the negative but I did feel a sense of relief when I finished. I feel that the organisers had good intentions and I repeat them for trying to put on an event of this type. I hope they learn from this year and go on to realise the potential of an awesome route.