Total Distance: 60.63 miles
Total Time: 4hr 40m 20s
Max Speed: 33.2mph
Avg Speed: 13mph
Avg H/Rate: 134bpm
Cadence: 72rpm
Ascent: 3,954ft

As agreed some months ago, I met up with Rafe at just gone 8am (I was late) outside his hotel in Llandudno. For some reason this weekend piqued his interest… Perhaps it was me? Oh no – it was the opportunity to masturbate over things! He claims he didn’t know there was some sort of Steam Festival on at over the weekend – but am positive that he already knew ;)

We started off by travelling round the Great Orme – nothing special, but a nice warm up for the ride ahead, and with the stunning views on offer, am sure that Rafe was happy that we went round. Here are some of the views that you get from the Great Orme (none took this weekend I might add):

Once we made it round the Orme and down onto the West Shore, I got a little lost. It wasn’t my fault – it was the fact that fairground rides where placed randomly on the streets which confused me. We eventually made it back onto roads that I knew and headed towards Conwy where we had the pleasure of cycling past the lovely Conwy Castle.

At this point I asked if Rafe wanted the scenic route or the normal Route 5 route and he chose the scenic. I built up the Sychnant Pass into an enormous mountain of endless climbing and, to be honest, by the time we both got to the peak – we both left a little disappointed. In my defence – the last time I rode up it, I wasn’t as fit, it was 6am in the morning and was pitch black with no street lighting, so it seemed like an endless climb.

We headed down Sychnant Pass into Paenmaenmawr along my familiar Welsh route and on to Llanfairfechan, passing over the purpose built NCR5 over the A55.

Onwards we travelled across the NCR5 through purpose built lanes through farmland, and then, after passing through a quaint little village hidden behind a gate (I must take some photo’s next time I cycle through here, because it really is amazing) and then headed through the woods through to Bangor.

Once in Bangor, and cycling along the front, I remembered the ride with John Berry and redbikes and the fact that, bizarrely, National Route 5 passes through a little ship yard. I also remembered once we where up the long slow climb here, that National Route 5 also takes you on a 300 mile detour – and I wasn’t willing to do that – so we headed the way that me and Emma Rush headed, straight to the Menai Bridge (again, another bloody landmark that I haven’t taken a picture of yet!).

We arrived over the bridge (whilst passing a really grumpy woman with her child) and over onto the roundabout. I didn’t want to go any further, as I knew the pain and hell that awaited along the long winding country lanes of Anglesey. Here we have pictures of the two riders at the mid point of the ride before turning round. I’m the attractive one.

After a brief respite and a banana, we headed back the way we came. Whilst in Bangor, and I was homing pigeoning my way back to Llandudno we stumbled upon a street called “Garth Hill”. It looked steep. It looked very steep and we turned round to ride up it. It was short, and of course, Rafe bombed it off and eneded up at the top first, and waited for me to trundle up behind. I was surprised that I made it to the top too, because it looked steeper than Mow Cop, and me and Rafe discussed how steep it actually was. According to the 705, it was a 45 degree angle at least! 1 in 2 or 1 in 1? I haven’t a clue. Pics of the little mountain are here.

I know what your thinking… “Thats not steep” but pictures never give off the steepness of a hill – they always make it look rubbish :)

Once we’d cycled back round to the bottom of Garth Hill (I couldn’t ride down it as my brakes are a little worn) we continued on our merry way back to Llandudno, via the beautiful NCR5 to Paenmaenmawr. From here, we decided to go the coastal route back to Conwy, missing out Sychnant Pass (it would have been a twat cycling back up the other way).

We made it back to Llandudno safely and as we cycled round a corner to get off the main road, a lovely bunch of people just wandered right out in front of us. Rafe made a comment and they laughed and apologised and all was well with the world. I then cycled Rafe back to the vicinity of his hotel and turned back around. I was heading back towards Mostyn Champneys Retail Park and (perhaps Rafe is my lucky charm?) a woman pulled out of a junction without looking.

I saw red for the first and only time on my journey and sped up to give her a piece of my mind – little realising that the traffic was bumper to bumper and she’d put her brakes on… At the last minute I realised what was going to happen and slammed on the brakes. My front wheel hit the back of her car and my back end lifted up in the air. I let go of the bike and grabbed hold of anything I could on the back of her car and came down with a thump.

I looked through her window – waved an apology and sheepishly pulled over to check my bike.

Fortunately, the only thing that seemed to be wrong was the brakes had moved. I adjusted them back to their normal position and jumped back on the bike… Score 1 to the driver!

Ride over, I got back to the house and consumed a rather large amount of chocolate, had a bath and headed out with the family for the afternoon – meeting up with Rafe and Penny in the evening for a few beers and something to eat.

Unfortunately, the one valuable lesson I haven’t yet learned after a long ride is that you can’t go out and consume lots of alcohol when you are dehydrated… Leads to a bad head the day after ;)

Oh, and I bought a Mac Book Pro.