SheCycles.com team in action!
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Kim Hurst [resident SheCycles Clinic Doc] and adventure athlete Heather Dawe have been slogging their guts out in deepest Wales since Sunday 13th August in the name of the SheCycles women's pair at the TransWales mountain bike stage race!
Contact with the SheCycles HQ has been tricky due to intermittent phone and laptop access but we've tracked them down and here is the update from the horses mouths!
Sunday 13th August
"We rode 85km on Sunday in a time of 5hr 40mins, both Heather and I felt strong and rode well together. We're actually about the same speed which is amazing since we haven't actually trained together. (The girls did the 90 mile Bealach na Ba Road ride challenge, that didn't go so well - see their report below.) We climb well together and Heather is really fast on the downhills too, I've raced DH and don't like to hang about so it's cool she's keeping up well!" laughed Kim.
Monday 14th August
"The Special Stage today was the Relay Time Trial at Nant yr Arian, we both rode the 16km circuit, which was good fun and really fast. With both our times added together we totalled 47mins, amazingly we both rode very similar times! This gives us the leaders 'Buff' jersey (actually it's white and orange not buff coloured -Ed). The time trial was followed by the linking stage which had over 900m of climbing and someawesome trails. We're both having a great time and are making up loads of time on the linking stages without having to expend too much energy." For a full report of the Special Stage go to the TransWales website.
Tuesday 15th August
Poor phone signal resulted in a short text message from Kim saying "Rode in leader's jerseys today, an excellent 65km linking stage with 1890m of ascending! The night time trial was awesome, we pushed each other so hard and each clocked 37 mins. (The good TT result would put the SheCycles.com team in 27th in the men's category - Ed)
Welsh river crossings!
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Wednesday 16th August
This is the fourth linking stage from the Trail Centre at Coed-y-Brenin to Cli-machx Trail (Machynlleth), the text from Kim said "Still in leader's jersey with a long and very wet stage today, we had some mechanical problems too which slowed things down. The bikes are sorted for Thursday's racing which starts with a Special Stage on the Cli-machx Trail followed by the 65km linking stage into Mid Wales!" Kim also wanted to tell us that "the event has been really well organised with great food and amazing trails...what more can you ask for? A big 'Well Done' to the organisers!"
Still to come!
Thursday sees the 3rd special stage on the Cli-machx trail, a Relay Time Trial where the first rider does the first half, the second rider takes over and finishes the loop. The fastest team time over the 15km course counts. There is 350m of climbing to take in over the 15km so tired legs will be suffering!
Friday 18th August is the 6th stage from Llanafan to Rhandirnwyn
covering 90km and 2800m of climbing followed by the Special Stage on the Cwm-y-Rhayader trail in the evening. There are two options for the 7km stage with 260m climbing:
Option 1: only one rider has to ride to get a stage time, both riders can ride individually and fastest time counts.
Option 2: relay time trial - first rider does the first half (to the top and steep short cut to hand over), the second rider takes over and finishes the loop. The fastest team time counts.
Saturday 19th August is the 7th and final linking stage from Rhandirnwyn back to the White House Farm in Builth Wells, with a distance of 75km and 2500m of climbing.
The end of the first ever TransWales will be celebrated with a party - we expect to see some sore behinds and big grins considering those who finished will have ridden approx 543km (338miles) and climbed approx 15,990m (52460 feet).
Claire Notman
