Slaying the Welsh dragon

Slaying the Welsh dragonThe land of the red dragon, with its mountains and valleys, has a fearsome reputation for cyclists. Chris Pugh tackled the Mille Cymru in 2018 with friend and fellow

Audaxer, Clare Walkeden. It was a punishing 1,000km journey over the toughest of terrains – and it left Chris with a deep personal animosity for

Pembrokeshire in particular. This is the story of their ride

THE MILLE CYMRU is more than just a bike ride. The route takes in literally thousands of hills – the total ascent being twice the height of Mount Everest. The savage scale of the thing made it, without doubt, the hardest, toughest, silliest event I’ve ever done.

My journey here was an emotional one. A few years ago I attempted a 400km ride which I quit through sheer boredom. The mental desolation of not having spoken to anyone for 18 hours just did me in.

When my cycling friend Clare Walkeden and I decided to do Mille Cymru I knew we had to do it together – neither of us could have ridden this alone. Clare has more experience of this type of challenge but even she wondered whether it was actually possible.

FIRST LEG: UPTON MAGNA TO LLANWRTYD WELLS

303KM, 4,500M CLIMB

We rolled off at 8am. Everything we’d learned about Mille Cymru had told us that this was going to be hard, both physically and mentally. It was July, so it was also going to be hot. The only way to ride this was to break it down mentally into a section at a time. Ride, sit down, regroup, and off you go to the next section.

The miles rolled by – over Long Mynd, Stiperstones and Red Lion Hill on the first section. Then on to Bwlch Llywn Bank, Llanbedr and the Gospel Pass. Things began to hurt. It was so hot. Other riders were clearly struggling. We’d only done 160km.

The third section was mercifully flat, but all ridden in savage heat. By Tintern we’d done 200km. It was 8pm, and still another 100km to go. We rode on into the night with a stunning sunset. I felt privileged just to be rolling along quietly witnessing this sheer beauty. After one final mountain, Mynydd Eppynt, we reached our stop at 1am, with 300km done. Only 715km to go.

Sleep was, alas, impossible. I guess that

Welsh dragon

Chris Pugh, aged 47, from Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire, has been riding Audaxes on and off for 20 years. As well as completing the Mille Cymru, he also rode PBP in 2019. He admits to “going over to the dark side” from time to time to take part in a number of Ironman challenges. Clare Walkeden, aged 37, from Kenilworth, Warwickshire, has also competed in Ironman events. She did LEL in 2017 and PBP in 2019.

in a room of 100 cyclists there’s always going to be a snorer. And what a snorer! Hey ho.

SECOND LEG: LLANWRTYD WELLS BACK TO LLANWRTYD WELLS

320KM, 4,800M CLIMB

Out of the door at 4.30am and straight on to one of the most feared climbs in the UK – the Devils Staircase. It’s not pleasant at the best of times, and even less pleasant after being on the bike for a full day, without sleep. I was already felling nauseous, the body already telling me that it wasn’t happy with what I’m doing to it.

Up and over Devils Staircase and into a very remote section of the ride. Clare and I were both struggling badly. It was a very tough 100km leg, especially when sleepdeprived and fatigued. We were saved by the “van of dreams” – a roaming van full of sugary delights and, more importantly, coffee. We felt it had saved our lives.

The next stop was St Davids – 500km done, and officially half way. So now we were in Pembrokeshire. Never go to Pembrokeshire. I could leave this stage blank – erase the horrors from my memory. Never to be revisited.

It was the grimmest, most unpleasant, nasty, savage 80km of riding I’ve ever done. I’ve no idea how long that 80km took us. It felt like we were there the entire day, just desperate to escape the misery but unable to do so. Nasty, nasty one kilometre climbs at 15 to 20 per cent, round the corner and straight back down again to the next village by the sea. Through the village and back up another nasty climb, round the corner and repeat, repeat, repeat. I take photos when I am happy. No photos were taken on this section. My soul just left my body. Never have I suffered so much misery on a bike.

THIRD LEG: LLANWRTYD WELLS TO LAKE VYRNWY

315KM, 5,000M CLIMB

An hour’s luxurious sleep later and we were off again – the hardest leg ahead of us. We were both struggling now. Everything hurt. Fatigue was beating us up. Decisions were becoming impossible to make. But we were back in familiar territory now – North Wales.

The first section was a proper tough mountain segment, up into the remote Elan Valley. Once again the van of dreams met us and saved our souls – which were then destroyed again by a real slog. False summit after false summit all the way to the seaside at Aberystwyth. Now it was just 300km to go. We can do this, we said.

I have to confess I’ve no recollection of the next 75km to Barmouth. I was gone. Ten minutes sleep in a bus shelter saved me but I was mentally and physically spent by now.

We went through places we knew well, and which brought back fond memories for us both – Barmouth, Harlech, Beddgelert, on to the stunningly pretty climb into Llanberis. This was one of our spiritual homes, and we paid homage to Petes Eats, to refuel for the stage ahead.

Just 170km to go. Just a century ride left now. Just? Any cyclist will tell you of their first century ride – it’s the mark of being a cyclist. We’ve just done five of them, back to back – in Wales. It’s stuff like this that makes me realise the insanity of this ride.

The final stage of the day was by far the hardest of the whole ride – a real shocker.

❝… the grimmest, most unpleasant, nasty, savage 80km of riding I’ve ever done. I’ve no idea how long that 80km took us. It felt like we were there the entire day, just desperate to escape the misery but unable to do so ❞

Riding into the night, with the wind picking up and the darkness hiding the true visual impact of the climbs – just relentless, never-ending, savage slogs into the wind. And now it was raining, making the descents treacherous; our on stalks in the dark, picking our way down off the mountain, with our concentration levels under attack from fatigue. The rain was miserable now. It was 2am and we’d been on the road for 22 hours today. We were cold, wet and tired. But still dreamed of the finish. Lake Vyrnwy finally arrived. Only 70km to go.

FINAL LEG

70KM BACK TO UPTON MAGNA

We slept in wet kit. The hall was half empty, the beds no longer needed by riders who had quit. Those two hours of sleep were glorious.

It was still raining when we set off at 4.30am – proper wet, cold, miserable Welsh rain. It soaked us all. Only 70km to go, but it was utterly miserable, soul-destroying, horrible and grim. We rode in silence, too tired even to make conversation and too far from home to start feeling happy.

When we finally reached Shrewsbury, the rain stopped. I watched my Garmin click up from 999.1, 999.2...999.9 as I rode alongside Clare, and sobbed like a baby when it hit 1,000km. Riding 1,000km is just nuts.

That’s Audax for you – cycling in its simplest, purest form – just you, your bike and 1,000km ahead of you before you get back to where you started. No high fives or dancing around, just 50 people in a room, tired beyond comprehension, just sharing the moment.

We’d done what had seemed impossible. We’d done it together. We got our mug. And a lifetime of very special memories. I ate my breakfast, and then I ate Clare’s. We rode our ride, our way. We supported each other physically and emotionally and we finished with a couple of hours to spare. Many of the 86 riders who started didn’t finish. Sixteen were defeated by the 30 degree heat on day one. Another 11 succumbed to the brutality of Pembrokeshire on day two. Did I mention – never, ever go to Pembrokeshire.

❝… We’d done what had seemed impossible. We’d done it together. We got our mug. And a lifetime of very special memories. I ate my breakfast… and then I ate Clare’s ❞

THE MILLE CYMRU is a 1,000km grand tour of Wales designed to test the toughest of riders. The route is formed by three rings, taking in the mountains, coastline, hills, valleys, rivers and lakes of north, south and mid-Wales. Starting on the English side of the border, near Shrewsbury, riders must complete the course within 75 hours.