Made it to Scotland

We're north of the border - weather not quite as nice as when we left home, but it's dry. Time to 'bag' the best rooms before the rest arrive. The other guys from Swansea set off earlier, so they've managed to fit in a ride at Ae. It's a bit late for us to go for a ride, but even if there was time, we're tired from the journey and pretty hungry. Time for some pub grub!

Wentwood 50K, Goshawk Challenge, 2013

The challenging Wentwood 50K Enduro took place today (10th March), it was the 3rd year that I've attended - with the camera - the bike staying tucked up at home! For a change, I actually got to the car park with 25 minutes to spare before the start. This gave me an opportunity to chat with a rider about his Canyon purchasing experience, and also to catch up with Robert Storey, the event organiser. A thank you must go out to Robert, for taking a few minutes to give me some guidance of where to head on the route.

The weather was worlds apart from last years event, 2012 was pretty warm for an early March day. 2013 was cold - a bitter wind certainly made sure you were wide awake. After a quick look round for any familiar faces, I headed for the start line - whilst there was still space between the riders to get there - the hedged lane soon fills up. I took some pictures of the riders on the line, but like a fool, I'd not noticed I'd knocked the focus switch on the lens to MF (manual). Not wanting to get in the way of the start, I headed about a 100ft down the lane to a gateway. From here I could get some shots of the riders streaming past from the mass start. After the last of the riders had gone past I headed for the main feed station, the speed of the front runners caught me out - they'd already gone through before I made it to the route. After the majority of the riders had passed, I headed back to the car and back down the road to a forestry commission site - unfortunately - against the flow of the race. A slow drive!

A short walk into the forest took me down to a steep(ish) hill, leading to a small stream. The hill caught quite a few out, ironically, tending to be those pushing down the hill. Some riders took it at pace and flew down the hill. I spent the rest of my time at the event here - I'd filled my memory cards - so I've got to invest in a larger capacity one.

I'll upload my pictures to my Flickr site over the coming days, as the event is for charity, I only upload low res shots, if you'd like a hi-res version, then please contact me and I'll email you a copy in return for a donation to my Tribute fund towards Motor Neurone Disease. (I'll send you a link to where you can donate. Your donations have raised £34 towards MND, It's not much - it's probably cost me more in petrol! but it all helps.

I'd appreciate any feedback on my pictures, good or bad, it's a way for me to improve - I'm thinking about setting up an online shop for other events, but I know what high quality images are been produced by other photographers.

Top of the World ma!

The view from the top, was it worth it? Hell yeah!

The weather forecast was cold, but mainly dry, the prospect of getting spectacular views was to good to miss. So last minute, I decided to throw caution to the wind and join the rest of the guys from the MTBPigs on a weekend assault on the highest mountain in England and Wales, Mount Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa).

There is a voluntary ban on cycling on the mountain during the summer months between the hours of 10am and 5pm, I think this is to help avoid incidents between bikers and walkers. We were outside of the ban period, but still set off early, leaving Llanberris at around 7am. Initially the route was on a section of tarmac lane, which became quite steep and was a good warm up! As it levelled off, we turned left off the road and through a gate and onto the trail proper.

The first of many push sections!

To say last minute is possibly a little misleading, the ride had been on the cards for several weeks. I'd been considering it, but I'm not a downhill rider and I'm certainly not in top condition - I didn't want to be the guy slowing everybody down. With this in mind, I'd been doing some hill climbs to try and build my fitness backup.

To climb any mountain, however small in the food chain of world mountains can be dangerous. We all took the task before us seriously and took sensible precautions, including, emergency whistles, survival blankets, extra layers, plenty of water and of course, some cash for the cafe at the top!

At first the route was rideable, surfaced with large stones and some natural rocky outcrops until a little way past the halfway cafe (which was closed), after that point it climbed steeply and the surface boulders became larger and further apart, time to push and carry our bikes! We saw the occasionally early rising runner heading back down the slope, other than that, the amazing views were all ours!

As we climbed, it became colder, with patches of snow at the side of the trail - snow angels anyone?! but with the effort of man-handling your bike over the trail you didn't notice the temperature until you stopped to take in some more of the views. The path levelled slightly as it came up to crossing the, via a short tunnel, the track of the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

Tunnel under the tracks of the mountain railway, taken using a GoPro HD Hero2.

As you walked out from under the line, the view and the drops open out in front of you, certainly not a section for those who are not to keen on heights! the path then followed the route of the railway far more closely and far more steeply. The route climbed sharply from this point, even if it hadn't been slightly icy underfoot, I'd have been seriously impressed if anyone had manage to cycle this next section! At this point, more than any other I was thinking "what have I done!", I was pretty tired, unsure of how much further there was to go, and worrying a bit about the prospect of the way back down on my Kona Kula - hardly a downhill beast! But, much to my surprise, I wasn't at the back of the pack (partly because I didn't spend as much time as others playing in the snow!) and partly because my xc bike does have it's advantages.

At last, the trail starts to level.

I stopped for a breather and watched the train taking the first of the visitors up the mountain - the sensible way. Pilau had now caught up with me, and after a few minutes trying to get my GoPro HD Hero 2 to take time lapse pictures, we set off again. The path now started to level again, and as it turned to the left, it fell into shade and became lined on either side by a heavy frost.