I took the Speed Pro to Lake Vyrnwy this weekend, left late Friday night and arrived much later after deciding to take a different route!! I thought it would be quicker but ended up taking another 3/4 of an hour due to caravan convoys.
When I arrived on the far side of the lake the wind was absolutely howling so I had a quick brew and bedded down for the night. I luckily wasn’t in the tent but the van wasn’t much better. There were cones hitting the van all night which gave me a heart attack the first time one hit the roof, the wind was whistling through the trees and the rain was bouncing off the roof. Usually when I go I’m up and out at first light, with having no sleep I didn’t wake up until 9.30am. I got out of the van and it was dull and still howling a gale. I didn’t fancy the climbs I had planned for the morning and it took a lot of effort to get ready and get going. It was 60 miles and on the folder that I hadn’t really tested yet.
Once going the wind wasn’t too bad in places and luckily eased off on the lower sections. It was different higher up though where it was exposed. I went from the lake up to Tynant ( blowing a gale) then down to the south end of Bala along a road I’ve been meaning to ride again for a while now. It is completely free of traffic and has gates on it that you have to open to continue, maybe this is why the cars don’t venture along it. I then headed back towards Bala and took a turning off the main road, again a lovely empty road, this took me to the north end of Bala which was full of caravans and trailer tents being towed so i was glad to be on the road to Rhiwigor. This road is my favourite climb in Wales, from Vyrnwy side. I rarely do it this way but thouroughly enjoyed it. Once through the wooded sections it takes on the usual rocky mountain scene and is very desolate ( and windy)
As I approached some of the climbs I wondered if the bike would make it but the Sram hub gears were just like a compact chainset. It was raining heavily as I reached the summit so I stopped for a brew up under the trees for some shelter.
I’m not apologising for the blurry shot, I could barely hold the phone still!! Once stopped I realised just how cold it was the wind was bitterly cold and me cooling down didn’t help. A cuckoo was nearby so being in the middle of nowhere and nobody able to hear I decided to cuckoo back. Within 3 minutes the cuckoo was sitting in the top of a tree about 20 feet from me. He looked then flew off and started to cuckoo away again. I didn’t see a goshawk this trip even though i’ve found one of its posts. There was a Peregrine watch around the lake but I didn’t see one of those either. On the descent from Rhiwigor a couple on bikes asked me if I’d been ‘up there’ on that. I said yes and offered them a race around the lake, they declined. Lucky really because i was knackered! This bike really can shift, looks are deceiving.
On getting back to the pitch I decided to call it a day, I was going to stay another day but the weather was too cold to enjoy it. I had some lunch and did 2 laps of the lake then headed home. On the last lap I stopped on the dam and watched the swallows for about 30 minutes catching the flies, you could almost reach out and touch them. A total of about 85 miles for the day on its first proper trip out.
The bike performed perfectly, it’s the closest i think I can get to a full size bike performance wise. It never faltered, the 20″ wheels are barely different from 26/27 wheels with the exception of going over cattle grids!
The weather is now lovely!!!! I’m looking through the window and the sun is shining and the wind has eased, just my luck.
