 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brecon Beacons - 2007 • Isle of Wight - 2006 • Bwlch - 2005 • Bala Tour - 2004 • Brecon Tour - 2003 • Les Gets MTB Tour - 2002 • Llanwrtyd Wells Tour - 2001 For those of you new to the club the touring weekend is a great opportunity to meet the committee and the other club members. Thrown into the bargain you'll get to ride in some beautiful countryside and drag yourself up some much bigger hills than are on offer around Oxford! On a Friday in Michaelmas, 13 OUCC members left a cold, windy, flat Oxford to head to the Brecon Beacons in Wales for two days of cold, windy yet scenic cycling. After a long journey across the high speed motorway that is the A40, and a wholesome meal stop at Little Chef, we arrived at our accommodation - YHA Llwyn y celyn. The girls were very happy with their room, but the boys (always so fussy) thought theirs were too small. So instead it was time for a beer downstairs and some careful route planning for the next day’s ride. On Saturday we split into three groups: the MTBers took the van out to their chosen start point for the day whilst the roadies split into two groups - most accompanying Ant on a long route across the Black Mountains whilst Lorna and I took a shorter, less risky route. The weather stayed dry, and the scenery was absolutely stunning. There could be no better break from studying than to ride through the Welsh mountains - and stop for some tea and welsh cakes of course. Most of those in Ant’s group decided to stop for beer as well... It had been properly dark for almost half an hour, and the only ones who had returned from the rides were Lorna and I. Finally, a bedraggled looking Ant and Richard arrived at the hostel, the only ones of the group who had managed to complete the planned circuit. Luckily, Richard was the minibus driver, so we went to pick up James from Brecon where he had stopped with mechanical problems, and the others who were still at the pub. Shortly after Ant and Richard arrived back, the MTBers returned from what sounded like an epic day of riding over the highest parts of the mountains. We had been offered the option of extra carbs for a pound with our meals, but when the “normal” carb portions arrived, one began to wonder what kind of a mountain “extra carbs” must be. Never-the-less, the OUCC riders were up to the challenge, and many even managed to top the night off with some liquid carbs in the hostel lounge. The next morning the MTBers rode away whilst all the roadies started together. James had some more bad luck with mechanicals, and unfortunately had to bail after his tyre blew. The rest of us continued on up the valley until the road turned up the escarpment we had been riding below. It was an awesome climb, and nice to have a few switchbacks to ride up after months of Oxfordshire living. At the top of the hill it really felt like we were in Wales - mountains, green grass and driving wind and rain. Conscious of the weather and the route misjudgements of Saturday, most completed a small yet beautiful loop. To finish off a nice weekend’s riding we had a fast descent on a winding road back to the youth hostel, where the bus was ready to take us back to Oxford. Thanks to everybody who made the trip - I think everybody would agree it was a great weekend. Special mention has to go to Ant for putting in the gutsiest Saturday ride, to Lorna who rode almost 100 kilometres on Saturday on close to no cycle training and then rode up the hill on Sunday, and to the drivers Richard and Lawrence. Amber Tomas (who also organised the weekend for us) We ventured to the Isle of Wight for this year’s edition of the ever-popular Michaelmas term touring weekend. The trip began with a few minor hiccups at the minibus hire place, but soon we were cramming bikes into our ever so small van (apparently “long-wheel based” but I doubt it!) and loading up into the minibus at Iffley Sports Centre, kissing the grey skies of Oxford goodbye for a couple of days. Of course, our destination being an island, the trip involved a short jaunt over the Solent. The excitement of the ferry crossing proved to be a little too much for some club members to handle, as they dashed excitedly around the boat deciding where the “best seat” was before quickly running outside to confirm that no, we weren’t moving quite yet, but they would keep us posted. Fortunately nobody was seasick in the “rough seas” of the Solent and the crossing was swift and uneventful. After a short trip on the other side of the water into Sandown, we were safely in our hostel, unpacking and frantically searching for the nearest pub, which was 2 minutes down the road – and the locals were sure happy to see us!! Saturday morning we were greeted with clear, sunny skies and mild temperatures. Two road groups eagerly departed into a ferocious headwind as they began circling the island anti-clockwise. The roadies were greeted with some fantastic views as they made it all the way to The Needles on the Island’s western edge before allowing the tailwind to push them effortlessly back across to Sandown. The mountain bikers, meanwhile, set off attempting to follow a route described in a recent issue of Singletrack magazine, but soon realised that a GPS would have been mighty handy as half of their time was wasted with map-faff. Nevertheless, the fearless off-roaders trekked through twisty paths inside forests, along bridleways, up steep embankments, and even along a major A-road at one stage to shortcut back home after we realised our full route was not possible before dark. We all reconvened at the hostel just as the daylight began to fade, some returning to our favourite local pub for some pre-dinner refreshments. Meanwhile, back in the hostel kitchen, two of our illustrious alumni Tucker and Tuckett were slaving away trying to set the record for how many pasta noodles they could cram into a single (and rather large) pot. They most definitely outdid expectations, producing enough food so that even after 20 hungry cyclists had filled their bellies there were still a few servings left over. After the washing up some of us returned out to explore the nightlife of Sandown, while others (such as myself) passed out on the hostel couch, and thus missed out on the shenanigans of that evening, although I did hear that it might have involved karaoke. Sunday greeted us again with pleasant weather, and the groups set off for a shorter adventure. This time, the roadies tried exploring the middle of the island and all the hilly terrain it had to offer. The mountain bikers headed out in the van to a forest on the opposite side of the island in search of some proper singletrack, which was somewhat successful but we still managed to get ourselves slightly lost! It was back to the hostel for lunch, followed by packing and loading up, and then back off to the ferry terminal to begin the journey home. All in all we had some great weather (especially for November), some good terrain, and no trips to the hospital – quite a successful weekend really! Marcie Reinhart This year OUCC descended upon the Brecon Beacons for our Michaelmas touring weekend. The report below takes the form of a poem to try and bring back those good times! OUCC Touring Weekend 2005 – a summary from the perspective of a bike!! They took us to Bwlch in Wales this year, At first I resisted and got in a strop, When we got there, you guessed it, they went
straight to the pub, And so Saturday arrives, we’re released from the
van, All is going well until the end of the day, We arrive back at our place, the Star Bunk House
in Wales, Sunday brings with it a bright blue sky, The race is on as we head on back, With many a weary body and all us bikes on board,
It will come as no surprised to you that it was Ed, whilst on one of the few cycling forums he hasn't been banned from, who hit the jackpot: a link to the multimap page for the climb of Bwlch Groes complete with its 11 chevrons in less than 2km! A quick click on the zoom out button revealed that it wasn't an isolated climb, but rather in the heart of some great cycling country in North Wales. So there you have it, that's how 20 of us ended up squeezed into a minibus heading for Bala on a damp November evening. Oh yeah, there's also a bit of alright mountain biking not far from Bala, which, of course, was another factor in deciding where to go. Why Bala and not Dolgellau? I'm not
quite sure really, I think it was because Bala is the start Enough of the chit-chat, lets get down to the business of riding. Saturday saw everybody head out as one group in grey but clear and not too cold conditions. We started by heading down the north shore of Bala lake. Shortly after the end of the lake we turned off the main road to follow Afon Lliw (a river) up into the Snowdonia National Park. After about 8km of climbing it was clear that we needed to split into two groups, so as we neared the brow Ian headed off with a faster group, while I dropped back to lead a slightly more leisurely ride. Both rides then looped back towards the south, heading into Dolgellau for lunch. While the fast bunch snacked on junk they brought in Kwiksave, those of us going about things more leisurely dropped in at a café. After some quality bacon and eggs we set off on the direct route to Dinas Mawddwy to rendezvous with the fast group that had taken a rather less direct route through the Dyfi forest. Dinas Mawddwy is the last staging post before the fearsome Bwlch Groes which was tackled at a range of paces (all quite closing to walking) before the final run down into Bala in the dark (proper touring weekend).
Back at the hostel we were treated to some, what's the best word?... interesting catering by our host. Potatoes like rocks anyone? Vegetarians? What are they? Refuelled we headed out into Bala in search of a pub. We didn't exactly receive a warm welcome, but we all managed to stay out of a fight so I think the evening can be hailed a success.
Sunday, another reasonable day weather-wise, saw three rides head out all aiming to reach the beautiful Lake Vyrnwy, some more direct routes than others. After another great days cycling we all packed up the van in preparation for leaving. Departure was somewhat delayed after we managed to break the door. Fortunately it was broken shut, and once we had convinced ourselves it wasn't going to come open we were able to get on our way back to oxford, content after a great weekend of cycling. Thank you to all of you that came along and helped make the weekend so enjoyable. It was a pleasure to organise it for you all. So, where shall we go next year? Tom Curwen Click here for more pictures »
The 2004 touring weekend saw us mountain bikers invade the beautiful north Wales. The now famous purpose built trails of dafydd davies (O.B.E!) at Coed-y-Brenin was our first stop on the Saturday, and John Tuckett very kindly got up early with us so that we could drive the 10 miles of tarmac out there in comfort. Anyone who has not experienced Welsh trail centres needs to make a date in their calendar for this place. The first route we tackled was the brutal karrimor route, 40 km and 1100 m of climbing was going to be a challenge. However we were soon up in the clouds and at the top of the first downhill. Swooping singletrack, flowing jumps and some tight switchbacks made for a lot of grins by the time we were shot out at the bottom. Unfortunately a dodgy free hub saw all of Lloyds pedalling efforts in vain. A quick dash back down to Dolgellau and Lloyd was back in business all be it with a slightly less svelte steed!
After messing around on the jumps for a while we decided to crack on with the MBR route. Another amazing douse of tight singletrack wound its way around the mountains, up some brutal climbs and then crashed back down through dark forests and open mountain sides. Truly stunning scenery ended with another few trips down the dual course before some much needed food, and a chauffeur driven ride home!
The second day
dawned with many aching bodies. After dragging our sleepy bodies out of
bed we set of up to the nearby mountains. A punishing climb from nearly
sea level up to the rather disturbing highest point of 666 began with a
good deal of drafting the roadies, cheers guys, before heading into the
hills. A long fire road led through the mist to the top. Very hard work
and everyone was happy to see the trail point down again. And point
down it did, for some reason the trail disappeared (nothing to do with
my outstanding map reading ;-) and we found ourselves riding a 45
degree slope covered in heather which hid a lot of nasty drops. Much
cart wheeling ensued which raised a lot of laughs, mainly from the
sheep! All that was left was to amble back on the road before stuffing
our faces and beginning the long trip back home. Thanks to Tom Curwen
for organising the weekend, and for Tom and John driving all the way,
for everyone who made it so much fun and of course for the Welsh for
having such great trials! John Binham
On Saturday we woke up to bright sunshine and
after a quick breakfast got straight out on our bikes. The mountain
bikers headed off to do whatever they do (I've heard rumours of big
stacks? phat air? gnarly bits? – whatever that all means!?) while those
of us on the road headed into Brecon to meet up with a group of 5 old
boys who stayed in plush B&B's rather than roughing it in the
Youth Hostel with the poor students.
Surprisingly clear headed (I think people fell
asleep before they had a chance to drink too much) we woke to more
sunshine on Sunday! This time the mountain bikers headed off with
strict instructions not to get carried away while the road riders head
for a rendezvous point just north of Brecon to meet the old boys.
Unfortunately Jim wasn't riding so I don't have lots of fancy stats for
this ride but it was probably about 70-80 km in total heading up to
Builth Wells and back on an anti-clock loop. One moment that sticks in
my mind came as we reached the halfway point on the way out to Builth.
Having done some steady climbing on the way out of Brecon we were
rolling along the Wye Valley by the river. Just as people (read Miles)
were beginning to mumble about the route being a little flat we turned
off the main road and headed straight up out of the valley on a tiny
little yellow road. How this climb escaped two chevrons I have no idea,
it reduced many people to walking, and nearly finished Sam off who rode
it all with a cold. A short sharp lung buster. Just to make sure you
would always remember taking that turn, the road continued like a
roller coaster all the way into Builth. After a close call with some
cows on the road, about three puncture and a couple of alfresco pee
stops for Ian we all made it to the cafe for a well deserved fry up.
The ride back was a little less eventful, plenty of steep hills to
climb and the only shower of the weekend stick in my mind. With the
Mountain bikers already back we showered in the Hostel before packing
up the van and heading back to Oxford. Tom Curwen
Every year OUCC holds a group-touring weekend to a remote hostel location near some good riding spots. This year we went to the brecon beacons. The roadies went off to do their thing leaving us mountain bikers to go and be hardcore and ride over the Black Mountains...yes over! A steady country lane gave way to a series of rough double tracks and is wasn’t long before we were having to hike up the side of the first mountain bikes slung over our shoulders.
The views from the top were astounding but with dwindling daylight and the weather closing in we continued. A couple of miles later and after being shaken to pieces by the welsh rocks we found ourselves temporally uncertain of our position and after riding down a bridleway that become a seasonal river, we were also soaking wet. A wrong turn and we found ourselves being chased by a sheep dog increasing our overall mileage somewhat! By the time we crested the final mountain the sun was setting and after 50miles we were somewhat worse for wear, a quick blast down followed by a call to our comrades and we were mercifully rescued from the final 10 pitch black miles and left to recount our heroic experiences over a pint and alot of chips :-) John Binham
Les Gets MTB tour - Long Vac 2002 At the start of
this summer a group of mountain bikers, tired of the same old trails
and in need of adventure, went out to Les Gets in the French Alps.
After an all too smooth trip across London we arrived at Luton airport
ready and eager to depart. We needed only to sweet-talk the stewardess
at the gate into allowing me to take my slightly too heavy bike bag on
the plane (it weighed well over the 40kg limit and had to be subtly
held up from behind while on the scales).
We woke very early the next morning due to a herd of cows armed with some huge cow bells who were probably in league with the croissant man. However, the views of Mt Blanc and the Les Gets valley were staggering!
Bikes also took "some" damage, 2 snapped Kona full sus chain stays, exploding tires (don't ask!!), bent pivot bolts and a big shout has to go out to James who on snapping the chainstays on his full sus Kona DH bike went on to crack the fork crown of one hire bike and folded the wheel of another-hardcore! Oddly Oli, with his super light titanium hard tail got off with nothing more then a ripped tire sidewall! The week unfortunately did however end and we spent the last day either lazing by the lake or "having just one last go" on the downhill runs. A truly great week, thank you to Dave W for organising and for everyone from Oxford and Bristol for making it so much fun. Hopefully we can make it annual event.
MikeQ
Devil's staircase was hard. But my initial plan of descending it's hairpins in the dark and with ice did not prove popular and so we ditched that idea and followed Mike's suggested route. This was probably a good thing because I don't think I could have done another 25% monster after 65 miles. The early part of Saturday's ride was spent cycling through cloud. And it was cold... 35mph downhill in that nearly froze my face off. As the day progressed the weather warmed (slightly) and our cafe stop at Llandovery was met with approval. Lardy toasties were eaten by all whilst Jim put away 3 pints of tea. Leaving the cafe proved somewhat of a problem as no one wanted to emerge from the warmth with only damp lycra for protection. But cheered on by three toddlers we managed to peel ourseleves away from the radiator. As is tradition we screwed up the end of the route, back-tracked, and ended up coming home in the dark. RobC
MikeQ
Sunday started off at a gentle pace but this was quickly sorted out by Digby who gave chase to a hapless sheep for several hundred yards. Those buggers really can run! Digby didn't catch it as it eventually realised that it could escape if it stopped running in the middle of the road. As the day progressed the weather improved. However Adrian fell foul to poor road conditions and exceptionally bad brakes as he lost control on a downhill due to a front puncture. A burst sidewall resulted in a second puncture which was fixed by a specially patented "Hanley Patch." Two or three more punctures led to our being considerably delayed so the alumni-OUCC crew decided to make a breakaway dash for home whilst Mike, Dan, and the current members stayed behind to fix Paul's puncture. Despite the 5 min lead we managed to catch the oldies in style as Dan took the front and laid down the hammer on the long climb home. The 1st & 2nd cats pounded up the rest of the climb leaving a line of stragglers in their wake. But we all regrouped at the top to admire the view before pissing our pants on the 50mph descent with shitty brakes, cattle grids, and a large on-coming vehicle. With 3 miles to go Paul & Digby drew away from the group and shot home. I tried to stay with them as I was starting to bonk and desperate for the sandwiches left for us by the stag-party crew. However eventually I let them slip as Paul's Triathlon Power got the better of me. Talking of which, Ganter: 'nuff respect for doing all those steep climbs whilst seated in a 42/23, but I'm not sure about going for a run after a 70 mile ride... RobC
|
and finish of the Wild Wales Challenge, the
website for which provided the inspiration for Saturdays
ride. In addition it had a brand new Backpackers hostel that
charges only ten pounds a night and had a really enthusiastic, if a
little orange, website. It was the result of these seemingly
small, inconsequential, decisions that we came to be standing in a very
orange room being organised by our glamorous (sic) and very attentive
host Stella. 
With better weather than
we could have hoped for and a couple of decent rides (I can say that as
I got them out of a book - the OS cycling one for Wales - highly
recommended) I think it can be said that everybody had a great time.
Thank you all for coming. I'm already looking forward to next year!
We
would have been happy to play on these all day but a short section of
single track along was Morzine, home to yet another downhill course,
littered with breaking bumps and the infamous 10% (which is a hell of a
lot steeper then 10%)- true seat of the pant action! Morzine is also
the home of the "super Morzine" a good half hour of white knuckle
riding on super steep and technical single track interspersed with fast
rocky fire roads. We also ventured out on some cross country routes
around the area taking in some beautiful views and some excellent
single track, not to mention the odd bit of road riding, no joke when
you are on a forty pound downhill beast even with lycra tights on. On
one such ride we did a section of the Free Raid course. The Free Faid
is a huge race (leisure ride) that links up some of the best down hills
in the French and Swiss Alps linked by ski lifts and single tracks.
Most notably were a Swiss down hill course which had the biggest berm
in the world, which led to me doing the splits at 25 mph, blasting fire
roads at 30-40mph right next to the edge of cliff and a very rocky
single track that some considered to be the best track they had ever
ridden. The end of this giant loop finished by a lake which we took
full advantage of to laze by as we stuffed our faces. It was at this
point that the sun went seemed to James' head as he proceeded to
trundle off on his second hire bike (see below) to find a good section
of the lake to jump into on his bike. Eventually he found the perfect
point and after some deliberation and cries of encouragement he jumped
head-long into the pool. Certainly one of the funniest things I have
ever seen and we all fell about in hysterics-top bombing!! 
The social side of things
was handled very well by a local pizza shop which we invaded on most
nights when a bowl of pasta and tuna, though expertly cooked just
wasn't enough, and "Le Boomerang" a wicked bar filled with cool down
hillers playing good music and on most nights the entire sprung
collection back to back. The weather ranged from blazing sun to pissing
rain which made riding tracks like Les Gets 1 some what more
interesting and more like ice skating. This inevitably led to the odd
injury big cuts, exposed bones and lumpy heads to name but a few. 
From the road point of view, the weekend
started well with a mega-picture-skew road leading to the hardest climb
of the weekend after only 5 miles! Rob certainly did his homework on
the routes for this one - the Devil's Staircase had snow, ice, leaves
and a 25% gradient that made even Jim, the best hill climber in the
country, admit he'd gone off too fast. However, by the top the ice was
bad enough to abandon our planned hill-top route for some more valleys,
and we dived off past Lynn Briane reservoir (which we could
occasionally see through the fog) avoiding 16 wheel log transporters on
the way. A couple of hills and a nice long downhill later and it was
into the cafe at Llandovery for large amounts of tea and cake. Feeling
better we chose to add on a few miles to our route - rather more than
we expected too, for after climbing for some 20mins up onto the moors
we were faced with an "MOD only" sign and a big pile of gravel dumped
over the road. After much discussion the decision was made to retrace
our steps, and we finished the day by taking the main road into
Llanwrtyd Wells, in the dark as usual, and with a death defying
downhill sign sprint at the end which made the BUSA Keirin look safe.
And no, I didn't take part.
