Awoke in Wales on Friday morning to an alert on my phone telling me that there were 100 days to the Etape. Scary.
Friday was a great 30km ride with Emily to tackle Llangynidr Mountain. A 3km warm up preceded turning straight towards the mountain and watching the road ramp up in front of us. The first part of the climb rose at 5% so it was easy to tap out a good rhythm. Soon the gradient went up to 10%, so there was a bit of out-of-the-saddle work but I still managed to keep up a good pace. Around the hairpin the gradient eased a touch, so I was able to take in the snow-covered views. The descent to Llangattock was a lot of fun as the speedo nudged the 60km/h mark and then it was an easy spin home with 600m climbing under our belts.
On Saturday I struck out westwards alone towards the Black Mountain. I managed 800m of climbing before reaching the mountain, but climbing it was a real joy - 7km long, an alpine-like gradient and a perfect road surface.
Again I kept a high cadence and good speed up the road, and it was a bit bizarre to find people taking pictures of me as I crested the pass (hence the title of post)
After that it was a slightly scary descent in a gusting crosswind, before turning for home in Ystradgynlais. Unfortunately that meant turning into the wind for the next 50km, which made the climb back over the beacons even more difficult. When I eventually arrived home, my computer was registering 120kms ridden and 2150m climbed. With the wind in my face, it was a tough, tough day. Refuelling in the pub that evening probably isn't in the Sky Procycling training manual, but it was a good reward.
So that's March done.
Stats for the month:
Time on bike: 20hrs 5mins
Distance cycled: 525km (327km on the road)
Total climbing: 5,139m
Weight: 75.8kg
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