The WRT has moved. If you're looking for info, entries or anything else bikepacking related try Bear Bones Bikepacking, the Bear Bones blog or the Bear Bones forum - ta.

Yea, yea, yea, but what is it?

The WRT is a 3 day and perhaps more importantly 2 night ride through and around mid Wales. You'll be expected to be self sufficient, carrying everything you need and sleeping out in or under whatever you think best. It's not elitist, entry is open to anyone who wants to try it. All the money raised by the WRT goes to the Wales Air Ambulance charity ... an organisation I hope you'll never need.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The White Road (and foxes).

I was meant to be riding with Tiger Matt On Saturday morning but due to one thing and another couldn't make it. This left me at a bit of a loose end on Saturday afternoon ... of course there were plenty of jobs to do but they'd still be there next week. I decided to take the opportunity to look at some trails I'd seen from a distance last year. There was a bike in the workshop pretty much packed, so I stuffed the Tangle bag full of flapjack, stuck a hammock in a dry bag and off we went.

Four hours later, I'd found the trails and a couple of bonus sections that aren't on the map. It was now time to look for a bivvy spot. After a little searching I find the perfect place to rest my head. Close to a decent supply of water, not too far off the track and nicely sheltered.





I woke up in a bit of a panic ... I'd dreamt about foxes raiding my camp for some deep subconscious reason and when I went for my tea bags, they were gone! (anyone who knows me will understand my panic). Luckily the foxes hadn't been stealing during the night and the precious tea bags turned up safe and sound, stashed in a dry bag ... panic over. So brewed up and packed up I set off the 20 miles or so home.

I had a vague route in mind but nothing set in stone and was quite happy to just follow my nose. About half way home I came to a gate, the bridleway on the other side was something I'd ridden a few times over the years, nothing special but there is a long descent on the far side. Now, my rear brake and freehub had both frozen solid a while back ... I was now riding fixed, so I thought skipping a long, fast descent might be wise (yes, yes, big girls blouse, etc). Near this gate is a second gate, which oddly I've never really noticed. A quick glance on the map confirmed it was 'just' a white road with access rights and would bring me out at the same point as the bridleway would.

Well, what a turn up. My poor camera skills combined with an even poorer camera really don't do it justice. Steep, rocky, steppy, droppy and loads of other great words ending in y are all there. It's gets much more severe out of shot ;o)




The full descent is somewhere in the region of a 1/4 mile but unluckily for me contained some large stretches of sheet ice ... not good for impromptu fixie riding! I've a grid reference in mind which will put you pretty close to this, it's well worth trying to find. However, please check the contour lines on the map ... you really, really don't want to be going up it!
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