Friday 23rd to 25th May 2025
Myself and Tom had booked this event awhile back, funnily enough we had entered the 100k event, turned out it was 105 miles so after a bit of thought we opted to change it to the 100k 60 mile classic.
I booked a lodge in St. Florence just outside of Tenby and myself and Gilly drove down on the Friday, stopping at Saundersfoot and Tenby. Tom came down a bit later and we popped into Tenby to check out somewhere for dinner, after wandering around we decided to grab some steak meal deals and had these back at the Lodge.
Saturday was event day and Tom drove us to the start at St. Davids, weather was dry, surprisingly warm and a very breezy Westerly. I took my Venge and Tom had his gravel bike. Our event started at 9am, the first 30 miles were fast and we were making good time, a very sharp 20% hill suddenly made us realise that things could get very tough, sure enough as started head back, the hills became more frequent, the road surface became grippier and the wind was now suddenly in our faces. The next 30 miles very tough and there were some absolute brutes of climbs and I regretted my gears on the venge, why had I never changed these to something easier? These climbs became a real mental test. I could feel my energy draining even after the constant feeding and could feel some cramp twinges. Tom was in his element, but never did he once complain, although he did have gear issues and didn’t a full range to use on the climbs. The climb out of Fishguard was an absolute pig.
The wind seemed to be stronger, the cramp ever more noticeable and the last 10 miles was a battle, I can remember Tom telling me just 5 or 6 more climbs left, luckily most of these weren’t too bad, however the final climb was f**king steep and this proved too much for my crampy legs and they locked solid! As I stopped 4 ladies offered to give me a rub down but I declined and Tom came back to give me some massage help and set me back on my way. The legs were still cramping as I rode through the cheering crowds and to the music be played by the local band, it really was a carnival atmosphere! We finished and I was so relieved to get off the bike, a really tough event but so good to ride this with Tom.
My official time was 4:41:03, although moving time was 4:30, we did make use of a few of the food stops!
Once freshened up we headed into Tenby, in the evening we went to the Mulberry in Saundersfoot for a nice meal.
Tom picked up Tuva in the evening as she had been competing in Tenby doing a CrossFit event.
Sunday
We packed up early and went into Saundersfoot for a last minute wander and then drove to Tom & Tuvas new house in Cardiff, a light lunch and then we headed home.
Traffic was surprisingly light.
