The 1st Cambrian Crusade

mrpooks

Hi, I don't normally post here, but thought you road riders would be interested in a ride being organised by my local bike shop, the bicycle hub in Shropshire. Its called the Cambrian Crusade. It involves riding from the shop in Jackfield to the coast at Barmouth in Wales. About 100miles. Not that interesting I hear you say. Well its through the night :shock: , to reach Barmouth by dawn for bacon butties on the beach. It will be a fully organised ride with plenty of marshal stations along the way and a rolling sag wagon. There will be an entry fee and the proceeds of this are going to the Severn Hospice, a local charity who are well supported by the bicycle hub and its customers. You may also be interested in another ride the bicycle hub are organising which is the Wrekin Challenge. This is on their website too with an entry form.
The Cambrian Crusade tales place on the 1st of August and the Wrekin Challenge on the 23rd of August. Check out their website. thebicyclehub.co.uk for more info.

mrpooks

Hi Guys this is an update. The bookings for this ride are now live so get booked, places are limited and they are filling up fast. :shock: http://www.thebicyclehub.co.uk/index.ph ... individual
The ride will start at 10:30pm on Friday the 31st of July finishing in Barmouth at 11am on the 1st of August. There will be two feed stations and a rooling sag wagon. Entry includes breakfast on the beach at Barmouth and there is also the option to book a return journey on the coach or be picked up from Barmouth. Entry fee is donated to the Severn Hospice but sponsorship forms are also available.

Should be a grand night out.

theseverncyclist

Hi all, just thought I'd see how you guys were placing your interest in this ride. I have just booked my place and had my confirmation e-mail through, it was all very smooth. I have then emailed the Bicycle Hub and spoken to the organiser Peter Bird. Places are booking up fast for the return journey on the coach, so don't hang about waiting for a good weather forecast. He said that trains back to Birmingham are available from Barmouth on the day and leave about every 2 hours. The ride is supported with a sag wagon and also an on call mechanic. But the idea is that camaraderie will persevere in any eventualities that may happen.

Can't wait see you at the ironbridge.
TSC

poynerspecial

Thinking of doing this ride, but it will be my first 100 miler thru the night. I have done 100 milers before. They were all through the day time though. I have done a few night rides but not this sort of distance. Obviously I'll need lights but whats the sag wagon and how does it and the on call mechanic work. I have checke out the route, and it seem to be quite a nice route with some good sections on it. Also is there a prize for the first to get to barmouth.

Cheers.
Joan Price

davidharrison

We would be keen to do this ride - never ridden a 100 miles but close to it!

Is the sag wagon there all the time to pick up??

Called the organisor - they tell me that places are filling fast, there is only 100 places of which 53 can book a return journey.

Lets go!

muddybrilliant

Would I be able to ride this sort of distance on a mountain bike with road tyres fitted?

TomF

Would I be able to ride this sort of distance on a mountain bike with road tyres fitted?

The piece of string is seventeentwelftyfeet long..!

No idea. Only you know if you're up to 100 miles and whether you can do it on a MTB fitted with slicks. Try it and find out.

If I wasn't away, and had seen this before, I'd have done it. Looks ace fun!

mrpooks

Hi guys, been in contact with the bicycle hub to ask about the sag wagon. Basically this is a pair of volunteers who will be towing a purpose built bike trailer behind their Discovery. It will provide a light in the dark if you get a puncture or a mishap and a bit of reassurance to those who have not ridden this kind of distance in the dark before. It will contain two first aiders, blankets, tea and coffee, biscuits and some emergency spares. The tea and coffee is not an excuse to give in either or the balnkets. There will be an on call mechanic in case of serious problems. This is provided by Peter Bird owner of the bicycle hub.

If you think you can ride a hundred miles great however there is still time to boost your training then slick tyres on a mountain bike are fine, just remember the frame of a MTB is likley to be heavier than that of a road bike.

Places are now booking up so c'mon guys and gals get on with it, it'll be a grand night out.

Mrpooks

poynerspecial

Weheeee

Booked my place spoke to the Bicycle hub, and was told I'll have great fun and to not worry about the distance. I have done some big audax rides and sportives in the past.

I am informed that there is no prize for the first to finish as it is a challenge not a race. Well it'll be a challenge for me. Now all I need to know is what sort of lights to take.

Any advice on lights would be most helpful, obviously my trusty set of eveready's won't be much use

see you there. I'm going for a spot of riding in the dark now, along with me bag of carrots :shock:
Joan

simon_e

If you're thinking of travelling back from Barmouth on the train, bear in mind that the Cambrian Coast line is an infrequent service, usually running only two carriages. There will be very limited space for bicycles on each train (and I wouldn't take Arriva's bicycle policy on their website as gospel).

Update re. lights: Joan, anything with high output will surely require spare batteries for a ride of this duration. If you're riding with others you can get away with something that doesn't light up for miles. Suggestions below, and bear in mind you generally get what you pay for:

Cateye EL135. 2 x AA. Really tiny and light, no real beam to light up the road surface but good visibility by other road users. Long battery life, great as a backup/second unit.

Cateye EL-320. 4 x AA. Outclassed by and bulkier than the Fenix LD20 below, but cheaper and entirely useable, though not bright enough to illuminate narrow lanes satisfactorily.

Cateye Singleshot is a bit expensive for the output and has a dedicated battery unit (can't carry spares without buying another), so wouldn't be my choice.

Cateye lights are stocked by many dealers. The Cateye Flex-tight bracket is cheap'n'nasty but does the job if you tighten it well. The quick-release bracket is better, IIRC they're about £5. Blackburn and Smart make inexpensive lights too.

Halfords Ultra White front light, £34. I've ridden with someone who had this. Brighter than the Cateye EL-320, good beam spread on the road.

Fenix LD20 - 2 x AA, several power settings. Costs less than £50 with the Twofish Lockblock, which is easy to fit and holds the torch securely. Can be used off the bike as a normal torch. I bought one after recommendations here and on MTB forums, this unit was a revelation after commuting with the Cateye EL-320. For riding anywhere without street lights I wouldn't want anything less powerful.

Niterider Minewt. Tiny, lightweight and recharged via computer USB port. A bit pricey (£75), you can't carry spare batteries, light output is similar to the Fenix.

Rear lights - Cateye TL600/610/1100, Blackburn Mars and Smart 0.5W are all nice and bright get good reviews on forums. Cheaper ones like the Cateye LD130/LD150 do the job fine but IMHO a really bright rear light is much more reassuring.

For rechargeables get some 2500mAh AA / 750mAh AAA or higher rated batteries and a charger. Battery Logic do good deals, and Aldi sell cheap rechargeables. Super-quick chargers can damage batteries, so buy one that will take 1-3 hours to trickle charge.

mrpooks

poynerspecial wrote:

Weheeee

Booked my place spoke to the Bicycle hub, and was told I'll have great fun and to not worry about the distance. I have done some big audax rides and sportives in the past.

I am informed that there is no prize for the first to finish as it is a challenge not a race. Well it'll be a challenge for me. Now all I need to know is what sort of lights to take.

Any advice on lights would be most helpful, obviously my trusty set of eveready's won't be much use


see you there. I'm going for a spot of riding in the dark now, along with me bag of carrots :shock:
Joan

Hi Joan, I have a set of Lunicycle lights which I use on my bike when riding along country lanes. They are very bright but have the downside of being expensive very expensive although mrspooks doesn't know that!! It is possible that you could light share with others to conserve battery life as well. Another good light is Busch&Mullers Ixon IQ. My mate has one of these and swears by it. They are very bright and more sensibly priced. They also have good battery life.
One light I would recommend you get is a decent head torch I swear by Petzl and have lots of their E+LITE in my possesion the battery lasts ages and they are tiny to store and easy to put on over a helmet.
Hope this helps.
Mrpooks

theseverncyclist

Breakfast.

Just spoke to the Bicycle hub to find out where the breakfast is coming from. They have spoken to the cafe right on the harbour called the Bath House. its a big white building so the blurry eyed amongst us will be able to spot it. One of the staff has a relative who runs a farm and bakery so all the bacon and 'butties' are being sourced local. You can't get better than that!!

Can't wait to get going.

For light questions Joan.
Petzl E+Lite is great and very bright, you could actually ride with two of these, one on yer head and the other strapped to the bars. I agree with mrpooks that you should be able to light share with others, I'm sure you won't be left in the dark Pun intended :roll: .

See you there
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mrpooks

Update.

The Bicycle Hub have asked me to let anyone interested in this ride to stop looking at the weather forecast and get booked. At the moment there are still places available for bike and rider transport back but please don't leave it to the last minute as its a long ride back to Ironbridge, well about 100 miles

Bookings have been extended to allow for those waiting till the last minute.

Mrpooks.

mrpooks

:!: :!: :!: Last Chance :!: :!: :!:

Hi Guys just to let you know that the weather forecast for Friday night into Saturday morning is favourable, so GET BOOKED.
Entries to the 1st Cambrian Crusade will be ending very very soon. There are still some places left, but for the benefit of the Severn Hospice don't wait around any longer.

Hope to see you there.
Mrpooks

Shezzer

How did this ride go? Recommended for the future? Many complete it?

mrpooks

Well after a very long sleep the 1st Cambrian Crusade got off to a fantastic start.

There were 19 riders making their way across Shropshire to Wales and I think it's safe to say they all had a good time.

There wasn't a single puncture, the support team were excellent, we were never left on our own for more than about 10 minutes at a time. The tea making facilities were second to none and were a welcome sight.

The Breakfast at Barmouth was fantastic thanks to the Bath House right on the sea front.

Thanks to the Bicycle Hub and Peter Bird and his excellent team for organising this ride and I have already signed up to the ride next year.

Fantastic Fantastic Fantastic.

theseverncyclist

Just like to say a big thank you to The Bicycle Hub at Jackfield and to the Severn Hospice for organising such a fantastic ride. I know that there weren't that many of us in the end but all that started finished and as they always say it quality not quantity.

Thanks to Peter and Sarah Bird for being there with a cup of tea and to Nick and Nikki foe following us all the way in their Landy with the flashy lights. Very re-assuring and obviously well versed at these sort of things.

Have already booked for next year and have also heard of a possible spring time challenge but not as long.

Looking forward to my Tandem Experience with mr Bird as well next month.

Cheers and well done everybody.