Llandegla Ton (or perhaps even 6?)

TheGeneralist

I was wondering about doing a metric 100 at Llandegla and then moved on to wondering if it would be possible for a punter to do 6 laps of the red route in a day. Given that I work weekdays and so Wednesday is out, it would mean doing it within the 9 hours that the centre is open on a weekend day. 1.5 hours for one red lap is of course fairly easy, but is it possible to do six at that average pace, including keeping supplied with food?

Anyone done it?

Anyone up for a challenge?

Anyone know if there is any flex in the opening times?

milfredo

Sounds tough for your average weekend rider. 100km maybe...

This year I did the Chiltern Challange at 70k and London to Brigton at 70+ miles. Both were hard in their own right but the L2B had a lot of fire roads while the CC was more technical Cross Country. I can imaging Landegla red being more like the CC double the distance rather hard. I guess you could always ride it from dusk and keep doing laps until you can ride it no more. At least you could keep food and supplies in the car for each lap.

Dirtrider

i get bored going round once, can't imagine going round twice.

TheGeneralist

Dirtrider wrote:

i get bored going round once, can't imagine going round twice.

Fair point.
I think that's part of the reason for doing it. There's nothing technically interesting at Llandegla bar one drop, but it is signposted and the dull nature of the riding lends itself to trying to do some speed or endurance work. Doing 120km of Peak District riding would be absolutely knackering and quite dangerous once you get tired. Llandegla's much more like road riding in that you can just get your head down and push, without having to worry too much about difficult bits.

Dirtrider

very true, agreed.

Maybe doing the marin and penmachno would be better though, and less boring?

TheGeneralist

Dirtrider wrote:

Maybe doing the marin and penmachno would be better though, and less boring?

Yup definitely. Did them both in an afternoon once after dropping the missus at Manchester airport for a midday flight. Enjoyed them so much I drove over the hill and did the MBR as well that evening.

But the problem is that they're a long way from Manchester, whereas 'degla is very close. Which I guess explains its popularity.

stubs

I think I would rather hang myself than do 6 laps of Llandegla. If you just want to wind on the easy miles off road why not do an out and back on the Transpennine way. At least there is some scenery to look at rather than 6 laps of pinetrees.

TheGeneralist

stubs wrote:

If you just want to wind on the easy miles off road why not do an out and back on the Transpennine way.

I'm looking for something halfway between road biking and mountain biking, which is why I was thinking of 'degla. I want something with some hills and some bits of half decent trail but not proper difficult technical stuff.

I suppose I ought to come clean... I'm vaguely dreaming of trying the Kielder 100 in September and trying to find something suitable to train on.

Damn, I said it, Kielder 100. Totally out of my league, but I might try.

I was thinking of mixing fairly* fast road miles (around 65 @18) with the Altrincham bike club and long mountain bike rides with minimal injury potential.

* yes I know 18 isn't fast, but it's faster than I'd normally do.

omegas

Llandegla is probably not the place to try it out even though it is a good xc track. You have hundreds of mile of off road riding within a few mile of Llandegla that you can make a loop of be it 25/50 mile loops with no crowds and better riding.

TheGeneralist

Yep, but I've no hope of doing a serious distance on terrain that I don't know. I'd be stopping to look at the map all the time.