Tour De Mon

Kieran_Burns

Anyone done this?

A friends just posted a link to the ride: http://tourdemon.co.uk/ and it looks like a good one. Interested to hear any accounts of the organisation / route / roads?

htsw5

I did the <cough> family ride :oops: <cough> last year with the little people. From what I could see about the organisation it looked well run. The kids loved crossing the finish line alongside fuller distance riders and took great delight in tucking into the refreshments, especially the one who had sat in the childseat :roll: . They even got a commemorative slate coaster.

There was a pretty busy event village on the seafront at Holyhead which was a good way to spend an hour or so after the ride.

Saw lots of signs and marshals on the day around the island. I would say the longer courses are all about rolling hills rather than any very long hills, but I didn't cycle all the route.

Anglesey is a lovely part of the world so great to combine it with a longer stay. We had a week there last summer and signed up for another week this year.

Kieran_Burns

Thanks

Agree about the location, and I got some great photos of the Ogwen Valley on the way one Winter

Slacey

Fantastic event, here's my review from last year - http://www.cyclosport.org/23-Sep-2014/e ... -2014.html
MY family love it too, and a growing number of club mates sign up too after hearing the good reports.

simon_e

I don't know about that event. My parents live in Bangor and I don't see the point of paying to ride there (and driving across the island before and afterwards). But the roads and views on Anglesey are great. It's up-and-down in the northern half but the south is flatter. There are nice cafes here and there, a Waitrose in Menai Bridge, Co-Op stores in Llanfairpwll, Benllech, Amlwch and Holyhead and Spar-type convenience stores in most villages.

It's dead easy to do a circular ride on the A5025 and A4080 or create any number of route variations/extensions - heading to Beaumaris or over Parys Mountain (nr Amlwch) or add a loop from Valley to Trearddur Bay and around Holy Island. The A5 is quiet now the A55 dual carriageway carries most of the traffic to & from Holyhead.

A great area for riding, whether in an organised event or DIY

RallyBiker

Just pray there's no westerly winds on that day. I did the inaugural 106 miler 2 years ago, but last year decided that it was a large expense I could do without, plus the wind was really strong. I went out for a spin instead and passed quite a few struggling into the headwind, that was my tailwind!
This year I'm doing the Ken Laidlaw up in Hawick, as I really can't see the logic in spending £42+ to ride roads that I ride every weekend.

jackk1992

The tour de mon was really enjoyable when I did it last year. The highlight has too be the timed 1mile sprint down the airstrip, was very enjoyable. Definitely doing it again this year! Just got to hope the sun is cracking the flags this time round

twotyred

Good event. I did the long one it last year with a rather strong NW wind so nice and easy out to Beaumaris then a more difficult second half into the wind. The route takes you to just about every scenic spot on Angleysey and with no wind would not be terribly tough. My only complaint was the very poor selection of food and drink at the one feed station I did stop at in Moelfre.

They said riders on the long event can start any time after 07:00 so I turned up about 08:00 and found out almost everyone had started at 07:00 and I was about the last out on the long route so was riding on my own after Valley until I started catching people at Menai. So if you want to rise in a group all the way round turn up early.

For those staying the night before I recommend using the student accomodation at Bangor University which is very good value.