Crewe parkrun

'Race': Crewe parkrun

Time/Position: 18.47 (8th from 432)

Eight hours in Crewe: does it get any better? This kicked the day off and was an encouraging performance by recent standards, particularly given my lack of current mileage. Queens Park in Crewe is delightful, it must be one of the most scenic urban parks in the region, and the parkrun takes three laps of it. It is tight and twisting, with a few little climbs, but all on tarmac paths. I worked my way up the field after a quickish first lap and felt reasonably good until the sprint finish, which was a little way beyond where I expected it to be! After breakfast I then headed off for a bike ride to Mow Cop, incorporating the killer mile. I was a minute slower than my 'on foot' time recorded in March and - unlike the Cheshire Cat sportive in 2011 - I failed to do it one go and essentially chickened out of the ludicrously steep section near where the pub used to be. In the 2011 sportive I did stay upright on my triple and have a medal and photo to show for it! I then rode back via Kidsgrove, where I got lost in a council estate, and then an awful short section of the A500 before getting to Barthomley and back to Crewe Green in time for the football, part three of the Crewe day.

Holt to Horseshoe 75k

A nice way of incorporating the Alpine-style ascent of the Horseshoe from Llangollen via a long warm-up. A very long warm-up really, from home to Holt and then south to Cross Lanes via a closed road and the continuation along Kiln Lane to Eyton. From here, the character changes as the route heads west to Johnstown and Ruabon before heading to Llangollen. I had a cheese pastie and then despatched the climb, which didn't go as well as it should have done given my Alpine training! Home via Bwlchgwyn and Cefn y Bedd.

St Asaph 90k loop

Another variant on the Tour de Flintshire concept, although this one contained substantial chunks of Denbighshire! I will have to work a Flanders-style 'Ronde' maximising the climbs one day. This morning I rode to Mold via Padeswood, then Peter joined me for the climb through Cadole and up to Penbarras from the gentle side (unlike my trials up the other side last week). This is still quite steep towards the top, and the descent is so steep that it isn't very relaxing with my skinny tyres. Below, the Vale of Clwyd looked more like Almeria with baked yellow fields throughout. We rode along the quiet lanes through Gellifor and Llandyrnog to Bodfari, where we went out seperate ways: Peter back to Mold and me to St Asaph. I put in a bit of an effort from Trefnant crossroads to St Asaph cathedral - 6.04 at 32.6km/h, but I was held up at the lights to be fair so most of it was 36km/h which by my standards is good. A lovely lunch in St Asaph was perfect fuelling for the return up Rhuallt hill to the quiet lanes through Babell and Halkyn, descending to Mold and home via Pontblyddyn.

Carreg y Foel Gron

Crag: Carreg y Foel Gron, Moelwynion

Routes: Shark's Fin (HS 4b:sec), Slab Direct (E1 5a:sec), Too Many Children (VS 4c:sec), Elephant's Walk Direct (HS 4b:sec), Skinny Arete (VD:led)

I was passenger for most of the day today, for several very good reasons. It is a nice venue, I remember playing around on this crag a few years ago with a shunt and maybe some soloing. We went to the upper tier first, where Peter led the obvious plum line of the Shark's Fin. If this was two or three times longer it would be a total classic. As it is, a shuffle up and right gains the arete which is climbed in a lovely position. It is much easier than it looks. The upper tier has a delightful tranquil atmosphere, with views of the central Moelwynion, and the rock is perfect: rough, unpolished and wonderfully textured. Slab Direct was also good with some tricky finishing moves straight up the obvious feature (which gets steep at the top). A lovely VS crackline finished our business here, another route which would be a famous classic if only it was longer. The lower tier is far more popular and often has groups on it. The rock is still excellent and rough though, and the direct on Elephant's Walk gave a great pitch which I may have done before: wonderful holds and pleasant cracks. Finally, I led the easy but enjoyable line of Skinny Arete which goes up a very gentle slab before pulling comfortably on to a steeper but short final ridge. Plenty of time for a pint in the Albion before collecting Kate.

Alderford Lake parkrun

'Race': Alderford Lake parkrun

Time/Position: 18.59 (3rd from 196)

An unexpected V55 age group course record, probably due to perfect underfoot conditions rather than any kind of 'speed'! It is a lovely course, two laps around a delightfully tranquil tree-lined lake - a bit like a more scenic version of Park in the Past. As we are in a drought, the ground is rock hard so although this course is all off-road (grass and dusty paths) and quite tortuous I was able to maintain a decent pace, at least on the first lap. It is the 257th running of this parkrun so the course record was a surprise. Another beautiful sunny morning, not too hot.

Penmaenbach climbing

Crag: Penmaenbach

Routes: Agent Orange (f5c:led), Silly A55 Arete (f6a+:sec), Jack A55 Slab (f4c:led)

For completion.

Clwydian climbs ride

It has been many years since I did the fearsome Old Bwlch from Llanbedr DC. It is undoubtedly one of the hardest climbs in the region, and more or less the exact opposite of the Galibier (which I did exactly three weeks ago). I thought it would be bleakly comic to mark that three week anniversary by doing a climb that it is ten times shorter, far less glamorous, and twice as steep! I took the Padeswood lanes to get to Mold, then the climbing diversion to avoid the main road through Rhydymwyn and then the standard Moel Arthur climb from Nannerch. This was despatched in 14 minutes, not too terrible, and then came the steep descent down to the Vale. From here, a gentle spin along to Llanbedr before starting the climb up Penbarras. This is straight and steep, and gets steeper once the houses are left behind. It then rears up intimidatingly, reaching a savage 20% for 100 metres until a cattle grid and the famed 25% hairpin bend. This is a real fight, but marks the end of the hardest riding, giving way to a more standard finish. Again, this kicks up to 14% at the end. I reached Penbarras in 16 minutes, which is two minutes slower than my running time for the same climb from the village set just a few months ago! Fast descending to Mold, then through Pontblyddyn to Rhyddyn hill and home: 56k/1000m.