Pen-y-coedcae: The Poggio of South Wales

Its different in som many ways, but in my mind the climb to Pen-y-coedcae above Ponty reminds me so much of the Poggio - the famous climb at the end of Milan San Remo.



Its not so much the climb: from Ponty its much steeper than the Poggio, from the other side maybe its similar but you dont get the sense of being on the side of a mountain as you do climbing out of Ponty. Really its just the bend through the houses in Pen-y-coedcae - a sharp right hander which marks the start of the vertiginuous descent into Ponty. Even this is different - on the Poggio its a sharp left hander and then the descent is stacked with hairpins: the main obstacle on the descent into Ponty is when you start to come in to the houses, just as it gets really steep. And of course, Ponty is no San Remo.

I bet we all have these little imaginings on our rides of places being similar to those landmarks and monuments of cycling we see in the classics and the tours. I bet some of you even rename local hills the "col de so and so" in recognition of a real cycling landscape. No doubt its why thousands will be coming to ride the Dragon ride in a couple of weeks in South Wales - not so much for a physical challenge, but because the roads over the Rhigos and Bwlch are the closest to what we think we'd find in the Alps and the Pyrenees. They are not. But we can dream they are.

Anyway, here's my ride tonight. Went hard up the drag out of Ponty twice, and then up over the Graig through Pen-y-coedcae. I took it relatively easy on low gears so I reckon I can take some time out of that next time. But for the moment, Im still King of the Mountains on Strava.

Bwlch versus Rhigos

Today I rode over the Bwlch, on a new bike!

Its surprising, the Bwlch seems a lot easier than the Rhigos, just a little further up the valley. Maybe its because it doesnt start off as steep, but when you look at the profiles on Strava, they are not too dissimilar. Take a look: here's my time up the Rhigos 2 weeks ago, and here is today's time up the Bwlch. Actually, even though the Bwlch feels easier, my stats arent that different either. Maybe its got something to do with the way the Bwlch is in stages whereas when you ride up the Rhigos, apart from a hairpin half way up, you can just see the road ahead of you all the time - and that can be a bit demoralising. When I got to the top of the Bwlch, here's the view I had.

On the way back I went over Penrhys again. Im beginning to like this climb, even if it is very hard. Today I went up it 30 odd secs faster than two weeks ago, but I didnt just chuck it into bottom gear and ride up this time

Death Valley

Why is it called "Death Valley" I thought as I made my around the Vale. Im sure someone told me it was because it always had a headwind, but thats nonsense. Today I rode up it quite hard, reminiscing about the time I rode everyone off my wheel going up here during the Welsh RR Champs in about 1995. Mind you, the break with all the big names had gone so it was really just a bunch of third cats. And I packed on the next lap as I had run out of drinks after one bounced out of the bottle cage over a cattle grid. At least the rest of today's ride was nice, and after 55 miles I felt like I could have gone much further...

Rhigos and Penrhys

Quite a big ride today - first time over 50 miles in quite a while, and a new climb too. But today was about retiring my Terry Dolan road bike that Ive had for 10 years. I have a new one waiting in the wings, and I wanted to treat it to a last decent ride. So I went up the Rhigos and on the way back up to Penrhys. I havent been up the Rhigos in two years - the last time I went on through Penderyn, but this time I turned around and came down the descent. There was quite a headwind at the bottom, but it seemed to die out when you got towards the top which I found a bit strange. It got a bit boring as the road is quite straight and the view not great - at least not until you get to the top: this was what was waiting for me.



Apparently my time was the 72nd fastest in Strava (!) - a lot of people who do the Dragon Ride must record their time. I wasnt rushing, but then I imagine a lot of them arent either. The descent is easy too - apart from the hairpin halfway down, you don't need to touch the brakes at all. There were a lot of other people on their way up when I came down. And then it was onto Penrhys. If you don't know about Penrhys then Google it - but its the sort of place that no-one in their right mind would consider building these days. The climb was horrendous. It averages 10% over just over a mile. The bottom is relatively easy, but then you hit this really hard stretch. I just dumped it in bottom and rode up. There's a good view from the top, but thats about it.



So that was the last time for the Terry Dolan, probably. It might get another outing in the week if it is raining, but then itll be making its way towards Ebay.