Feature: Dave Buchanan's Sub 24hr Wales MTB Coast to Coast

Posted: 6th April 2009 | Words: Dave Buchanan

There's mountain biking, and there's endurance mountain biking, and there's this... Back in March 2009, Iron Horse's Dave Buchanan attempted the Welsh MTB Coast to Coast, from Caenarfon to Cardiff, in less that 24hrs. The ride is part of the innovative 7 Deadly Spins project, which he and fellow MTB ultra endurance man Rob Lee are developing. The 7 Deadly Spins project is all about establishing (you guessed it) seven long-distance, predominantly off road routes, that they hope will become established challenge routes. The Welsh C2C route takes in trail centres, bridleways, Sustrans routes and minor routes on it's arduous journey south.

Dave completed the 328km ride within the magic 24hrs, a feat made all the more incredible by the fact that only days before he was in a back brace and he started the ride on the kind of painkillers that would easily subdue a horse. Dave's account of his lone 24 hour epic is a great insight into the strange things that long distance cycling does to the mind and body. His account is, by his own admission, jumbled - indicative of the way that memories of long rides come back to you. It's long, and it skips from thought to thought occasionally. But we've left it 'as is'. Dave hopes that his account inspires more people to try the route, whether in full-on ultra marathon mode, or in a more leisurely touristic sense.

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They all said it couldn’t be done.

I'm feeling quite proud of myself at the moment, since I have just completed the first solo, unsupported and non-stop ride from the North Welsh Coast to the South Welsh Coast.

The ride was a lot of fun, but I'm tired now.

The scary thing is, after all my training and preparation, this ride almost didn't happen. At the beginning of the week, I had a big problem. I managed to pull a muscle in my back while treating some kids in a school on Tuesday. By Wednesday, I couldn't bend over, and had to resort to wearing a back brace to reduce the spasms in my back.  By Thursday, I was starting to get nervous, and my clinics were nearly cancelled, so I went to see a Spinal Consultant in the clinic next to mine. He's a cyclist too.

He thought I was daft for doing my planned ride, but reassuringly he didn't seem to link the ride and the back pain together. Perhaps I would be able to make an attempt after all, but I was still worried.

Dosed up on painkillers, I managed to get back to walking normally, treating people and riding my bike again, but the back brace stayed on until Friday. Finally at the last minute I decided that the pain was manageable. With some extra strong painkillers in my back pocket in case my back started to cause me serious problems during the ride, I was ready to make an attempt.

I was lucky to be able to get access to expert advice on my back pain at such short notice. Luck seems to have been a feature of this ride. There are many aspects of the whole enterprise that have benefited from some good fortune, and without it the ride most likely wouldn't have happened.

As one of my preparatory and diversionary tactics I actually drew up rules for the route but, upon discussion, I didn’t feel that they specifically mirrored the requirements of a true unsupported ride. The old rules are still on the website but in addition to this we agreed that there would be no contact between photographer or driver with me. None.  We also decided that it was not feasible for a bike to be monitored for security reasons, by anybody, whilst water was bought from a shop.  That could be construed as support and we wanted to make it as truly unsupported as possible. So, I didn’t stop anywhere that might have required security steps to be taken. The project still needed a photographer to document my passage and he needed a driver, so they stayed.

The Welsh Coast 2 Coast was designed as a solo challenge, but in a style that meant people could also use it as a holiday and tourist ride. By doing that, I hope that more people will see what Wales has to offer. I've lived here 21 1/2 years and I love it.

If you aren't in the sort of hurry that I was, you can cycle from Caernarfon and stop at various tourist attractions, pubs and hotels on the way down to Cardiff. There are loads of these too, just look at a tourist map of the areas adjacent to the route. Some areas are jammed with mountain bike opportunities and the other areas have more traditional tourist fare, with Roman ruins, castles and other sites of interest that are well worth stopping off for.

For example, take Strata Florida. For riders there is the "fords route" which formed part of the Trans Wales race if you are feeling brave. For non-riding interest there is also a fantastic abbey and stunning countryside.

I hope this becomes more than a route that people do as a solo challenge (although that would be nice). I tried to get the Tourist Board involved with it but I just got an automated response via email and a load of pamphlets through the post.

That's cool, though. I can easily understand that. I guess this kind of endurance challenge goes a little beyond what most visitors to Wales will have in mind.

Anyway, the ride was fun, but it was COLD.  I still can't feel the 1st, 2nd and 3rd toes on my right foot.  Clawing my way through mud layered with ice on top of Myndd Epynt was not fun, and the bog near Strata Florida that I hoped would have a dry rideable line, was sadly resolute in its time and power sapping, walk inducing qualities.

Why do we always keep trying to ride the bike at times like these? You know? "Ah, it'll be better now, it looks drier from here on in."  Then, 20 metres, later you fall off and disappear into another sludge-covered rut. Pah!

The plan was to attempt the ride after a week of dry weather, which was why I made my attempt in a window of good weather (for March anyway). But for anyone else doing it, I would change that slightly and the reasoning behind it too. It will probably save about an hour in total when the following bits are taken into account. Hopefully it will also enhance the route quality, and maybe even start people going for the quickest time challenge?

For future challengers I would recommend you do it in the summer, when the days are long. That way, when you get to the Pont Rhyd-Y-Groes area, you won't be slipping, sliding and falling into ruts that you could probably avoid. "Bike light induced tunnel vision" just drags you to the ruts, for some reason. You'll also then be able to pick a cleaner route through the bogs, and the rutted track that takes you down to Ffair-Rhos.

It will be drier too, and the bridleway that they have started to repair near one of Brecon's ancient settlements will be rideable. At the moment it's a proper trudgefest. Mud with 8 inch deep hoof prints in it. But drainage is being installed there and it will hopefully be smooth and manicured by summer time. There is however a big sign on it saying that it is due to be completed by January. January 2009…

When the quick guys do it, then the overall times will drop. My ride went well, but I know that it can be done in even less time.

Things didn't go entirely smoothly during the ride, and predictably I had a few mechanicals, but that's just par for the course.

For instance, I have never, ever, bent a tooth on a front chainring before. But I did on Saturday when I messed up my gearchange: Coming around a bend at the bottom of a hill, I had forgotten that the trail immediately turns into a really steep climb.  Due to my early brain fade, I changed down 2 rings at the front and about 6 at the back whilst simultaneously standing to power out of the predicament I had gotten myself into. You don’t do this, and this is a rule in cycling.

Bang, crash, chainsuck, chain lock. Stopped dead.

It was a surprise to see that the tooth hadn't snapped off, given the power I was putting in at the time (it really was an embarrassingly bad change).  I couldn't use the middle ring for another 40 or 50km, until I got to Coed y Brenin and borrowed a file from the shop.

It wasn't just the bike that got put through its paces either, the rest of my kit got put through the grinder as well. As I rode past an old weekend climbing retreat at Cwm Pennant, I went for a quick drink from my bladder whilst on a climb.

What's going on? Why are my glasses and face getting wet? What's wrong?

Help!

I had only managed to pull the yellow core out of the locking valve on my drinks tube. This meant that there was nothing to stop all the fluid shooting out all over me.

Have you ever done that?  I hadn't. I didn't even know it came out and am now worried that my valves are held together with mould because they have never been properly cleaned.

The problem was quickly fixed when I jammed my finger in it, but my gloves weren't the same for the rest of the ride. I stopped, and went back to find the core. Luckily it was only about 20 feet behind me.

My eyebrow and face felt crispy for the whole of the ride after that.

Some simple bits of kit really helped keep me in one piece. I didn't wash at all for the whole ride, obviously, so when you see photos of how "clean" my face is after bog trotting and flying through puddles it helps you realise how a little bit of shaped neoprene can offer such eye and face protection. The Neoguard does it's job well, enough said. You don't know it's there because it works, out of the way, dependably.

I also managed to tear the sidewall on one of my tyres on the ClimachX downhill, because I was having so much fun. It made that hollow "twang" as it caught the sharp edge of the rock. I will always remember that rock! I stopped immediately and repaired the tyre with a bit of my special, stick on tyre boot made from multi-layered duct tape. I even got it to seal first time with my hand pump, but god knows why I tried that. Normally, I would just throw a tube in.

5 minutes later, after the bend with the big red arrow on it, I tore the tyre off the rim. The repair had held firm but I don't think I had put quite enough pressure in it. I usually run my front tyre at 24psi, and I got a bit tired when pumping and thought "that'll do" whilst it was still a bit softer than that.

But it didn't do.

A tube was put in this time, and I pumped it up harder.

Without wishing to start a 'what tyres?' discussion, I reckon my Maxxis Crossmark were the best choice for this ride. I'd bet my life on it.

There were no other problems with mechanicals at all and my Iron-Horse Mk111 was totally infallible. I'm glad I had it for this ride, because my arms would have been shredded and I wouldn't have had so much fun on the trail centre stuff if I had used my 80mm bike. I’m a trail rider, at heart.

Every few hours I would catch glimpses of Matt, the photographer, out of the corner of my eye, as I rode past. I was in the "Mode" or "Flow" for the whole time, so it probably didn’t matter that they had firm “instructions” not to look at me or talk to me. I wouldn’t have heard them anyway.

My pacing was, on the whole, good. I had a couple, or three, hours where my nutrition and hydration went a little awry: I decided that I fancied a piece of Mars bar, and ended up eating the whole lot within about an hour and using my weak drink for a while. 15 minutes later my stomach let me know that solid food had been the wrong choice. I kept a cool head and backed off a little whilst my stomach cleared up and then got back on the gas.

Everybody who does this type of ride has this sort of problem, though. This was mild compared with what I, and my friends, have put up within the past. I've even been hospitalised in the past, because of nutritional problems, so I knew what I needed to do to keep my system going.

Hitting Coed y Brenin was fun. I know the grading system is there to stop novices biting off more than they can chew, but I rode the finish of the old Karrimor route and the black, skull and crossbones, steps right at the end. Although a crash would have been the end of my attempt at the whole route, I didn't hold back, because I was enjoying myself too much.

Arriving at Coed y Brenin was my first chance to fix my bent chainring. Luckily for me the guys in the bike shop were superbly professional and not fazed at all by my request. I told them what I was doing and asked if I could borrow a file. It appeared as if by magic. Superb. Thanks guys.

Actually, we bought Jo, my partner, a bike there a couple of years ago, and she won her first 24hr race on it. It was an impulse buy, but it worked!

"Are you Professional?" He asked, to which I think I replied, "Nah, but I take it seriously."

I fixed the tooth, re-filled my bladder and got going, within five minutes.

One thing I did do, which wasn't great, was to clean up my spilled drinks powder from the bench. I did this by simply blowing it away...

…I found out, 18hrs or so later that I had blown the dust…

...all over Matt's mega expensive camera.

It turns out that your average photographer really can move quickly!

Off I went, out of the centre and I came across my first hold up. Two blokes and a lass.  "Would you mind letting me pass you guys?  I'm in a hurry to get to Cardiff."

Nothing.

I waited a minute or so until another clear area came up.

"Sorry guys, I don't mean to be pushy, but I really am riding to Cardiff. Can you please let me pass?" I was a lot louder this time, just in case.

The girl stopped, which meant that the others had to, too.  They pulled over for me and I got some funny looks.

They didn't believe me! They let me pass, however. I shot off whilst thanking them, trying to say something about looking up the Welsh Coast 2 Coast on the internet. As I rode off I just wanted to make them believe me.

I wonder how mad I sounded. Probably completely deranged?

The next section, climbing out of Dolgellau, is a killer road climb. It was more than I could do to keep myself aerobic. My pulse went up to around 170 for about 10 minutes from memory.

You can probably tell that my memories from the ride are all jumbled up, like some kind of strange dream, and the next thing I remember, out of sync too, is the scary off-camber sheeptrack that joins the northernmost point of Mach 3 up to the Nant-yr-Arian tracks, and the 3 river crossings in between.  I nailed this part of the route, for the first time, and was glad to have gotten there during the daylight hours.

Picking my bike up and walking through the rivers was done to make sure that I maintained the bike in as good a condition as possible all the way through the ride, but that is where my feet started to suffer. It was really starting to get cold. I haven't felt the first three toes on

my right foot since, and today is 3 full days after the crossings.

The main reason for picking the bike up was to protect my wheel bearings. The chain wasn't an issue because I was lucky enough to have had the support of Scottoiler. It's a natty little thing that actually weighs less than a bottle of lube, and oils your chain for you on the go. All you have to do is "squeeze the squid".  I'm willing to bet that it was a good thing for my back, that I didn't have to bend down to lube up 5 or 6 times.

All I need to do is wash the bike with a hose, and the chain will be pristine. It's a great little toy and it's only 30 quid.

For all of my other riding I use Brunox Lubrication. Their “TopKett” chain lube always lasts a good 6 hours of wet and filthy winter riding. The bike shocks are kept pristine with “Deo” and my carbon parts are kept pretty too. I don’t use any other lubes and actually oiled my bike with “Top Kett” at the start, to make sure that the Scottoiler lasted the whole distance.

It's paradoxical, really, but it seems that my mobile internet thing on my laptop wasn't working, so Matt was ringing all of our friends to find out where I was, so that they could time their arrival at my next water stop or photo opportunity. The friends, of course, were miles away watching on the computer at home.

Isn't technology marvellous?  I want my own Spot Messenger now. Me, me, me.  For us, it will be useful for when Jo is out training alone for her big races. I will be able to tell that she is ok, and if something goes wrong, all she has to do is send me a message over the GPS network and I'll get it on my computer. You can even summon the emergency services direct to you without a mobile phone. Mobile phones don't work in most places on the WC2C.

I can also start the housework in good time, so that I look busy when she gets back. Smarty points!

Normally on long rides I get sore hands from pulling on the brakes, so I try not to use them too much. I play a game that I play with mate, Des, in which we see who can get the furthest down a route without pedalling. He normally wins because he has the bottle to leave off the brakes and can carry more speed than me. I reckon that it's good for overall efficiency too, teaching that you don’t pedal if you don't need to.

But even after 22 hours of riding, my hands were fine and the only thing I have changed is my brakes. I used to use Shimano and still have a few sets on my other bikes. But I think I'll be changing to Hope across the board because the levers on the Mini X2 Pro levers are comfortable, from whatever contrived position you try to brake. You don't half get yourself into funny shapes whilst trying to rest your shoulders or triceps and keep going strong at the same time.

Back to the memories of the ride and flying through Brecon at about 4am was quite an experience. A drunken lady stood shouting at herself, two guys eating something wrapped in paper a few hundred metres up and some bloke walking along with his bum hanging out.

The Parish Community Councillors would be shocked to see such behaviour.

"The Vicar Of Dibley" came to mind at the time, specifically the showmanship of the guy whose talent show masterpiece was making his duck fart to music. The mind is a funny thing.

The ice-cream van wasn't in the park by the river. I'm going to complain.

As I rode up 5 mile climb from Tal-y-Bont, I was starting to feel a little tired, so I started back on the caffeine gels since my stomach had more or less settled now. That climb is a pig at the best of times and it wasn't my favourite of the route that night. My bits were getting more numb and for longer periods, so I stood up for most of this section.

It started to get light at the top, so I used the opportunity to change the batteries on my Satmap.  I had used its OS mapping capabilities all night to aid my navigation and link in with some ready reckoning. The power had suffered as a result. It's a true navigation tool and the WC2C (7DS4) would have been much harder without it.

I think I'll tell them I've lost it and can't return it. Do you think I'll get away with that?

Riding along the forestry above Pontiscill, a badger jumped out and seemed to race me for about 200m. He was a fast little fella, and ran alongside my front axle, but he soon got bored with me and pulled off to the side.

I was now onto the Taff Trail proper, so my average speed came up again.  Matt, the photographer, said later that they were following me up a bit of a hill towards Morlais Quarry, in the car, and I was doing 23mph. I had no idea that they were there, and I have no idea how I was hitting that sort of speed at that time in the morning. I'm sure that they are talking about an uphill that comes straight after a big downhill, so I was probably carrying my speed.

An hour and a half later, and I was in Cardiff.

Jo and Matt were there, taking photos. I looked absolutely awful, but felt like a lion.

My friend, manager, and fellow endurance racer Rob Lee was also at the finish. Rob had got up at 4:30 after sending text messages back and forwards to Jo all night. He had a bottle of beer for me!

That didn't stay down long, nor did the coffee. Ho hum.

Rob looked at me as he has never looked at me before. He was impressed, and couldn't hide it. This is they guy that I've learned most of my craft from, up 'til now, and he was impressed!

Last September, Rob had asked me, "How do you fancy doing the pioneering ride of a solo attempt on a Welsh Coast to Coast?"  We talked about it, and I found myself saying yes, but I wasn't sure that it was possible. I had thought about it a year or two earlier, but hadn’t been encouraged by some. This was the excuse I needed.

Now, at the end of the ride, I found myself saying, "I'm going to that as a double in 2011, after I do the Worlds in 2010" and I think he believed me. I think I mean it, too.

My local friends starting turning up as did a load of text messages saying that I finished too early and took them all by surprise.

I liked that!

The Welsh Coast 2 Coast is 328Km long with 11178m of climbing. I wouldn't put too much store on that though; because each of the various methods I have used to measure it has come up with different readings. This, however, is what the Satmap said after I finished the route and it had recorded my progress. It's probably the more accurate reading as it is set up to use the heights marked on the map- just like real navigation. But, at the end of the day, it's a defined route. The same climbing and distance will hit everyone, no matter what the gadgets say.

Thanks for all of the good wishes from everyone both before and after this life-changing event. It really does make a difference to one's resolve during the harder times.  Thanks, also, for the apologies from everyone who didn’t believe it could be done in 24 hours, and who stated it so openly and sometimes unsympathetically. It was nice of them to come out so quickly and acknowledge my ride.

I rode and completed the WC2C in 22hrs 24min and 49seconds. I liked that, too!

You can find out more by looking at my website www.davebuchanan.co.uk or The 7 Deadly Spins site (www.the7ds.com). There is a lot of work going on in the background that we hope will give a lot of people a different view on sport and what is possible for them, and us. You'll see what I mean if you read a bit deeper into my history, and this is essentially one of the main reasons behind Rob coming up with The 7DS: To open up different facets of mountain biking sport to more people.

Now get out there and enjoy it!