- So in the summertime I did a Summer solstice ride.
You may have seen our video, it's the longest day.
I rode the South Downs Way.
So now it's midwinter, I'm going to do the winter version
but I'm not riding for the shortest day,
I'm riding for the longest night.
So I've come up to beautiful North Wales,
I've not been up here for ages, amazing rugged terrain
and I'm gonna use Exposure lights,
so full disclosure it's a sponsored video,
I'm using the best kit in the business
'cause I'm gonna be riding for sixteen hours.
Goes dark about 4:00 p.m., sun comes up at 8:00 a.m.,
and I'm gonna try to ride all night,
got a pretty epic route planned,
feeling a bit nervous.
(techno music)
So I think I've eaten more than is humanly possible
in the last seven hours since I got off.
Getting fueled up for a very long,
very cold, very lonely night.
Coed-y-Brenin, the lap is pretty epic to be fair.
I got really excited when I was planning it on the computer,
Now I'm here, it's feeling a bit more daunting.
But I'm doing a lap of the beast,
which is the big loop here at Coed-y-Brenin,
and I'm riding up the road, I think it's about
20 miles up the road, to Penmachno,
another really amazing trail center.
A lap of that, and then ride down into Betws-y-Coed,
try and refuel there at a 24 hour garage,
then loop the Marin Trail,
it's 130K, 3000 meters of climbing,
and it's all technical riding, especially here.
So it's gonna take me quite a while.
I reckon it's gonna be quite slow going.
(techno music)
Nick, the camera guy, behind that camera there,
is gonna ride with me on his E-bike for the lap of the beast
I don't know how long that's gonna take,
it takes about three hours in daylight, going hard,
so at night, I don't know, it could be five hours.
And then Nick is leaving me, we'll come back here,
I'll get fueled up, I've got loads of food in the car,
try and eat my dinner then.
Chuck anything else in my Camelback, and then,
Nick's leaving me and I'm riding off on my own.
Hope there's no wolves in these woods.
(techno music)
Bikers gauge shit up to the max,
I got the Exposure six pack up front,
got a GoPro in back there, a few NightShots,
Wahoo on the stand so I can keep track of my route,
see where I'm going.
I've got a light to go on the rear, another Exposure,
for when I'm riding on the road,
'cause there is that one section of road.
I've got a mudguard on the back
'cause I don't want a wet bum, going for so long.
I'm wearing full waterproofs, so that's gonna help.
Two cheeves in my saddlebag, got a pump.
I've also got a Diablo on my helmet,
and I've got back-up batteries that plugs in
and that doubles the life of that Diablo on my head.
There's a choice of 10 different programs
on the six pack light,
all handily inscribed on the bottom of the light.
I've chosen program two that gives me 18 hours of light
on the low setting.
The headlight is the Exposure Diablo Sync,
so I can actually use the phone app
to customize the burn times.
So got zip ties, got a spare cable, got an emergency bag
to climb into, should anything happen.
Got a waterproof jacket, spare socks and gloves,
a bit of money, 'cause I'm relying on that 24 hour garage,
in the deep night, that's about it.
I don't know, I just need to load up on food.
And it's about time I got on the way.
Some "must go nay" money.
That's it.
Ready to roll.
(gentle music)
I've ridden the beast at Coed-y-Brenin, dunno,
it could be four or five times,
I've not ridden it for a few years,
and it came as a bit of a shock actually,
that first bit, the first like 10K.
It's all pretty gnarly downhill, rough,
and honestly don't see quite as much at night,
you just see lots of shadows, definitely got to be steady.
So I reckon we'll asses 13K, it's not far,
but it's quite a big trail diversion,
might have to do some work,
it's a big disappointing that I won't be able to say,
that I've ridden the whole beast,
'cause I reckon we're probably halfway around by now,
looking at the map back there,
Still, loads more to do to be fair,
and some of that's tough,
smooth and downhill is so much fun.
It's cool being out, all we can hear is thunder and water,
it's been really wet the last couple weeks,
but we're really lucky, doesn't look like it's gonna rain.
Slight chance a bit of rain at like 2 a.m.,
the rest of the time it's dry.
There was very strong wind a couple weeks ago,
but tonight it's pretty still.
Be nice, peddling around with no head winds.
- [Nick] What are the lights saying?
How are they doing?
- [Neil] The lights are saying plenty,
they're saying like 16 hours, 37 on the six pack,
and I've got a spare battery pack
for my headlight so, it's looking good.
Looks like that'll do it easy, easier than I will.
(gentle music)
It's a maga night for it, it's completely clear,
there's loads of stars.
Probably won't see the Milky Way
quite like we did in Iceland, but it's lovely.
But check out, in the field, there's loads of eyes,
that's all the sheep.
- [Nick] they've run a way. - [Neil] No monsters,
just sheep in wales, but it's funny seeing their eyes.
Anyway, enough about sheep, I've only got 100 kilometers
left to go, so I'd better get going.
(lively music)
Right, so ticked off of the beast at Coed-y-Brenin,
'bout four hours of riding, just got back to the car,
had a bit of food, actually a lot of food, to be fair.
Feeling good, my legs are feeling good,
super steady pace right now,
Now I've got to ride up the road,
which is potentially the dodgiest bit,
but it's gonna be really quiet,
and I've got loads of light,
don't expect to see many cars to be honest.
Up to Penmachno, that's gonna be tough,
when I first climbed Penmachno it was really hard.
And that's a big ol' loop again,
so once I've done that it'll be the middle of the night,
it'll be 4 a.m., then I'll be feeling relieved I think.
Get back to Betws-y-Coed, get to the garage,
get a cup of coffee, and then it's just Marin Trail.
So it's just this next bit I'm slightly more worried about,
I know it's gonna be pretty hard work,
but I'm loaded up, got loads of food, loads of drinks,
got my headphones, if we get into Penmachno,
and get a bit lonely, stick a bit of trance on.
Let's see how it goes, helmet's on.
So I waved goodbye to Nick as he headed to a hot bath,
and bed up in Betws-y-Coed.
And I headed out onto the road, and it began raining.
Didn't stop from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m.
The road was a long old slog,
it took me about two and a half hours,
and it's a really long straight road as well.
Probably only saw about a half dozen cars,
but every time I could see one
coming over my shoulder a mile away,
I would actually stop and get off the road,
because, as I said, I thought this would be
the most dangerous part and I didn't want to take any risks.
So I rode endless straights into the rain,
past the nuclear power station,
through sleeping little villages,
and then turned onto a back lane that went straight upwards,
I reckon it was probably 15 or 20 degrees climb,
and actually that road part of the ride took me
about two and a half hours.
Then the road descent to Penmachno
was the fastest part of the ride,
I hit 60K an hour, and had my lights on full beam.
Then it was for the super tough first climb.
After midnight I put my earphones in,
set my Spotify to shuffle, and rode for six hours,
just listening to different tunes.
Dark woods, it was the middle of nowhere,
and the trails were super rocky.
What made it harder was that the fireroads
were all munched up.
They must have been doing lots of
forestry work in Penmachno,
'Cause there was no easy part of the trail.
There's another diversion on the extended loop of Penmachno,
so I sat off on the fireroad, hoping not to get lost.
But the lights were still going strong,
and I've not had to think about them once.
It was a real big relief to finish the loop at Penmachno,
and then ride down to Betws-y-Coed.
Nick had left the key on the car actually,
outside his hotel, so I got to the car,
changed my base layer, changed my jacket,
and got back out to ride the Marin Trail.
But to get there, there was
the most brutal road climb from Betws-y-Coed.
As I was riding through the town center of Betws-y-Coed,
there's nothing around, no one about,
obviously, dead of night, I think it must be 3 a.m. by now.
I saw an animal on the road,
I thought it must have been a rat to begin with,
'cause there's a river running through the town.
Got closer, thought it must have been a polecat or a ferret,
I actually pulled my earphones out,
and I could hear it slapping,
(otter's tail slaps concrete)
it was an otter running down the road,
with it's tail slapping on the road.
I've never seen a wild otter before, and it was pretty cool,
even though it was in the middle of town.
So then on to the Marin Trail,
and also been riding a long time by now,
but I was feeling good, I'd eaten loads and loads of food,
and the Marin Trail was the best bit,
I couldn't believe how much fun it was.
The trail was really smooth,
and actually much less technical than the other two trails,
which is what I needed that time of day.
There was one brutal climb, it took me about an hour
on fireroad, but after that, it was just really good,
fun riding, proper singletrack.
Eventually, at about 7:00,
there was the first signs of light,
and the profile of the hills start to appear around me,
and I actually got the first feel that I was in the hills,
because for the last 13 hours,
all I've been looking at is, sort of,
10 foot or 12 foot trail in front of me,
looking at rocks, looking at roots,
and just not realize, how much in the mountains I was.
I rode through my 7 a.m. alarm,
and that was it, I was almost back to meet Nick,
and finish off the ride.
So I've met up with Nick, after a long night by myself,
and actually there's only a few miles to go now,
had a Coke about half an hour ago,
and that completely sorted me out, I'm feeling back on form.
Done.
I think I prefer the Summer solstice ride,
it's definitely a lot dryer, and warmer,
and much better views.
It's not the hardest ride I've ever done,
not the longest ride I've ever done,
but it's definitely pretty hard.
The trails were all technical and riding them at night,
when you're tired, that is 16 hours of riding pretty much,
and my light on the front is still saying
4 hours 37 minutes left, which is way more
than it actually said to begin with.
And this light on my head as well, it's been perfect.
I've not needed to do anything to my lights,
work really well.
If you want to see my Summer solstice ride,
click over there for that one,
thumbs up if you like seeing me suffer,
hit that sub button.