MTB Epics recce ride: Bristol to Liverpool

Having never cycled this far before (on road let alone off road) this was a chance to test my longer distance legs in preparation for my main focus this season, stage racing, with races including The Belgium Mountain Bike Challenge (BeMC) and The Appeninica in Italy (read about this here: (https://www.xcracer.com/the-appenninicathe-new-stage-race-in-town-02.html).

Sunday started early at our campsite near Bridges.  Once Tom and I had sorted the baby, glugged some coffee and got the bike ready, I pedalled down to the youth hostel where Matt, Vince (MTB Epics) and Iain (support crew) were staying. We had a 4km road climb out of the valley before turning onto a bridleway through Stiperstones National Nature reserve – where there were incredible views of the valley (see main pic) and craggy rock formations. We were very impressed with the slick closing gates – which we noted and appreciated at the time, only to be sorely missed later on in the journey when our gate opening and closing rigmarole became much more clumsy and laboured!

We traversed the hillside on a bridleway before descending into a little valley and up the other side through fields of sheep. This popped us into the bottom of Eastridge Wood, where there was a technical, steep singletrack climb up to the main woods. We joined the red graded Revelation trail and were rewarded with fantastic technical descents, roots, rocks, flow, and a big grin factor!

After our first pit stop at about 40km, we rode along progressively narrowing lanes, before turning onto a bridleway, where we were joined by support team member Iain Kemp for a spot of riding. Iain certainly chose a good section – fantastic bridleways, steep rocky descents, and the accompanying steep punchy climbs. We were riding strongly, pacing ourselves well until I got a little too excited on one of the descents – an off camber slippery slab of slate proving too little grip for my front tyre.  The resulting wash out delivered me head first into an innocent shrub - causing a bit of damage to the branches - and also to my face and neck. . At least I have cleared this out of the way for the 40 odd riders who will be taking on this challenge in a few weeks!  After a quick clean up we were on our way again, to our second pit stop at Glyn Ceirog Church. Iain left us at this point – having been great fun to ride with, and a great help having done a great job as 'gate-man'. 

A brutally steep road climb awaited after the feed station, which our legs did not appreciate having been idle for a few minutes. But what goes up must come down, and we were rewarded with more awesome loose rocky wet descents – Matt was flying but I confess that I was riding a bit more tentatively! This dropped us down into Llangollen – and the first shops we had seen all day.

The climbing theme continued with 200m climb, and then a larger 350m climb in the Egwyseg Valley. These climbs were on narrow lanes, and although the pace was steady, time flew by thanks to striking views of the incredible Craig y Forwyn cliffs overlooking us.

Soon, we were turning off the road and onto the slap and boardwalk route to the top of the Llandegla forest trails (see pic). Arriving at Llandegla felt like a big victory, having got about 90% of the total elevation of 2800m under our belt.  The finish on The Wirral Peninsula seemed much closer, although there was still 80 km to go….. We joined some Sunday afternoon bikers for a loop of Llandegla – there was a demo bike day occurring and it was great to see so many people out riding. After 10km on bridleway and road, we had our third pit stop, where I treated myself to some fluid and flapjack and my bike was treated to a wash down by my husband Tom.

The next 40km flew by - we were were feeling good, and in high spirits as we travelled through lanes before crossing the River Dee and riding along its banks into Chester. Our affinity with water continued, with a 5km ride along the canal out of Chester. Being a Sunday afternoon, there were lots of walkers on the narrow canal path, but everyone we met was super friendly and let us through thanks to Matt’s chirpy whistling and my nattering! We continued to follow the cycle route down country lanes before picking up the Wirral Way route, which is an old railway line, passing through some cuttings in the sandstone rock as it neared Neston. Neston was the location of our next, and final pit stop, before we headed off for the last section around the Wirral Peninsula. This was all on cycle routes – following the coastline with awesome views until we reached the beach where the obligatory selfie was taken. Riding along the prom seemed a very long way from the moors of Stiperstones National Park first thing that morning.

It was great to see the support team of Vince, Iain and Tom (not forgetting baby Sam of course!) at the finish line, and had a celebratory beer overlooking the sights of Liverpool.

My ride on the Santa Cruz Blur was perfect for the job -  super capable on the downhill technical sections at Eastridge Woods, and I am really impressed with it’s climbing prowess too. 

On a personal note, it was great to have such a long day in the saddle to give me a bit of confidence that I have regained some fitness after baby Sam's arrival. Big thanks and kudos to Andy at BW Cycling for putting such an awesome rehab and training plan together. Being an inexperienced long distance rider, it also gave me an opportunity to practice the hydration and nutritional requirements for endurance events, and get to learn some top tips from Matt Jones.

The riders signed up for MTB Epic Adventure Bristol - Liverpool in May are certainly in for a treat – enjoy it (and send my regards to the shrub on the awesome slate-slab descent!) 

Advertise your business/event here »