Alpkit Sonder Winter Series

Yesterday was my first ‘event’ of the season at Betws-y-Coed in North Wales. I was staying at my parents on the oursskirts of Llandudno this week, so it made sense to bookend my week with this ride in an area I’ve only really scratched on my gravel bike.

After my recent slump, I managed to get a couple of nice warm up rides in prior to to yesterday in between the rain. I woke to blue skies which was a boost. Breakfast done, I packed the car and said bye to the folks as I’d decided to drive home straight after.

As I drove down the Conwy Valley and Gwydir Forest came into view, I left the blue skies behind and low level cloud shrouded the hilltops and it began to spot with rain. I expected a downpour but luckily it didn’t materialise.

I parked in the main car park, got ready and rode up to the Alpkit shop at the end of town. It has a small car park next to it where the registration desk was and a few riders were waiting. It was all very low-key which was fine. It gave me Gravelton Events vibes. A lady gave us a briefing in which she said 130 riders had registered with 40 still to turn up but there didn’t seem to be anywhere near that number.

My GPS played up when I tried to load the route but I eventually got it going and rolled out on my own at about 10am. The first section was back down the street then over the bridge and a punchy single-track road north that runs parallel to the A5. I caught up a few riders here and could see more in the distance as we headed offroad for the first time.

From here it was a steady grind, peppered with the occasional short downhill, up and over the mountain before a lengthy, fast descent to Llyn Crafnant. I’ve ridden up to this lake before, its a dead end on the road but never around it. The water was pretty choppy, there was a really strong wind cutting across the water and it felt like it was going to rain too. The trail around the lake’s edge was nice and wide with a couple of gates to negotiate.

However when we got to the far side we were faced with a super-steep hike a bike section up and back over the mountain. It blew my back and calves up and wasn’t very pleasant. At the top it was blowing hard and some nice horizontal drizzle meant there was no time to faff, I had to keep going. The path from here though was nice and flowing until we got to a bridge and another short hike-a-bike section across some slippy blocks before a speedy descent back down to the A5.

Down there things had calmed down and it was nice to get a bit of restbite on tarmac before the next section at Caen y Coed. Here I briefly went offcourse because my GPS didn’t update quick enough on a hairpin but when I got on the right track it was a pretty brutal, unrelenting climb to the top then a rolling course through the forest past Llyn Elsi. The descent was epic though and worth the effort.

I crossed the A470 and picked up a small group of riders before the next climb which was even longer and harder. The gradient that never stopped giving. I gained so much height so quickly I was out of the trees but when I rounded a bend it just kept going and felt like it was never going to end. I wanted to stop and have a rest but the guy I’d passed was about 40 metres behind me and my pride wouldn’t let me LOL.

After another fast descent I picked up a B road which lead me back to the A5 which was only a few yards before I veered off up a steep lane. I think I was actually cursing here but luckily it wasn’t very long. The route took us offroad again around the edge of a field which was super gloopy. You could see tyre tracks where riders were struggling with traction.

Then things went a bit south. My map suddenly disappeared but I was on a trail with some very deep puddles and I could see tyre tracks so I kept going. However it turns out I’d missed a turning. I was too far down through too many gates to care. I checked my phone and dropped back down to the A5 about half a mile from where I should have popped out and then rode back into town and back to the shop where there was no one about. I was pretty muddy and didn’t want to go in the shop so I just turned around and rode back to the car.

I got changed, ate some food and set off home.

So what did I think? Overall it was harder than I expected. I’m not as fit as I thought I was so work to do. In regards the route, the hike-a-bike scramble up the hillside was a bit daft, in my opinion, maybe borderline dangerous. It was great to ride parts of the forest I’d never been before though and I’m glad I did some climbing beforehand otherwise my legs would have been cooked.

Adios