Polaris Challenge Spring Race
Riding Through the Storm to a Win
Tom Gibbs (Team Marin) / 03.04.2008
The week before the Spring Polaris was spent willing the weekend weather forecast to improve, unfortunately it didn’t. Driving rain and strong winds were to be expected, especially on Saturday afternoon. Sunny skies greeted us in Llanwrtyd Wells on the Saturday morning and we made the tactical decision to go for an early start and enjoy the good weather for as long as it lasted, in the end this being about 2 hours before the winds picked up and the rain descended.
Firstly we headed out west towards the new singletrack trail at Cwm Rhaiadr before sweeping North, hopefully gaining a tailwind, towards the Doethie Valley. The organisers had mentioned a ford being impassable due the river in spate, but luckily the levels were low and we managed to get across, saving a 4km diversion.
After a brief excursion up the lower end of the wonderful Doethie valley we circled back around to the very stormy shores of Llyn Brianne. The weather was now at full lick and we had the unpleasant prospect of a couple of controls into the headwind. Flat trails became very slow uphill grinds into the gale force conditions.
With only 90 minutes of our 7 hours left we looked to pick up controls near the overnight camp. We headed up the Camddwr valley to the famous solitary phone box on the Tregaron Mountain Road, the rain stopping for a few minutes; foolishly I suggested that perhaps the weather was improving for the rain to return with new ferocity.
The last two controls were out-and-backs in the extensive forestry of the area, before we dropped down to Dolgoch Youth Hostel and the overnight camp. Despite mounting bribery we were not allowed inside and had to camp on the field adjacent. We managed to catch a break in the weather to pitch the tent and get settled, trying to avoid looking at the warm and dry youth hostel 50 metres away ...
By the time the rain returned we were enjoying the first of many instant meal courses, 7 in total. The rain continued on towards midnight, some teams having to relocate their tents before the water levels rose too much. Pools started to form at the front of our tent and we were starting to think about moving ourselves. See All Event Posts
