Whoosh 24 Day 4
May 6th, 2024
As we stopped for coffee in the beautiful village of Beddgelert on Monday morning’s last full day of cycling on 2024’s Whoosh ride, a number of us were feeling apprehensive. The gradient profile on our wayfinding app was showing a steep upward kick just afterwards. After a tough day’s riding on Sunday, some of us worried we would suffer something just as punishing.
“It’s not as steep as yesterday,” Jonathan, the group’s cartographer and route planner, assured us. “I think most people will manage to keep riding.”
But, while some riders still sounded worried, Jonathan’s assurance was one indication that our riding on Monday, the last day for most of us of riding on Whoosh 2024, would be an unalloyed pleasure, after a day that many of the party found more mixed.
It was also a reminder of the wisdom of trusting people like Jonathan who have our best interests at heart. It was a day of successful teamwork – and prompted me to reflect on how one can have confidence, even after a difficult experience, that the future can work out better.
Things started feeling more positive from the start. We gathered for the day’s start at Harlech’s magnificent castle then headed off down gently downhill, fast roads, battered by the wind but heartened by the spring sunshine and the magnificent scenery of Snowdonia.
There followed a testing section on twisting country lanes, some steeply uphill and some steeply downhill. I was reduced to pushing up the very steepest climb but was generally rediscovering the joy of cycling. By the edge of Porthmadog, I saw a climb I was sure I wouldn’t conquer but rode straight up. I caught up with another group of Whoosh riders and we took it in turns to lead the way. They were faster downhill and on the flat. I went ahead up the hills.
We rode through picturesque towns and up wooded valleys where the loudest sound was the rushing of waterfalls and rapids in the rivers. We felt alternately the morning chill when in the shade then a gentle warming from the sun when out of it.
Although riding had gone well and Jonathan had reassured us, we still felt the day’s main climb, to a pass 919ft above sea level, was something to tackle sooner rather than later. A group of us cut our coffee stop short and rode off beside valley-floor lakes, before the road began threading upwards through the trees.
It was demanding but satisfying. Hard, rhythmic pedalling took us steadily higher. A wall built of local slate protected a sharp fall to our left. I could see on a distant ridge a road snaking towards a pass - but felt little apprehension at the prospect of pedalling up there.
Yet the higher road was not on our route. It split from ours at a summit that felt almost anti-climactic after all our worry. We were quickly speeding downwards towards Betwys-y-Coed, reaching exhilarating speeds and enjoying a reverse of the scenes we had just witnessed – barren moorland followed by thick forests and, finally, charming towns.
After lunch in Betwys-y-Coed, we enjoyed more of the same – charming, twisting country roads taking us gradually towards the end of this year’s ride, in Llandudno. By the time we were crossing the River Conwy, in the shadow of Conwy Castle and next to Thomas Telford’s original, 19th century crossing, there was excited chatter among the riders. We had set ourselves the challenge of riding from south-west Wales to the north and managed it.
Not that the challenge is entirely completed. As well as a riding challenge, each Whoosh! ride sets a fundraising target for two charities, one local to our parish in Herne Hill, the other international. The targets for this year’s charities – Gaza Sunbirds and Chips Peace – have so far been only half met.
Both groups – one a Gaza paracycling team currently focusing on distributing aid, the other a Brixton-based peacemaking group – set themselves goals and targets for their work. But they are seeking to do far more critical things than riding bikes. Chips seeks to stop violence from ruining young lives. Gaza Sunbirds gives structure to the lives of disabled Palestinians – and is currently striving simply to keep people alive.
We ride in large part for the joy of being on a bicycle. This year’s four days of riding have provided vast quantities of that. We have experienced the satisfaction of scaling climbs that seemed impossible, thrilled at the feeling of sweeping into valleys with the wind in our faces and enjoyed the scenery of some of our islands’ most breathtaking landscapes.
We hope, however, that the effort achieves something more lasting in also helping this year’s good causes.
