TOUR OF BRITAIN SPORTIVE | FIRST TIME CYCLING IN SOUTH WALES & A POST RIDE OPEN UP

We ride the Tour of Britain sportive a day before the pros. Taking on a few climbs, enjoying the snacks and having an unexpected heart to heart post ride.

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Hello there everybody. It is 6:00 in the a.m. on a Saturday morning and we are in Cardiff because we’re doing the tour of Britain tour of Britain. Sorry, came out wrong. Sportive today. Um it’s looking a little bit like this elevation wise. So a lot of uphill as you can see actually more actually know equal uphill to downhill. So we’re okay. It’s 90.09 mi. So about 140ish km. And it’s basically stage six of the men’s tour of Britain with a slightly altered start. It starts and finishes in Newport, which I think is to avoid the traffic because we don’t want to get squished. But anyway, according to the little leaflet that they sent out to me, the biggest sort of climb, hardest climb is Kafili Mountain, which is 1.4 km long and averages 9.7% and it’s 115k in. So, it’s quite near the end. And then apparently we finish with a nice descent. So that’ll be nice. What kind? It’s not very big. I know. 1.4 cave. Yeah, it’s less than a mile long. So we don’t need to worry. I think we’ve got bigger climbs than that before it. But maybe that’s just a famous one. Anyway, going to get this down and head into Newport. Your mom and dad used to be fair. Yeah, they did. Oh, I love bit orange. Can’t you feel about the early morning? Not a bit. I didn’t think you would be. No. Seems to be all we do. We’ve signed on. Kyle’s very tired. Hopefully, he’s going to wake up once we get going. And we’ve got these little stickers which tell us about the route. We’ve got a feed stop 46k and 97k in. And but we’re having a feed stop now because we’re just getting K’s getting a coffee and I’m getting a dark hot chocolate. So, you know, you got to you got to fuel yourself for these biting for a quick start. No, no, not Kyle’s annoyed at me cuz I’ve just been dancing. No, she keeps stopping is what I’m getting. I was just dancing to the music and he said, “Amy car, would you still I walked to the car. Would you still love me if I danced all the time?” Yeah. So, as long as you move forward. We’re on the start line. There’s quite a lot of people here. Got a big crowd ahead of us. We’ve made a pack. Pinky Mle. No racing today. Nice steady fun. And if you go ahead of me, you have to wait for me. Okay. Up these climbs. Taking my time today. Yeah. Taking our time. Taking our time. We’re going to stop at the food stops and enjoy it. Really. Never ridden here before. Never ever ridden in this area. No, we have live ridden near. Yeah, but not where we’re going today. Not today. So, I’m very excited. The Garmin’s estimating it’s going to take us 5 hours 48 minutes and 8 seconds. 7,333 walk. So, a few climbs we got and then downhill near the end, I think. Hopefully. But I don’t know if the Garmin’s being a bit over optimistic. I’m not sure how fast it’s going to go today. But I’ll just take your back wheels now. So, you set down some power. Yeah, she said set down some power. I’ll be setting down some calories. That’s what I’ll be doing. I’m looking forward to the food, to be honest. We are off. Kyle’s already going faster than I would like, but you know, looks like I’ve got my work cut out again as usual. Going over this bridge. Blooming neck. Off he goes. Kyle just cannot help himself when there’s a group. He has to go past them. Come on, lads. Watch down for Watsville. Actually, no, please don’t put the WS down. We’ve uh steady the pace now. It’s all about meeting people and enjoying it and it’s a fun, sportive, not a pro race, although some people treat it like one, but we’re just going to enjoy ourselves now and make the most of the day. The pros won’t have this issue tomorrow, are they? Car’s getting hot. Yeah, pushing up the climbs. We’re actually riding where G’s wheels are going to be. We’re riding where G’s riding. So, basically, you know, touching G’s bike right now. My wheels are touching these wheels tomorrow. It doesn’t matter. There’s 18 climbs on the route. I think we’re on about climb number five. Looking like this. Bit of red, bit of green. Kyle’s powering on, shaking his tushi. But so far so good. We’re about a quarter of the way through the route already. Loving it so far. It’s really nice atmosphere. Really friendly. Just eating a little bar. Got to keep fueled, keep eating. Used to not eat enough when I started riding and I don’t make that mistake anymore. It’s getting the pretty view. The top of here is the feed stop. Just been speaking to a really lovely woman who’s a mental health nurse. said, “Well done to you.” I was one, but I couldn’t cope. That’s why I’m on the bike today. So, yeah. Anyway, I can Oh, I can see some cowbells, Kyle. Here we are. Yeah. Might as well. Hey. Well, we’ll stop. No point keeping going. We’ve got all day. Kyle’s gone to the toilet as usual, but look, the treat Kyle will be straight on these. Toilet’s inside. All you need to do is just go through the double door. Kyle will be on these as well. The door straight across. Good looking, guys. All right. Welcome to the feed station. Thank you very much. Looks great. Nice bit of SIS product for you. Yeah, I’m sponsored by SIS. Little bit of Haribo as well. You always need straight on them. I do like a serene. Yeah. Yeah. Getting the serene bars. Everything really. Oh, battenburg as well. Yeah, he’s always got to have a bit of anybody needs drinks. There’s two pots of sis pot lemon and lime. This one’s just plain water. Oh yeah. Coco me up. I like these coconut things. That’s Kyle. Oh, Kyle’s getting the batenber down. I saw him shove a whole bone in his mouth. Kyle Kyle. Oh, hello. You all right? Yeah, good. Thank you. Good. Oh, great. Kyle’s getting the carb gel in. Carb mix. You’re in the crying now, aren’t you? Feeling good today. Loads of batber. Window cape. Someone else called it. What? Window cape. Window. Yeah. The window. I’d love I’d love a massive stained glass window. Just a batber to wake up in the morning. It wouldn’t say that very often though, would it? You got lots of tattoos, aren’t you? Yeah. What ones have you got? Just loads of stupid ones I got when I was in my 20ies. Bit like K. Well done on the tour to Francancy. That was the best thing I’ve ever seen. Thank you. Just about there, aren’t you? Now, I think it’s a bit stupid thing to do, but you know, I ate three of those coconut things were so moorish. SAS bars in my back pocket. 30 m next control. 60 mi to go. Py’s looking good. My bike’s called Panta because Panta is panther in Italian. It’s pink panther, but I’ve now shortened it to panty. So, I call her panny. Kyle’s waiting for me, so I better go on the road again. And we’re both just saying we’re really enjoying it, but it’s not the most scenic. It’s a bit sort of Yeah. Not many views so far. There’s a bit of nice There’s a bit there’s a bit up there, but we are going to a place called Philly Mountain. Yeah, nothing compared to the peak so far. I mean, I’m loving it. No disc. Maybe we’re not in the most countryside area here. Probably for the tour they have to I don’t know. Maybe they want to go through certain places, but And we are a bit Yeah, bit main roady at the minute. It’s been nice though. Yeah, it’s been really nice. Times haven’t actually been that bad. I was just thinking, it’s so weird. We’ve got 60 mi to go and that would be when I was on the tour to France. I’d normally do 60 mi to my first stop with you. Yeah, I’d ride 60 mi in the morning and meet you. And now that feels like don’t know. It feels long. Oh, it’s gorgeous here. We definitely spoke to you soon. Hello, Cowies. Moo. Hello mates. This is so gorgeous. I love it. Hello lady. Oh, this is what I ride for. This is so nice. It’s like one of those roads that you just don’t want it to end. Real life. Sh. Yeah. My forte now. You’re really good at climbing now. Wow. Look at that. Beautiful. I like that. 45 miles down, 45 to go. As you can probably hear, the wind’s gone up. Holy pine cones. Very windy, but it’s so nice. We definitely spoke too soon about the scenery. Little did we know what was to stop. This is so gorgeous. As usual, we said we’re going to take it easy. We’ve not been smashing it, but we’re definitely not taking it easy. And it’s not me that’s to blame. It’s this fella. Time for a yippee. Wow. Oh, look at this. So nice. Woohoo. Woohoo. Oh, look at the horses. Hello A battle bridge. Oh, we got a steep one in the headwind. Don’t know what you’re complaining about. You’ve been pushing me along, making me go faster. Not the steep ones. It’s all right. So, you’re 0.9 km long, so the pain won’t last too long. Channel, you’re a G dog. Why? That is actually what G does. Woo! Burn, baby, burn. It’s a little burner. Nearly there, though. Hey, landfill. If you chuck me in there, I’ve become I’m as good as rubbish right now going up here. The beast in action aka Kyle. Hey, another climb bites the dust. Windy windy. Woo! Wind me up. Cattle grid. Oh, it’s nice up here though. Wind. Sheep whiz. Woohoo. There’s sheep everywhere. There’s some hiding under there under that bridge. If I was a sheep, I’d be up on that top with a nice view. We’re at the second and final feed control. 60 mi down. 30 mi to go. Kyle’s straight on the banana. Oh, yeah. We got lots of Oh, these honestly, these are so good. These coconut things. Not yet. Car’s chatting to people. Feeling good, actually. Really nice. Get this down. Keep going. Kyle loves a good na. It’s like waiting for Christmas for Kyle. What’s he doing now? Oh god, he’s whacking another gel down. Oh god. going up. We’re in Cili and it’s about time for the Caffili mountain as people call it the steep burner. According to my Garmin, it’s 2.1 km long and goes up 5 and25 ft. So, you ready Kyle? Yeah. It’s interesting, isn’t it? Ready as I’ll ever be, I say. Oh, sweet baby nutshells. 15% green at the minute. Lovely. 148 ft to go. Looking like this. It’s definitely a burner. Keep going. I can and I will. Hey. Hey. Another climb by the dust. Hallelujah. Kyle’s coming. He’ll be behind me. So, I’m just going to freewheel nice and slowly down. He can beat me on the flat and on the long gradual climbs, but on a steep kind of like a steep long one, I can just about beat him still. So, I’ll wait for him down here. Hope he’s not angry at me. I just thought I’d wait at the bottom because I just wanted to, you know, when he’s done a climb, he just really want the free wheel. And also at the top, there wasn’t really anywhere to stop. Here he comes. He ali castle where mom and dad used to live. Yeah, mom and dad used to live in Killili. It’s quite nice actually. [Music] That’s it. Kyle left. Unless you want to go up to Philly Mountain again. I’d rather do homewood bound. Thank you very much. What did you think of Killili Mountain then? Grim. Grim. Too steep. Rank. It was very steep. It wasn’t fun. It was definitely a tough one. Not Not one to repeat. Well, there we have got another steep one now. Oh, great. Another one. Another steep one. Nearly there though. We’ve got this. Carl the beast. Beast mode. We’re nearly nearly finished now. Probably like 2k to go. We’ve got Charlie here. Hello. And Kylie group of us. So we’re nearly there now. One word to describe it. Windy. So windy. So windy. Sorry. Brilliant. There you go. End of the ride. Devil time. Well, that’s the ride. Ding-dang done. And it’s the best ever Sportive because they have fresh pizzas in a little pizza oven. So, we’ve just ordered one, haven’t we? Yeah. And this is the best I’ve felt after a sport. Yeah. I feel good. Last Sport I did was the Calonia one. I didn’t feel too good. No. We’ll check the stats when we get back to the apartment, but one second. You’re about to have a little shock. This is a bit scary. This is cool with me tomorrow. Amy G with hair. When we see G tomorrow, I’m going to go. Do you want one, Kyle? We got loads over there. Let’s both get them. Come on. Tomorrow we’ll go see that one tomorrow. Oh yeah. What have you got? Bit of chili. Yeah. Chili, pepperoni, and hot honey. Hot honey. Woo. Oh, I like the cowbells. Should have bought a cowbell for tomorrow as well. I love watching people finishing. Hey. Right, we’re going to get this down. Get this down and uh chill out. Wa, it’s windy. Right, then we’re back at our apartment. Um, we did stop at a cafe on route and have a chai latte and uh iced coffee. Someone’s a bit thirsty. Anyway, I’ve got the bride’s stats for you. So, one seco. Let me get them loaded. So, we did 89.55 mi, which actually quite annoys me cuz I really like to go 90, but that’s 144 km. It’s actually slightly less than advertised. We went up 6,942 ft, which is 2,116 m. Booming the saddle, 5 hours, 23 minutes, and 27 seconds and average speed 16.6 6 m an hour, which is 26.7 km an hour. Mhm. So, overall a great day really. I really enjoyed it. I like the middle bit the best. I wouldn’t have there’s quite a few main roads in the start and end, but that’s not the organizer’s fault cuz that’s just the way the tour of Britain goes. So, they get the route. That’s what it is. It’s the way the cookie crumbles really get on wheats. But yeah, anything to sum up day? No, I agree with that. The obviously beginning section, end section and coming back in can’t be helped. Middle section was an artist. Yeah. The middle section you climb up this climb and then you get on the tops, don’t you? Yeah. And it rolls and you go up another climb. It’s just really beautiful views. The Canavvin M. Not Canavan. It’s a pretty mountain. Mountain. It’s not really mountain. It’s not very big, but it it’s just really steep. It’s a steep hill. It’s a beggar. Um, didn’t enjoy that bit. Apart from that, I really enjoying your water. I’m enjoying my water. Got some beers for later. I had good legs. And we’ve got some nice chicken for dinner. So, unfortunately not a curry though, cuz I didn’t bring all the curry ingredients. No. Anyway, tomorrow we’re going into Cardiff to see the final stage of Tour of Britain. Going to hopefully see G. Oh, I bought a Chester sticker. It’s in my jersey back pocket. Poor G. If I see G, I’m going to try and give it to him. I don’t think I will, but you know, cuz he has a little grenaders hat on Chester, my dog. So, I’ll give that him. It’s nice and sweaty cuz it’s been in my back pocket all day. Oh, lovely. So, it’s probably stick. He’ll like that. Anyway, not much more I can say really other than that was a good day. And happy with myself. Really? You should be happy with yourself cuz you was actually first woman. I was first woman. I know you won’t say that, but she was and we didn’t go around. Yeah, but it’s not really a race, is it? We didn’t do that for that. But I’m just saying you you scared a couple of times. Oh, I don’t feel that good at the minute. You were. It’s just a bit of fun though. Really, doesn’t matter what position you come. What does matter is you’re on your bike riding it is what I say. My point is Amy was doing really well and she didn’t feel like she was. I feel like recently I’ve just been really not negative but I just struggle. I’ve been struggling a bit if I’m totally honest mentally but like in a good way. As I say, what’s that off? In a good way. It’s not a good way then is it? What is that off though? Oh, it’s off elf when he goes, “Um, you can bring us down two whole octaves in a good way.” In a good way. No, you’re just special. That’s what I am. Just special. No, I’ve not been really struggling, but you know, like sometimes you just go through like l a bit of a lull and I think it’s normal after doing after tour of France coming home from that and just no selfdoubt is what’s self-doubt. Yeah. I sometimes, you know, cuz I do YouTube as my full job now and I love it and I’m so grateful. Like today was so nice. So many people came up to us and but people like, “Oh, well done for tour of France and like I love your bike and stuff.” And then inside I’m like, “Don’t feel like I deserve it.” Do you know what I mean? No, I don’t know what you mean. But then I need that’s the issue. But then I need to snap out of it cuz I’m like Amy, you’re living your blooming dream here. So just accept it, enjoy it, and live it. Even if you did feel like that and people did think that, it wouldn’t matter. No. But that is not the case. Sometimes my head’s just a bit difficult. But ignore it. Yeah, cuz you do deserve it. You’ve worked hard. Yeah. And I think anyone watching this as well, like if you struggle, you’re not alone and anyone can struggle and doesn’t matter what you do for a job, how much money you have, whatever, you can still struggle. So, not that we have loads of money. Someone said to me today, “Oh, I bet you ride a lot in London cuz looking at my bike and I was like, “No, I don’t.” I said, “I can’t afford this bike. It’s a sponsor.” Yeah. I can’t afford the bike. I ride. Well, but it rides off. But if I could afford it, I would buy it. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Anyway, what I want to say is just ride your bike. Enjoy it and forget about all the nonsense and keep smiling. You powering up the hills. Oh, Amy, I’m doing this many watts. No. No. What was your maximum watts today? I do actually want to know. We went through a place called Wattsville. I’m not That’s actually nonsense cuz I didn’t go didn’t go up hill and go, “Oh my is this.” You did at the end. You did the end. At the end I said, “Oh, no.” I said, “I must have been going a little bit harder cuz my watts were this.” Yeah. But I didn’t feel like Yeah. But I don’t think it’s bad to like say what watch you did cuz if that’s what you enjoy and you’re like like some people really love Yeah. But it’s not. And I kept saying to you as we were riding around I was like I don’t feel like I’m pushing it hard. No. But you do like looking at your watts. No. As a parameter as to know. Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with liking looking at your I quite like looking at my watts sometimes. But sometimes I don’t. If I look down maybe my max power was 780 W. What was your average average power? My average was 183. Oh, that’s a lot. And my weighted average, which is my normalized power, was 213. My normalized power, which basically doesn’t include your downhill freewheing, was Oh, I don’t know. Where’d you find it, Kyle? There. Oh, here we are. 175 W, which is quite high for me. That is high cons. Your um FTP is around 220. Yeah. And that is high. My max power was 541 watt. I think I know where that was. Philly Mountain when you dropped a W bomb. You’ll be dropping W bombs later. Bombs more like after that pizza you chilly pizza. A stat that I am actually quite interested in the minute is my cadence. My cadence is awful. So cadence is how quick you pedal basically. And Ruby’s taught me that 90 is a really 90 is a really good benchmark that the pros use. Yeah. I don’t work to that because I know that’s not that’s not comfortable for me. No. So I usually try to aim around 80. My average cadence today was 76 and max was 110. Well, my max was 18 128. So it’s higher than yours cuz I think I was going really fast down the hill spinning my legs out. But my average was 63. 13 RPM less than me. That’s bad because my That’s not bad. It’s just Well, it’s just my natural rhythm, but like I feel like I should try and get my cadence up a bit probably because if you’re doing a slow cadence, you’re using your muscles more, which is tiring you out more. Whereas if you’re doing a fast cadence, you’re using your cardiac health more and it’s not going to tire you out as quickly. But to be fair, I did tour France with that cadence and I managed it. So I think I just have to accept I’m a gear grinder. Anyway, back onto the mental health topic. I’m not struggling really bad. Like I’m I’m good, but I just think after France had a bit of a lull and I’m just in one of those moods where I put myself down a lot and question stuff and think, oh, you know, maybe I should go back to an office job and but then I think why the hell would I want to do that? Sit in front of spreadsheets all day again. No thanks. So, let’s carry on and stop being silly. But yeah, anyone else that that doubts themselves, don’t because what I say is you don’t get a receipt for the day. You can’t take it back. So, you might as well enjoy it because one day we won’t have any more days left. So, let’s just enjoy every single one as much as we can and blooming dance on top of hills and be silly and just enjoy your life because we won’t be here one day. So all of this, I don’t know what the point of it is, but we might as well enjoy it because we can’t have a laugh when we’re dead. That’s what I always say. Do you think one way one way look that actually helps me to think that though because I’m like I’m wasting my time being silly and I say is everyone can look at it look at these things in their own way. But for me that helps I just think I’ve got to enjoy myself time. Another cheesy one for you. Time is our biggest valued asset. Time is your biggest asset. Don’t waste it. The way way I always think of things is everyone’s different. Yeah. Don’t care. Get on with it. I know that sounds old fashioned. I know that’s harsh. That is. No, as in it sounds oldfashioned, but not get on with it as in like be you. Yeah. As in forget about the nonsense. Forget about what people say. Yeah. If you want if you want to drop a what bomb and go as fast as you can, do what you want to do. If you want to spin up there slowly, do it. At the end of the day, it’s your life. It’s your bike. It’s your legs. Do what you want. If you want to wear yourself out, you go for it. Yeah. What we That’s what we do most weekends, to be honest. Yeah. Anyway, that was a waffle that I didn’t expect at the end of this video, but thank you for watching. Thanks to anyone that’s still here watching. Most people have probably turned it off by now. Um, but yeah, see you on the next one tomorrow. Cardiff, here we come. TTCFN Tet for now. Goodbye. Yeah, bye. You said you don’t care, but you just check. No, cuz I looked at this one and thought flipping heck, I did 360 watts off a clock. be bothered about drama. It’s nice to look back on your achievements. Right. Anyway, goodbye. All right. Oh, and thank you so much SAS Science and Sport. They got us the tickets for this, so really appreciate that. Bye bye.