3 COUNTIES CHALLENGE; FINAL INSTRUCTIONS: Pre registration: If you are local to Carmarthen we have pre-registration at Teilo Ward Glangwili Hospital from 5pm to 7pm on Saturday 11th October. Teilo Ward can be found by entering the Glanwili Site off Dolgwili Road when arriving from the direction of Peniel. Please enter the Hospital grounds by using the first entrance immediately after the BT Depot and old bus station. Drive past the laundry and recycle bins drive over two speed humps, Teilo ward is the last building on you left hand side, it is a single level building and has its own car park with a barrier at the entrance. The man entrance to the old ward Teilo Ward is clearly marked above the door. We will have some flags and arrows to assist you identifying the sign-in area. At pre-registration you will be given you numbers, one for your jersey and one for the bike. We will have an electronic timing system employed for the ride, however you will not be issued with a chip for your bike. We will have spotters at the finish area who will identify your rider number and this will be inputted manually onto our time computer, your ride time will then be published later in the day on our website. If you are unable to make pre-registration the ride registration will be open from 07.30 on Sunday morning. Ride will start at 09.00am from the hospital grounds close to Teilo Ward. There will be two feed stations and one hydration station and you will have cawl at the Hospital restaurant on returning. The feed station are located: Llansawel, at split of 40 mile and the other two longer rides. This will be the only feed station for the 40 mile distance. You will have some fresh fruit, Welsh cakes and High 5 products. There are no toilet facilities at this feed station so you are advised to stop at Abergorlech where there are public toilets at the river bridge. At the junction in Llanybyther you will have a hydration station, this is a self service facility where water and high 5 products will be available. The last feed station is at the Riverside Café in New Castle Emlyn. This will be used by both 62 and 85 mile riders, however you will be approach it from different directions as the routes will have split at Drefach and now merge again at NCE. 62 mile riders will find the Cafe on their left hand side immediately at the junction with the B4571. The 85 mile riders will be descending a very steep hill from Adpar on the B4571, riders must be very careful when descending the hill as there are very tight junctions at the bottom and you will need to stop at the Riverside Cafe, which is located on the right before crossing the river bridge. All riders are advised to make use of the Café and rest up for a while. The 85 mile route is very hard from Newcastle Emlyn, this will be the route for the new Merlin 125, you will need all your energy restored to enjoy it. The 62 mile route is the same as the long standing Merlin Ride. If you have any doubts about your fitness you can always return to HQ on the 62 mile route. Please inform us that you have changed as this will adversely affect your finish times, this can really upset other riders when they see your quicker time. I do believe however that it is important to offer short cuts as anything could crop up on a ride and you may have to cut short, this is a control measure which is identified within our risk assessment as a control measure. The important thing is to tell us that you changed from the registered route. Signs: We have purchased new signs for the event which carry our event logo, these are triangles that will be located at each junction along the way. We have also designed a new sign called ‘Off Piste;, this advises you that you are on the wrong road and need to make a U turn. We also have a new Araf Slow sign with red triangle. These are similar to the other Cycle Caution sign but are intended for you to warn you of serious road hazard ahead. The local authority are responsible for erecting signs to warn road users of road hazards, please read the road and conditions prevailing. It is NOT a race so please look out for any sign or indication of hazard ahead. Area for caution: At least one rider failed to negotiate a 90 degree right hand bend on a descent of the A 475 Drefach to Horeb during the Merlin Ride. There are a couple along this road, it is a fast ‘A’ class road in excellent condition and there should be no reason why you should not be able to negotiate the road safely, please read the road. The 85 mile route: There are several areas of concern, firstly the descent into Newcastle Emlyn from Adpar on B4571, as stated above you have to stop at the bottom for the feed station so please slow down. The unclassified road into Star is very dangerous, you have a fast descent into Star and without a great deal of warning you first see chevrons indicating a bend to your right, please slow right down as this is a very tight hairpin which leads into a hairpin left both on descent. We will have our Araf Slow signs out but please be careful. That is about it now other than to say we expect reasonable weather, however at this time of the year it ill be changeable so please bring some wet weather protection. On return to the hospital please make sure we have recorded you time, if in doubt just tell one of our marshals you rider number. Once you have done this you will be able to relax and enjoy a bowl of awl at the Hospital Restaurant. Lastly please take a look at you bike before Sunday, give it some love and care and it will look after you, if you do have a problem our service and recovery vehicles will look after you. If you have any friends who want to join please tell them that we will take entries at pre-registration.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 07:58:47 +0000
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