Steve Torley reports from the first 'Merida'

The Merida was a mixed bag for me... 

I was having a really good ride on Saturday night, I managed to get a good start and was placed around 20th out of over 300 riders, with around 7k to go and on the final descent I clipped a tree  and was thrown from the trail. Whilst clambering back up I lost count of the lights whizzing past... any how after dusting myself off I managed to catch up with a couple of lads and we rode back together, so I finished the 40k night ride in just over 2 hours. The course was slippery and a little muddy in places but in the main the conditions were good.

The Sunday ride was totally different, it rained all night, so it involved loads of deep mud, loads of pushing and loads of falling!! after pushing my bike for what felt like miles through a wooded area with foot deep mud I had a serous sense of humour failure. I should have changed to mud tyres in the morning I had thought I'd be alright but this wasn't the case, no grip what so ever. I started towards the front of the field and the course was getting really cut up so it must have been hell for the 1000 or so riders behind me. During the ride I experienced warm sunny conditions on the initial climbs then hail stones on the hill tops and finally the heavens opened when I crossed the finish line. I got home in around 4.5 hours very cold, wet and wondering why the hell I'd entered the transWales. Hope it's dry in August!!