Trans-Wales West-to-East
Name: Trans-Wales West-to-East
The Start: St. Davids, Whitesands Car park [51°53'50.1"N 5°17'38.1"W]
Finish: Border of Wales and England at Kington, north west of Hereford [52°12'57.2"N 3°04'31.9"W
GPX: File and Komoot Link
Distance: 117 miles
Description: Its an entirely road-based route, from one of the most westerly locations in Wales (St. Davids, Whitesands Car park [51°53'50.1"N 5°17'38.1"W]) to one of the most easterly points on the border of Wales and England (Border of Wales and England at Kington, north west of Hereford [52°12'57.2"N 3°04'31.9"W]). According to the WUCA rules, athletes can take any route between the two points, but this may not be desirable from your position.
Unsupported:
Men:
Russell Andrews, 5:19:48 05/28/2025 (Strava file is full, uncropped file) See Notes, below photos, for more info.
Christian Krause 6:02, 08/1/2015
Women:
Para:
Supported:
Men:
Women:
Team:
Para:
Name: Trans-Wales West-to-East
The Start: St. Davids, Whitesands Car park [51°53'50.1"N 5°17'38.1"W]
Finish: Border of Wales and England at Kington, north west of Hereford [52°12'57.2"N 3°04'31.9"W
GPX: File and Komoot Link
Distance: 117 miles
Description: Its an entirely road-based route, from one of the most westerly locations in Wales (St. Davids, Whitesands Car park [51°53'50.1"N 5°17'38.1"W]) to one of the most easterly points on the border of Wales and England (Border of Wales and England at Kington, north west of Hereford [52°12'57.2"N 3°04'31.9"W]). According to the WUCA rules, athletes can take any route between the two points, but this may not be desirable from your position.
Unsupported:
Men:
Russell Andrews, 5:19:48 05/28/2025 (Strava file is full, uncropped file) See Notes, below photos, for more info.
Christian Krause 6:02, 08/1/2015
Women:
Para:
Supported:
Men:
Women:
Team:
Para:
Notes from Russell's FKT
Pre-Ride: Entirely self supported with 0 planned stops. All water, carbs and electrolytes in bottles and USWE pack and gels were carried on my person and consumed without stopping.
Total Liquids carried 3.5 Litres (2L in USWE, 1.5L carried in 2 x 0.75L bottles).
8 "regular" Precision Gels (30g of carbs each), of which 6 were consumed on the ride, 2 "emergency gels" of which 0 were used.
2 caff tabs were consumed at Carmarthen and 2 salt tablets were consumed AFTER the ride.
Utilised public transport (Train and bus) to get to St Davids from Swansea. Needed to ride to start, utilised "ride to start" from the garmin computer so added a few KM to the start of the ride.
Managed to get to the car-park at Whitesands, utilise the toilets (strongly needed at that point) there and had my photo taken by some very kind surfers in front of the ocean.
Decided to wait a few minutes to start the ride at 10:25 on the dot. This would make my life so much simpler with determining if I managed to beat the prior time If I passed the end point any time before 16:25.
Had no pacing plan except to ride FTP on kickers, Sweetspot on longer climbs, and tempo on the flats. Any time my speed went 20+% over my target pace (in my head I wanted 32+KPH as a target pace), I decided to soft pedal to try and get recovery where possible.
Leaving St. Davids there was a good bit of doubt, Keeping "lap average speed" on my bike computer showed that the first 20km were well below what I'd need to do to take the record. This was partly due to me trying to start off without a bang, and trying to stay as composed as possible, as well as the route being pretty spikey in gradients and narrow farm roads preventing me from riding fast into blind corners.
Once I passed Pebbles beach {51°51'18.3"N 5°07'30.0"W} the route changes notably to become more rolling and the average speed began to climb. This continues until Haverfordwest where the first "crux" of the route started. This was where I found a traffic jam caused by temporary traffic lights caused a 1km+ tailback of traffic. Obiding by the rules of the road, I carefully filtered through to the front of the chain of traffic and didnt have to wait long before the lights changed to green and managed to navigate that issue with some ease. This now put me on the A40.
What I'll call the A40 section is a very long, fast and rolling road. Luckily my attempt was a day or so after a storm so most debris you usually find on the side of the road was washed away, but I'd still strongly recommend riders to utilise a tail light and a hi-vis strip, but ride on the car-side of the white line noting the "hard shoulder" in places drain covers on the side of the road are not kept in the best condition, and you can get debris from the road accumulate there. By riding this way I avoided punctures which I was sure I would have had If I decided to ride on the hard shoulder more often. The average lap speed for the attempt picked up greatly whilst riding this road. It's mostly flat, with very few "features" to slow you down, but it's very easy to get your pacing wrong here. I knew that the hardest part of the route was to come and wanted to ensure that I still had legs in the final 1/3 of the ride when the altitude gain picks up with the two "hills" to navigate.
Very little to talk about between Whitland and Llandovery, managed to get into a flow state and even de-prioritise the power in favour of getting aero, watching my speed vs "ave lap speed" and riding to RPE. The goal was to ensure that my 2L hydration pack was drained by the time I hit Llandeilo, and the notification I set up on my garmin to beep every 500 or-so Kcal burned notified me to also consume an additional 30g gel (120kcal of carbs) to keep on top with nutrition.
The route from Llandovery to the finish were roads I had never ridden, which also happened to be the hardest section of the whole route. In hindsight, this part of the route is where I would be able to gain more time back in subsequent attempts now I know the route and gradients much better. For anyone taking on this route, there's an awful lot of "false crests" in the road where you think your effort is over, only to be followed by a very brief false-flat or downhill, before another riser appears in its place. So try not to be too "keen" on kicking over the top of the earlier crests or you'll soon find yourself with little to give on the next riser.
The first hill culminates with going between Cynghordy and Llanwrtyd Wells, this is where keeping something in the legs will pay dividends as you slowly watch your average lap speed bleed away. This was the second point of my attempt where I started to listen to the doubts, (the first being the low average speed leaving St. Davids). At this point the legs are hurting, the shoulders are stiff, the neck is tired from holding an aero position through the A40 section and you're looking at your power and wondering why it's costing so much mental energy just to keep the legs turning over. The reward for cresting the climb though Is a beautiful, long downhill section where you can recover, eat and re-compose for the last "hill".
As you approach Builth Wells, you begin to see signs of the last climb. The town sits in a valley surrounded by beautifully luminously green fields and as such, you know there's only one way out, up. This climb is a little more gradual, and made of more "serrations" than the first climb, meaning those "blind crests" I mentioned earlier almost now taunt you to dig to get over them. I pre-emptively finished my last bottle as I was starting to worry about cramp. Having planned to carry enough water that I should urinate somewhere along the route (using public toilets, of course) it was approaching 5 hours with no sensations to relieve myself building up. This hinted that maybe I was approaching "less than optimal" hydration and perhaps could have included a quick "smash and grab" re-hydration stop on the way, lessons for the future though!
Cresting at descending down into the final few Km is actually very uneventful, with approx 7km to go you'll get the last notification of from your head unit that instead of a turn notification, you'll get a notification for the finish. The finish is in a very innocuous and featureless place, approx 52°12'56.4"N 3°04'30.2"W as you pass the turnings for the A44 and B4594 and before the turning for Rowbatch Farm. As I rolled over the point, I hit the lap button on the head unit for the second time, and the lap time of 5:19:48 displayed on the computer, being eternally pessimistic, I ensured I continued riding, albeit easy until I hit Kington proper, and found the town-sign for a timestamped photo. I didnt want the GPS to do me dirty if I stopped on the route with the clock ticking. (video available on Strava Post).
This is an absolutely beautiful route on a good day. At no point did I get bored by the continuously changing scenery and gradients.
I shall leave with a note to anyone attempting to complete this route, Kington has limited Uber, Taxi and Bus services. So limited in fact that I had to ride to Hereford in order to get a train home. Please account for approx an extra 35km of riding before you can hit semi-reliable public transport. The cake and coffee in "Border Bean" is excellent however, almost worth the ride itself.
Equipment for anyone so inclined:
Specialized SL8 (non S-works) in size 52.
Front tyre: Conti 111 (tubeless with Silca sealant)
Rear Tyre: GP5000 S TR (tubeless with Silca sealant)
Wheels: Reserve 50/65
Handlebars: Ascent Aeroo Narrow short-reach bars.
Bar Tape: Jape Denim Bar Tape
Drivetrain: Ultegra DI2 12 speed. 52/36 and 11-34
Hydration: USWE Race 2.0
Computer: Garmin 1040 with Garmin Varia rear light
Pre-Ride: Entirely self supported with 0 planned stops. All water, carbs and electrolytes in bottles and USWE pack and gels were carried on my person and consumed without stopping.
Total Liquids carried 3.5 Litres (2L in USWE, 1.5L carried in 2 x 0.75L bottles).
8 "regular" Precision Gels (30g of carbs each), of which 6 were consumed on the ride, 2 "emergency gels" of which 0 were used.
2 caff tabs were consumed at Carmarthen and 2 salt tablets were consumed AFTER the ride.
Utilised public transport (Train and bus) to get to St Davids from Swansea. Needed to ride to start, utilised "ride to start" from the garmin computer so added a few KM to the start of the ride.
Managed to get to the car-park at Whitesands, utilise the toilets (strongly needed at that point) there and had my photo taken by some very kind surfers in front of the ocean.
Decided to wait a few minutes to start the ride at 10:25 on the dot. This would make my life so much simpler with determining if I managed to beat the prior time If I passed the end point any time before 16:25.
Had no pacing plan except to ride FTP on kickers, Sweetspot on longer climbs, and tempo on the flats. Any time my speed went 20+% over my target pace (in my head I wanted 32+KPH as a target pace), I decided to soft pedal to try and get recovery where possible.
Leaving St. Davids there was a good bit of doubt, Keeping "lap average speed" on my bike computer showed that the first 20km were well below what I'd need to do to take the record. This was partly due to me trying to start off without a bang, and trying to stay as composed as possible, as well as the route being pretty spikey in gradients and narrow farm roads preventing me from riding fast into blind corners.
Once I passed Pebbles beach {51°51'18.3"N 5°07'30.0"W} the route changes notably to become more rolling and the average speed began to climb. This continues until Haverfordwest where the first "crux" of the route started. This was where I found a traffic jam caused by temporary traffic lights caused a 1km+ tailback of traffic. Obiding by the rules of the road, I carefully filtered through to the front of the chain of traffic and didnt have to wait long before the lights changed to green and managed to navigate that issue with some ease. This now put me on the A40.
What I'll call the A40 section is a very long, fast and rolling road. Luckily my attempt was a day or so after a storm so most debris you usually find on the side of the road was washed away, but I'd still strongly recommend riders to utilise a tail light and a hi-vis strip, but ride on the car-side of the white line noting the "hard shoulder" in places drain covers on the side of the road are not kept in the best condition, and you can get debris from the road accumulate there. By riding this way I avoided punctures which I was sure I would have had If I decided to ride on the hard shoulder more often. The average lap speed for the attempt picked up greatly whilst riding this road. It's mostly flat, with very few "features" to slow you down, but it's very easy to get your pacing wrong here. I knew that the hardest part of the route was to come and wanted to ensure that I still had legs in the final 1/3 of the ride when the altitude gain picks up with the two "hills" to navigate.
Very little to talk about between Whitland and Llandovery, managed to get into a flow state and even de-prioritise the power in favour of getting aero, watching my speed vs "ave lap speed" and riding to RPE. The goal was to ensure that my 2L hydration pack was drained by the time I hit Llandeilo, and the notification I set up on my garmin to beep every 500 or-so Kcal burned notified me to also consume an additional 30g gel (120kcal of carbs) to keep on top with nutrition.
The route from Llandovery to the finish were roads I had never ridden, which also happened to be the hardest section of the whole route. In hindsight, this part of the route is where I would be able to gain more time back in subsequent attempts now I know the route and gradients much better. For anyone taking on this route, there's an awful lot of "false crests" in the road where you think your effort is over, only to be followed by a very brief false-flat or downhill, before another riser appears in its place. So try not to be too "keen" on kicking over the top of the earlier crests or you'll soon find yourself with little to give on the next riser.
The first hill culminates with going between Cynghordy and Llanwrtyd Wells, this is where keeping something in the legs will pay dividends as you slowly watch your average lap speed bleed away. This was the second point of my attempt where I started to listen to the doubts, (the first being the low average speed leaving St. Davids). At this point the legs are hurting, the shoulders are stiff, the neck is tired from holding an aero position through the A40 section and you're looking at your power and wondering why it's costing so much mental energy just to keep the legs turning over. The reward for cresting the climb though Is a beautiful, long downhill section where you can recover, eat and re-compose for the last "hill".
As you approach Builth Wells, you begin to see signs of the last climb. The town sits in a valley surrounded by beautifully luminously green fields and as such, you know there's only one way out, up. This climb is a little more gradual, and made of more "serrations" than the first climb, meaning those "blind crests" I mentioned earlier almost now taunt you to dig to get over them. I pre-emptively finished my last bottle as I was starting to worry about cramp. Having planned to carry enough water that I should urinate somewhere along the route (using public toilets, of course) it was approaching 5 hours with no sensations to relieve myself building up. This hinted that maybe I was approaching "less than optimal" hydration and perhaps could have included a quick "smash and grab" re-hydration stop on the way, lessons for the future though!
Cresting at descending down into the final few Km is actually very uneventful, with approx 7km to go you'll get the last notification of from your head unit that instead of a turn notification, you'll get a notification for the finish. The finish is in a very innocuous and featureless place, approx 52°12'56.4"N 3°04'30.2"W as you pass the turnings for the A44 and B4594 and before the turning for Rowbatch Farm. As I rolled over the point, I hit the lap button on the head unit for the second time, and the lap time of 5:19:48 displayed on the computer, being eternally pessimistic, I ensured I continued riding, albeit easy until I hit Kington proper, and found the town-sign for a timestamped photo. I didnt want the GPS to do me dirty if I stopped on the route with the clock ticking. (video available on Strava Post).
This is an absolutely beautiful route on a good day. At no point did I get bored by the continuously changing scenery and gradients.
I shall leave with a note to anyone attempting to complete this route, Kington has limited Uber, Taxi and Bus services. So limited in fact that I had to ride to Hereford in order to get a train home. Please account for approx an extra 35km of riding before you can hit semi-reliable public transport. The cake and coffee in "Border Bean" is excellent however, almost worth the ride itself.
Equipment for anyone so inclined:
Specialized SL8 (non S-works) in size 52.
Front tyre: Conti 111 (tubeless with Silca sealant)
Rear Tyre: GP5000 S TR (tubeless with Silca sealant)
Wheels: Reserve 50/65
Handlebars: Ascent Aeroo Narrow short-reach bars.
Bar Tape: Jape Denim Bar Tape
Drivetrain: Ultegra DI2 12 speed. 52/36 and 11-34
Hydration: USWE Race 2.0
Computer: Garmin 1040 with Garmin Varia rear light