The rains may be coming down but spirits are high ahead of the first stage of the Merida Bikes TransWales. With a mid-stage time trial and a night time special stage in the evening the riders are being hurled head-long into things straight from the off, reports Matt Skinner in the first of his daily reports…

It’s just shy of 8pm on Saturday evening in the small mid-Wales town of Builth Wells. Outside the rain has been coming down in fits and starts all afternoon and has now settled into a continued downpour. But although the ground outside is sodden, inside the marquee the 280 riders massed for tomorrow’s start to the Merida Bikes TransWales are in buoyant mood after consuming vast quantities of pasta, washed down by some with a tipple of vin rouge. Ahead of them lies seven days of uniquely enthralling mountain biking, where marathon rides in some of Wales’ most stunning scenery rubs shoulders with flat-out singletrack duelling in the event’s unique special stages.

Riders have come from as far afield as South Africa, Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, the US of A, Ireland and of course the UK to take on 550km (344miles) of riding around Wales with 15,500m (50,840feet) of climbing off-road. This would be a tough enough proposition in favourable conditions but combined with the rain soaked terrain and a weather report that reads like a 80s pop band (‘wet, wet, wet…’) and things are going be interesting.

Tomorrow’s first Linking Stage is 67.5km of mixed riding that promises riders a selection of steep and technical rocky descents and fast rolling trail with great views of the surrounding countryside. Part-way through the linking stage there is also a special timed section that will both count to the overall GC but also help seed riders for their first true speed test: the Exposure Lights Maxx night time-trial in the evening at Cwmrhaedr, near Llandovery at journey’s end.

With nothing to do now until morning but sit the rain out and get acquainted with the other riders, exchanging riding anecdotes and sharing mugs of tea, it’s (almost) time for the riders to get psyched up to get this show on the road.

Linking Stage One

Builth Wells to Cilywcwm, Llandovery
Total distance: 67.5km
Climbing: 1812m

Followed by

Special Stage One
Exposure Lights Maxx time-trial, Cwmrhaedr
Total distance: 7km

Find out more at www.mtbtransuk.co.uk