A few of us travelled down on Saturday and a small, select band of Tribe members bimbled round the Twyrch Trail during the afternoon. This is a nice bite-sized trail about 10 miles long and is generally in pretty good condition even when it's wet. It has a bit for everyone, not too taxing, but a nice warm up..
Saurday evening was the usual format of sitting around talking geek-speak about bikes in general and Yeti's in particular; and marvelling about how much Andrew knows about the brand.
Sunday was the main ride and our illustrious leader Andrew almost managed to get us out of the car park on time. Well, 'Yeti' time anyway. We followed our guide, Mike, into the unknown for a 'off-piste' route with a couple of his mates who live locally. It's always a worry when you embark on bespoke rides with unknown locals, especially when they never breath hard, sweat or fall off - irrespective of what they ride up, through or over. Perhaps they had the opportunity to recover while I was catching them up at the rest stops?
Riding in the Valleys of South Wales is different. You are either going up or down, unless you happen to be following the local canal (briefly) on your way to the up. The ups are steep and so are the downs. In the woods, the downs are both steep and muddy, oh and rooty and a bit too hard for me. I walked some bits, rode some bits badly, but rode some bits quite well. I ripped the arm of a favourite shirt on a barbed wire fence on Saturday and went over the bars once on Sunday .. apart from that it was relatively uneventful. Another learning curve and a slight improvement in skills and fitness, I hope.
Sunday's outfit looked good though ... thanks again Fred!
It was a chilled ride, despite the comedy mud-slide down the hill, and everyone rode at their own pace as usual. We would spread out a bit and then re-group, you know the sort of thing. I felt strong all day, not partilcuarly fast - but strong. Got to the first rest stop in the middle of the pack, but found myself closer to the front as the day wore on. The guys who ride all the time had plenty in reserve, but as an older weekend-warrior I was pleased that the body didn't let me down.
It always takes a while to get a large(r) group round and, after a late start, I had to bail out before the last bit in order to get back to Sussex at a reasonable time. (work, early flight from Gatwick, usual stuff ...) Perhaps we should consider a big ride on Saturday, get pi$$ed and have a BBQ, then an optional short ride on Sunday in future ?
Big thanks to Andrew for pulling it together and Mike for showing us round his back yard. Without these guys stepping forward, events such as this would never happen. Thanks and looking forward to the next one.
Next weekend we are off to Clive Powell's in Rhayader for some more of the same. Can't wait ..
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