Re: Sunday 17 Feb Ride

[Sweaty Eds]

At 9am sharp on a clear but crisp February morning the six of us, Beloved Chairman Rees, Celia Pantani, Dan ‘Cadence’ Lewis, Jonathan ‘Marginal Gains’ Doig, Gary Hotpants and my Sweaty self set out from Bloomfield.

Unbeknownst to us, Narberth town centre was in a dreadful state with broken glass and faeces strewn everywhere. Apparently, it wasn’t the usual culprits i.e. Saundersfoot GP’s letting off steam, rather a gang of horse rustlers had broken into a local award winning butcher’s yard intending to ride away next week’s Nag Bol. Anyway, it seems that the steeds were more spirited than anticipated and rather than go quietly they stampeded up and down the High Street smashing windows and whinnying til the early hours. Unfortunately, Gary rode across the remains of one of these windows and punctured. Now, knowing that Gary is a fairly minimalist sort of guy, (shorts in sub-zero temperatures, very rarely seen in gloves, that sort of thing) it was always a long shot that he may have a spare tube, he didn’t but he did have a phone to call his wife to come and get him.

Miles 0.5 Punctures 1 Remaining Dynamos 5

It was at about mile 1.5 that we passed the tractor cutting the roadside hawthorn bushes and at about mile 1.6 that we stopped for our Beloved Chairman to repair his puncture. To speed things up I offered to assist. In hindsight, I suppose I really should have taken my Seal Skin gloves off, but it was cold and I didn’t think we would be that long. If I have learnt nothing else today at least now I understand why you don’t see many seals doing jobs that require any degree of manual dexterity, such as dentistry, eye surgery or, indeed, bicycle repair. I must be honest, I don’t think I was that much help, I think the low point may have been when I was pumping up the freshly repaired tyre and Dan was explaining to me how careful you have to be with these new micro-pumps. Certainly you have to be quite a lot more careful than I was with my flippers for hands. I’m sorry to say that when I handed our Beloved Chairman his wheel back, the valve, rather than sitting flush in it’s housing, was at an angle approaching 90 degrees. Luckily, Gary arriving in his wife’s car on his way home caused a slight distraction and meant that the potential for a nasty scene was avoided. However, I think I may be below even Ian ‘The Wrench’ Walton on the Dynamo list of top twenty helpers in a mechanical crisis.

Miles 1.6 Punctures 2 Red Faced Dynamos 1

Onwards and upwards we went with Celia and Andrew very kindly staying in sight, Jon showing off his new found fitness and Dan aiming for an average cadence in three figures. We were joined near Maenchochog by Nick G and friend who didn’t seem to notice that they were cycling uphill. As the mountains loomed into view I peeled off home to work on my Flat Earther’s newsletter.

Miles 12 Punctures 2 Recently Swelled Dynamos Group 6 Dynamos still to join group 3? (Ants, Bevs and Jams)