Sunday ride 27 November 2011

[Morganite]

Meet up at Bloomfield at 9, plan the ride from there

See you there.

[ValleyMan]

We will be there!

[ValleyMan]

On a lovely Sunday morning eight of us, Celia, Kim, Huw, Roger, Andrew, Matt, Mark, and I met at Bloomfield. We decided on trip to the seaside (well Freshwater East) via Stephens Green Lane and St Daniels Hill by way of a warm up.

A warm welcome was extended to Roger who returned from his convalescence with the usual amount of piss taking.

It was noted that Matt had for once managed to find a matching set of kit. His excuse was that all his usual clashing colours were in the wash.

Just to show how much my bike maintenance skills had improved, we got about 50 yards down the road before one of my pedals fell apart. This has been a regular occurrence and I was confident I could fix it quickly. I sprinted (well for me) up the hill to Molleston so as not to hold anyone up during a quick pit stop. Unfortunately my multitool didn’t have the right sized allen key and nor did the other 4 offered by fellow club members; so quick it was not. ‘Sod it’ was the order of the day and off we went again with my left leg occasionally flaying about much to Huw’s amusement.

On the incline up to Jeffreyston we came across Nic and Shaun of the Aces. Imagine our smugness at fielding 8 riders to their 2. I was just getting the smartphone out to put a post on the thier website when the rest of the pack rolled by… We then bizarrely came across a third group, some of which were sporting Aces colours, however, it transpired that they were not on an Ace’s sanctioned ride but were Nick Brown’s disciples.

Mark peeled off at Carew and Kim and Celia decided to miss out on the Freshwater East loop and went their own way at Lamphey leaving 5 of us to soldier on. The testosterone was starting to kick in at this point and Roger was keen to show he was still (almost) a match for Andrew.

At the risk of digressing slightly, I understand that the superfluous tissue removed from Roger’s leg weighed about the same as the difference between his old and new bike. As he had his old bike out and was going well, it makes you wonder if he would finally be able to overhaul his nemesis if perhaps he were to shed an organ or two.

Anyway back to the action. Well there is no point in asking me as I was getting knackered by this stage and was dropped on most of the hills. As I ground my way up Freshwater East I was speculating on the reasons for this sudden and dramatic loss of form. There was of course the broken pedal, a grinding bottom bracket, last Thursday’s Turbo session was a hard one, Kim and I were out late on Friday and Saturday night at the Scarlets and Dr Feelgood respectively and finally Kim had taken my second Geo bar. That seemed like a good enough list if questioned.

On the way down from Freshwater East back to Lamphey my pedal finally exploded and shed bits all over the road. Another hold up ensued as I went back and pick up the bits but concluded it was beyond repair this time (Jon being the top bloke that he is has now replaced them under warranty).

We all went our own way at Molleston and I headed back home. I spotted Kim’s bike propped up against Celia’s house so stopped off for a welcome cup of tea with extra sugar.

Surely this ‘Sunday’ weather can’t last?

Postscript: I have felt for some time that I am too stretched out on the bike and therefore asked Jon if he could put a shorter stem on at the same time as replacing the bottom bracket. He took one look at the bike and spotted that in fact the seat clamp was loose and the saddle had slipped all the way back on the rails. So that is yet another excuse to add to the above list and further confirmation of my mechanical prowess.

[Author]

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