A Grand Day Out ! June 2019

Bombers Big Day Out 2019, Mid Wales & back. Not going to bore you with more of our "holiday" snaps, just a few words how it went. Thirteen down on the start list, twelve at Llandovery ?? Poor Scooby slept late, but we'll excuse him after his Rocky Mountain exploits.

Set off at 8 am with nearly 120 miles in front of us, it wasn't so much the distance that made us nervous, but over 10,000ft of climbing that went with it. We were straight in to the lanes & the traffic was very quiet, all steady for 10 miles, then we reached the Llyn Brianne dam. For the next 10 miles it was up & down constantly, topped off with the Devil's Staircase at an average of 15% with max's of 22%. There was a lot of heavy breathing going on there I can tell you. Down the other side you're hanging on to your brakes for dear life as it's just as steep but with hairpins. The road down the valley from the Staircase is stunningly beautiful, even when it's overcast as on Saturday.

We made an unscheduled detour to avoid Llanwrtyd Wells & that's where I had my puncture, thanks Lynsey Christopher. However, my cack handed tube change cheered up the boys & saved us 3 miles, which we were grateful for at the end. Again, it's just so amazing how beautiful Wales is, lush green hillsides & pastures, wooded valleys & bloody cyclists 😄😄😄😄. We joined the A470 at Newbridge on Wye to take us in to Rhayader, this road was very busy so everyone had eyes in the back of their heads. We stopped just short of Rhayader for our lunch break, no 2 course gastro pub meal this year. Greggs sausage rolls, baguettes, crisps & coke filled the void perfectly. Personally I needed this stop because I just wasn't feeling the love. Everyone in good spirits, lots of craic & banter & picture taking.

Through Rhayader at just under 50 miles & it was on to the Elan Valley & it's famous dams, water for the English. I shouldn't keep saying it, but it is stunning, everywhere you looked. Wayne Griffiths compared it to riding in the Pyrenees but this was better. At 60 miles we were at the head of the valley & turned for home, Greggs baguettes & coke had kicked in & I was feeling better. A 5 mile descent followed this but it was in to a head wind, doh !!! One more hill before we stopped at Devil's Bridge for water.Then more hills on our way to Tregaron, our 2nd puncture of the day, but nothing like the one's leaving Tregaron. Tregaron came at 90 miles, just less than 30 miles to go, topped up again with whatever you were fancying this far into the ride. Because of the nature of the ride with all the hills, we naturally split but then regrouped at the summits.

Leaving Tregaron it was up, up & up, by now I wasn't taking much notice of the scenery, only the 6ft of tarmac in front of me, IT WAS HARD. The effort to keep the wheels turning NOT the tarmac was hard....It was just a matter of keeping the pedals turning until we were back on the Llyn Brianne road back to Llandovery, the last 20 miles or so of our epic day out. With the exception of one or two of us, we all agreed that was the hardest bike ride we'd ever done. Let's get home, shower & eat some home cooked food.

Well done to all of us, it was 100% effort to get it done. At the time we thought never again, but I'm writing this 2 days later & it didn't seem too bad now. Am I going senile or what ????? One last thing, thanks to all of you who took pics of the day as lasting memories, but special thanks to Paul Tracy Rogers Rogers & Mike Williams for their outstanding video diaries of the day.

So that was our Big Day Out. Where to next year ????

Air Ambulance Charity Ride

June 30th 2018 saw us undertake our sponsored charity ride to raise money for Air Ambulance Wales, a most worthy cause. The day was a sweltering hot 29 Degrees. The 6am start was met by all except one rider who couldn’t get his backside out of bed… so he rocked up a good 5 mins late!. Was great to have our very own Tucker Jenkins (and pooch) from Graham Evans & Partners to send us on our way at an unearthly hour…