Sunday club run...I mean Dragon Ride....

[Marek]

Rocked up at 7.30am in Pencoed to sign on for the 180km Dragon Ride. This takes in a number of mountain passes in the Valleys. As I arrived at the office to sign on I bumped into Amy who kindly pinned on my number. Then out of nowhere about half of Addiscombe Cycling Club turned up, too many to name (I can't remember), but there were loads a' ACC.

After a brief chat we shimmied on down the starting lane to get into the start pen. We had to hang around in here for about an hour waiting for the start. Not great when your well hydrated, quite a few of us had to dive for the bush for relief. As we got closer to the start line Huw suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I asked him if he was up for getting a good time today, he gave a nonchalent maybe, which meant yes. So I thought I would stick with Huw.

As we got going we saw Matt, Grahame, and one other ACCer ahead, Huw upped his pace and caught up with them and I followed. We then got onto the back of a group which were ticking along at a reasonably gentle pace, this was fine by me as I wanted to pace myself today as last few long rides I have done in Wales I have overcooked myself early on. It was not long before we reached the first meaningful climb, started off steep but then levelled off nicely and we got into a nice rhythm. I took it easy and Huw was sitting on my wheel just turning it over gently as it was early (see I am learning Huw).

The group we were with pretty much stayed together and then we hit the second climb which was quite long. Again I took it quite easy, but then halfway up Matt came up alongside me and asked me if I had stopped or something as they had caught me up. It was not that he said this, but the fact that I saw a few other riders a bit further ahead that had been in our start group that then made me up my pace a bit and bridge the gap to these riders.

I got onto them but seemed to lose the rest of the group including Huw and Matt. As we got closer to the top I was aware that there was a feed station over the top. I wanted to fill a bottle just in case, but did not want to lose this little group. I attacked the last bit of the climb and got a good gap, I managed to fill my bottle and grab a banana and then chase the group on the descent, thankfully I was still on.

Then we were onto a flatter section. All of a sudden, whoosh, a group led by a few guys from Mark Baker cycles and London Dynamo (Rob Jeffroy) and a Pinarello rider came flying past. Here we go then, I managed to jump onto the group and soon it was quite large. But they were hammering it, I was getting a bit worried but thought may as well give it a go. We then got onto some roads which were really exposed to the wind, this was tough, I was now trying to shelter and keep up with the fast group. I managed to just about stay in. As we came into a town unfortunately the lead riders got away at some traffic lights, I was now with the back end of the group.

I was not too worried as I felt the faster boys were going much too fast. Before long we were ticking along very nicely. The last few climbs were really good fun, the first one was quite steep, but had a feedstation at the top. Got here and a couple of other london dynamo riders were getting ready to go. I got onto the back of them and let them drag me to the bottom of the 2nd time up Bwlch. They were going really quick on the lower part, so I let them go and just got going at my own pace. I was passing lots of riders and no one was coming past me. I had one guy sitting on my wheel for most of the climb, as we reached the top of the climb I put it in the big ring and left him standing. With only one more climb to go and plenty left in the legs, now it was time to start testing myself.

A long descent off Bwlch and then the final climb, a bit steeper than some of the others, but not too long and again I was passing loads of riders. Now I thought we must be near the finish, so I put my head down and hammered it. Got onto the flat sections at the bottom and was overtaking people all the time. Then went around a corner and saw a sign, I thought it was going to say 1km to go. It said 10km

Ok, luckily I was feeling good and the road was flat but the wind was quite strong. I put my head down and time trialled it. I did not have a group to ride with, I was picking off riders from the faster group that I'd lost earlier and one of the london dynamo riders that had gone flying up Bwlch the second time. I wanted to make sure they did not latch onto me, so everytime I came up to two of them, I made sure I went past them fast enough for them not to bother to chase. It worked. Into the finish and I felt great. On the basis that I think we started at about 8.45am and I finished at about 2.30pm, that was 5hrs 45mins, so pretty pleased.

Saw Amy and Jo at the finish, they did the 120km route and seemed to have enjoyed it.

Really enjoyed the scenary and the course, the climbs are long but gradient is very manageable. I would definetly do this one again. The 4 hour drive home afterwards was quite hard though, sorry could not hang around to see the others at the finish but needed to get back, hope you all had a good ride.

Cheers

Marek....

[Graham O]

Well Done Marek.....

It was a top ride and looking back I realy enjoyed it. It was quite hard at times, but think its my best sportive to date. I came in at about 2.50, so about 20 mins behind. I was lucky to get on to quite a few good groups and this helped me save my energy for the climb out of neath and the slog up the bwylch. Had a really quick run in from the 20km board..

More details when I'm recovered....

[huw williams]

That was a thing of great beauty. Much improved course than previous years - the start was great, loads of yellow ACC jerseys spread all over the grid in various states of anticipation. Jon Avery was quaking in his cleats and its not often you see Andrew Green with nothing to say. I tried to gee everyone up for a flying start up the first climb but only Marek, Matt and Graham bit. Experience on this ride has taught me that starting slow results in quicker times so I did my best to reign Marek in early on and the four of us cruised up the climb of the Bwlch and the Rhigos in pretty good order - then the attacks started and Marek was strong enough to jump in with a group of Dyamos and others.

I stayed in for a while but no way was i going to survive another 80 miles at that speed so settled in with a more realistically paced group - this still contained a few idiots though and we went tearing through the tower colliery descent off the rhigos at 40mph. and were doing over 20 along the nasty drags through Penderyn. This delivers you to the worsty part of the ride - the mountain road across the Brecon Beacons to the Reservoir at Storey Arms. Nasty nagging headwind, very remote and long arduous drags. Got isolated here and lost a load of time but a good group came through at the top and we got the speed up on the long downhill to the turn at SenniBridge. We'd just done Pen-y-coed to Brecon in under 2.5 hours over the two biggest climbs in South Wales - I didn't think you could DRIVE it in much less than that.

Another brutal slog on the road past Crai reservoir (this is normally hard enough but today there was 2.5 miles of loose chippings over the road) then I got a bit of a break as Matt came through from behind in a group of very willing racers and we got 15miles of quality high-speed riding down the otherwise intrminable stretch of the Glyneath Bank. Up Cimla Hill before the big climb at Bwlch and I was starting to feel the effects of no long rides in my legs - felt pretty strong still but the first signs of cramp were setting in and warning me that if I tried to ride as fast as I THOUGHT I could ride I might regret it.

Did I ever - a couple of riders from Dynamo came through on the foothills of the Bwlch - I thought "sod it" here goes and jumped in. My legs just seized solid and I had to crawl up the long, long remainder of the mountain just to keep going. Near the top Graham came through and I got a bit of a lift when he shouted but I had to just spin gently over the top, descended like Franz Klammer, legs spinning wildly to get the cramp out which seemed to work because we got in with a ridiculous 3-up for the last 8 miles after a nasty little final climb, which turned into a 30mph race through the last section where we caught Graham's group on the line and unbelievably I won the sprint clocking 37mph (though I had shamelessly sucked the tyre off the rims of the other two's bikes for the last 2 miles - (the Shadow taught me everything I know)

Time - 6hrs10mins

Considering there were nearly 3000 riders out I did seem to spend an awful long time on my own with no one else in sight in front or behind. But for the most part there were huge groups of riders all over the 112 mile course. Not too hot, in fact it was a bit chilly on top of the big mountains and the rain stayed off despite several patches of grey skies.

Would have loved to stay around and see what everyone else thought but like Marek said - the drive back is a bit of a killer after a ride like that, so had to chip. Hope everyone finished OK (Please post your experiences here so I can get a feel for the story in CW) and got home safely.

[Graham O]

Well,

Its a day later and I still knackered. On reflection, that ride did hurt quite a lot. But no matter which sportive I do, it does tend to hurt. On this occasion I think that I managed to save my energy much better than before.

Anyhow, as Huw and Marek have mentioned, we rode at a reasonable pace to the top of the rhigos. When we descended down to the split point for the two distances I was in a group that was really motoring. It turned left following the yellow arrows. It turned out however that the yellow arrows were for the short route. Anyhow, I spotted this quite quick and turned round. The only thing now was that I was all on my lonesome. I settled down into a nice rythm and just cruised along for 5 miles or so hoping that a group would come through as I knew that the worst part of the ride was coming. Luckily a group did somehow materialise and we worked our way over the brecon beacons.

It was at this point that my ride last year hit the duffers. Last year I got cramp in both legs and struggled to get home. This year I was in better shape, but my legs were still screaming. Anyhow, I kept going with my group to the 2nd feed and had a rest.

For this point forward, I just stuck in the groups all the way to neath. When I got to neath I started the climb and immediately started to cramp up on the climb. However I found that I could ride through it if I climbed out of the saddle. So I did just that and dropped everyone in my group....Fantastic.

From here, I climbed the bwylch really well for me and saw huw at the top, then absolutely gunned it all the way back. The best bit was the very end when I had a proper go...

All in all, I reckon its my best sportive so far and it does wet my appetite for some more. I think I am learning how to do these things. Its only taken 2 seasons....Us northerner don't learn too quick...

My time was 6.08. Thats 1 hour 22 mins faster than last year. On each I couldn't walk too much at the end, but this time it was I had done a decent ride.

Thanks to Mat, Huw and Marek for their wheels and advice early on in the ride...

See ya in the black mountains,

Graham.

[TimN]

good work on the reports fellers,

i can never remember much about the route and i only did the short one, i remember i had a bit of an incident with an ice cream van on the first decent as i mistakenly thought the roads were closed, later a very kind policeman asked if i was colour blind as a i was running (off the bike) down the pavement to avoid some red lights, i think i might have seen Amy on the climb just after that, and i think i might have had a bit too much caffeinated energy gel towards the end but it seemed to do the trick.

overall a great event and by far the best i have done this year.

[Phil L]

A bit of a hectic start, as I had to collect Robyn and Carole from their B&B in the morning which was 10 miles from the start. Large queues into the car park delayed us getting to the start to meet the main group of ACCers, but with a bit of cheeky pushing-in we managed to start at 9:04, about 25 to 30 mins behind the others.

Memories of last year's disaster with the feed stations prompted me to pack my pockets with as much food as possible - bananas, energy bars, gels, dried apricots, and of course I had to try this pork pie secret weapon thing that some people swear by, so had one small Melton Mowbray pork pie. Also packed away several small measures of Go Electrolyte in small sandwich bags to mix in with water at the feed stations - looked like packs of cocaine - not sure what it would do to you if you tried to snort it.

As it is usually my legs that give way on an event of this type, my only strategy was to look after my them, by avoiding pushing too high a gear (as I often do), and to alternate between high spinning and hard pushing to share the work between the fast and slow twitchers - basically avoiding any early pains in my legs. To begin with, I was a bit concerned that I was going faster than I thought I would be doing, but as my legs were feeling okay, I pushed on and managed to catch some of the main group by the first feed station. I hung around with Ian and Connor for about 5 minutes as we set off down the longer route, but again my legs were keen for some more speed so off I went again. Passed Chloe who was motoring along in a fast group, and caught up with Steve and Philippe at the second feed station just as they were leaving. Didn't see the them again until the third feed station at the top of that nasty hill out of Neath. A few minutes later Chloe arrived who was making excellent progress. For the last leg I pretty much stayed with Steve, apart from the Bwlch which he ascended very quickly (damn these light weights ). The last dash back to the finish was the maddest part of the ride where I hooked up with a very fast group of guys all taking quick turns at the front. After 100+ miles of hilly cycling we were still finding strength and energy to sprint up the small hills we were encountering on the long descent - incredible.

I crossed the line at 15:55 giving me a time of 6hrs 51.01mins (as confirmed by the text message I have just received from the organisers), with my computer showing 6hrs 18mins of pedal time. I couldn't directly compare this with my overall time last year (7hrs 54 min) as the course was 11 or 12 miles shorter, but my average speed improved from 16.3mph to 17.2mph. I celebrated my improvement with my pork pie which certainly went down a treat - better than buying one of those dodgy burgers.

[Dombo]

Similarly hectic start to Phil, as we scarfed down an early cooked breakfast at the B&B and left him to load up Carole and Robyn. Plan was to get on the start line for 0745 which, had we been the only competitors, would have been not only cunning but also achievable as plans go. A last minute weather check saw rain jacket abandoned and pockets filled with more food, my theory that jelly babies can be licked and stuck to the top tube for later consumption proving to be optimistic to say the least. However after 7 hours in a jersey pocket said jelly babies will stick to anything, mobiles, paper money, skin, and even oiled bicycle parts.

An hour and a quarter's queueing at Pencoed College took on a surreal quality as we shuffled into what appeared to be a farm, the race start being some quarter mile down a cleat-destroying concrete path.

The ride began and we were off, I and my etape chums setting a strong pace to the first set of lights on a hill where we separated. HRM showing in excess of 155 caused me some concern with 90% of the route still to do but the initial excitement waned and I got into a steady rhythm, spinning comfortably up Bwlch. The descent was fun, although with a strong apparent headwind I struggled to get my speed over 40 mph. Rhigos came and went, and I saw my first Agreeable, Carole then the second feed station where I saw a couple more. My one fear with these events is blowing too early so I stopped to take on more food, bananas, jam tarts, Hi5 and my own salted peanuts to ward off any possible cramps.

Then it was a fast descent to the Grand/Medio split where I headed right into SAS Selection country. Even in sunshine the Brecons are bleak, and when you're on your own riding into the wind more so. Little groups in the distance proved impossible to catch, even with the help of one kind chap who tried giving me a tow that I was unable to hang on to. Two Yorkshiremen and a girl then caught me and we rode together for a while, joined by another. We stuck together until the main road, where I found it relatively easy to hang on going uphill, only to lose them as the road flattened then began its long descent.

Left turn towards Storey Arms came next and I caught and passed little groups, catching the odd slipstream from those that passed me. With such small groups the ride became an almost lone 100 mile time trial, and even when I found a decent bunch the discipline of our CRs was often lacking, riders all over the place seemingly unable to hold a line.
Passed Cray Reservoir and the third feed stop with beautiful views across the leafier parts of the Beacons back the way we'd come then a fast descent to Neath, spoiled only slightly by a cheap resurfacing a la Surrey Council of loose gravel over tarmac. Through Neath and up Cimla Hill to the final feed stop where I saw Connor, Ian and a couple other Agreeables then off to th efinal attack on Bwlch.

The descent from Cimla was interesting. Fast enough to get up to a very decent speed, the road takes a sharp right over a bridge. A manhole cover right on the apex of the bend forces a wider line than you'd want and a traffic calming choke point just after gives priority to oncoming traffic. Great at 30mph with road bike brakes.

Then came the second climb of Bwlch, this time from a different side so it seemed like a totally different climb. Spun up that to undeserved applause and managed a suitably nonchalent expression for the photographers. The descent had a couple of bottom-clenching moments - a fast left hand bend downhill that kept on bending, and a steep downhill that finished at a small roundabout with a stone monument, the approach being blind to any traffic coming from the right.

Then it was a fastish run into the finish at Pencoed, hitching onto the odd group and crossing the line after 7hrs 14 minutes. A little less faffing at feed stations and riding harder to leave a lot less in the tank at the end should bring that down on my next attempt.

All told an excellent ride in superb weather, well organised and great fun.

Roll on L'Etape....

[huw williams]

[quote="Dombo"] The descent from Cimla was interesting. Fast enough to get up to a very decent speed, the road takes a sharp right over a bridge. A manhole cover right on the apex of the bend forces a wider line than you'd want and a traffic calming choke point just after gives priority to oncoming traffic. Great at 30mph with road bike brakes.

[Ian A4size]

Opted for the CR on Sunday as well.

Joanna and I went down on the saturday morning, stopping off in Bristol to see friends for a couple of hours- then a short hop over the bridge and we were there, so in all about a 3 hour drive- crikey it can take that long just to get to the Cronx somedays.
Steve had thoughtfully booked an early slot at the local Italian- very good it was as well, home by 9.30 and bed by ten.
A certain Mr Williams (of this parish) had thoughtfully sent me a text -advising me to stay in the pub!
The hotel was very helpful, letting us lock bikes up in the storage room and fixing up a continental style brekkie at 6 the next morning.
We teamed up with Conor, Steve, Phillipe, Mr and John at 7.15 for the pan flat ride to the start- about 5 miles i think, it would be a fast 10 course for sure.
As soon as we hit the main road, another addiscombe posse came from the other direction, Chloe, Jeff and Kate. CR it was!
Arriving at the start- chaos- absolutely hundreds of cars coming off the motorway trying to get in- coupled with a few thousand cyclists coming from every angle.
Just inside we saw Amy, Marek, Andy, Graham O, and a few more who i cant remember at the present.
We seemed to start off in a farm yard- or at least its back driveway, a number of guys were caught a little short as we had quite a wait on our hands to start- even though we were there fairly early.

Well off to the event then....I set my target at around 8 hours- Marek said he was aiming for that as well
The first hill ( over the starting mat) had me puffing and dropping off..... WHOOOOSH.... what was that?, some one had set a rocket off, maybe be two.
Marek and Graham O went by like it was the evening 10, their arses were truly on fire.
I hung on most of the way with the slightly more sensible paced group to the first drag, then i fell off of them. Hmmmm i am clearly not having a good day.
Anyhoo on i soldier, some kind person had posted all the ascents' gradients, max avg and length- there were some very long "miles" I can assure you.
Up the hill for the first time, not too bad at all really, very much a continental style climb, it looks really great seeing long stretched out groups of riders all the way up the climb.
Absolute screamer of a descent- somewhere on the course i touched 72kph, and i never pedalled at all on the "downs".
Another hill was soon looming and i was back in the zone. I now felt a bit better, putting down my somewhat poor performance down to beginners nerves.
Up to the first feed- quick stop/refill/banana/pee.
Another super fast descent, the roads were all excellent throughout, and i never saw anyone come a cropper on the way down.
Descision time it was- i thought long 'un, John said "short for me" and he whizzed round the roundabout so fast that i had to go round twice just to see where he went.
At this point i still did not think i could do it, as the split comes fairly early you have to decide early or it will all go "Pete Tong"
I sat and waited for a few others following, not wanting to have to do the whole ride on my own.
Conor stepped up to the breach, he had done the short course before, and despite his lack of miles agreed to come with me. Phil L came as well, but we only saw the back of him as he was also in possession of a rocket as well.

The next part of the ride can only be described as hellish. Its not steep, it was't really that windy but boy was it hard work. Conor really saved my day, i really felt like turning back and doing the short route, we met a couple of other ACCers on the drag and we stuck together and got our sorry arses over the top.

Suddenly i was feeling really good- honest- and by the time we got to the 2nd feed i thought i had it in the bag
The next bit was a bit of a blur, must be the super long descent- was there a reservoir there? Mirage? Anyhoo soon we were tanking along fairly rolling countryside- everything was just fine and dandy.
Another long draggy hill appeared ( Carole I hear you darling) but i was feeling good so no probs there.
I could hear Conor chatting away just behind me- then all of a sudden he was gone- on me own/jack jones/billy on mates. Come on ,there were 3000 at the start where are they all now then?
I picked up a few stray riders and we rolled on to the steepest climb of the day- out of Neath. I guess it was a Welsh mile they had measured, probably similar to a Texan one, and boy was i glad to get to the 3rd feed- not for the food, just to get a breather.
I saw Nick W at the top, he was flying along with another group, he said there were two guys just dragging everybody behind them, no one else was doing a turn, they were quite happy-well it would be rude not to
Conor finally winched his way up the hill and told me to go on as he had finally had enough. We stayed together for a short while but the elastic finally broke.
135k in and i still felt good, eating (never a problem) drinking, its all coming together then. I have done a few long solo rides- 130/140k so i guess my training has paid off a bit, tho i must say that my speed is way down on what it used to be.
A cruel steep bit, only perhaps a 100 long caused all sorts of problems for a few riders
( i think) we came down a small descent under a viaduct over a river left turn and bang up you go- if you were in the big ring i guess you would have no chance, two busted chains in the road probably meant "game over" for those riders.
Onwards towards the inevitable, another ascent of the "Puke" well thats what it sounded like, a great long climb in glorious sunshine, the road carved into the side of the cliff, endless strings of riders all the way to the top, it looked so good i had to stop and take it in.... only to stretch my tight right calf.
It seemed to take forever, and judging by my time it looks as if it did.
A right screamer off the top and i in with a group who all look as if it was just a sunday jaunt. They dropped me on the small climb, but i soon caught them on the flat bit as i was able to keep 21/22 mph on the flats still- my legs did protest a little with the faster cadence though.
The end is in sight, another Welsh km and i'm at the finish, my feet hurt a bit, tush was ok thanks. No cramp, but it took a while to let go of the bike.
A large contingent of ACCers were there to cheer me in- i was glad about that, i am scared of the dark.

When everyone was all in and accounted for we left for the hotel for a shower and a well earned beer. After 2 i was full, i dont think anyone finished their dinner-honest.

Would i do it again..... yes but i would like to be 15kg lighter.
Organization was first class, out riders, emergency vehicles, mobile mechanics, i thanked every marshall as i went by ( something that is always overlooked)
It never rained!
Thanks to Huw for his encouragement.
My legs hurt today

[Andrew G]

[quote="Huw"]and its not often you see Andrew Green with nothing to say

[Andrew G]

Okay tech-heads I've loaded the magic watch data in now. It said 3,000 metres of climbing.

Steve - I've linked the route [url=http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1189142/an/0/page/0#1189142]here[/url] and from the links you can either view it in Googlemaps or Google Earth.

[Marek]

On the way home yesterday I stopped at a service station, I noticed the Melton Mowbrays so bought two and devoured them on the way home. Delicious after all that sugary goo I was eating all day. I am defo taking a couple of Meltons on my trip to France, hope I can get them through customs.

Cheers

Marek....

[Amy]

Well, as my introduction to the world of cyclosportives, I rather enjoyed myself. Not having done one before and not exactly riding at my best yet, I thought it wise to stick with the Medio Fondo of 75 miles. Next year it'll be the long one

Started off in the cattle pen with Jo, Bus, Kate, dad Geoff (right spelling?), Chloe, Mr and others that I either can't remember their names or didn't know'em in the first place. Huw had disappeared ages earlier so I texted him - thought he was behind me but he wasn't he was in front - nice of him to let me know he'd started without me... Had already decided that I would be riding at my own pace from the start but I tucked in with the people mentioned above except Andrew and we stayed pretty much together. Fell off the pace coming up the Bwlch but took it steady and made the top quite comfortably. Sorry I didn't stop where everyone else was waiting, I was just starting to get going on the descent and I hadn't realised they were there: suddenly slowing up and turning/stopping might have caused some problems and not just for me. Anyhow, I reckoned most of'em would catch me on the descent.

Beautiful descent and I think I was doing some good descending - somewhere I broke the 40mph mark which considering I'm a lightweight and a nervous descender is about the fastest I've done. Kept a guy off going round a bend but as he overtook me afterwards he shouted something about race me to the bottom - no competition; being built on more generous lines (think Bus) he had a greater claim on gravity

Dropped back into the valleys with their very Welsh lines of terracing blending into the next town, I rode up past Huw's parents home town - managed to spot one of his sisters in Treherbert, I think it was, and she me - and onto the Rhigos. Again a good steady climb, tucked behind a couple of Welsh riders most of the way to avoid the wind (I did go past them at one point and regretted it). Stopped for a refill and a bite to eat at the top - spectacular view over the Welsh countryside below.

Met up with my previous group and set off with them and dropped down to the 'great divide'. Saw Bus and Jo having a discussion just before the roundabout and reckoned that I would probably see Jo later. Indeed she came past a little while later in a small group and I jumped on the back. Again a little bit faster than I was totally comfortable with but it helped fill in a few miles. Jo and I were eventually dropped which was a relief as the group included some old chap who decided that wearing all white kit made him look the bee's knees - it didn't

Got caught by that short sharp climb out of Cimla - was in the wrong gear and was almost unable to turn the pedals for the short distance but managed to get my foot out of the cleat with only a few swear words and no falling over Chap at the top had had worse luck - he'd broken his chain!

Left Jo after the last feed station on the climb up the Bwlch as I was climbing much better and kept a reasonably steady pace (for me). Got a shout of Addiscombe from a lady photographer and some weird guy who was running alongside me with his camera on video, 'interviewing' me - not sure I want to see the results 'cos I'm riding along thinking, 'what the f...?'

Thought I came down the descent in grand style - hope the CW photographer got a good one of me leaning round the bend (thanks for the shout from him on the way up earlier). Passed the 20km sign and did some mental arithmetic to work out the miles - which was useful as someone later asked me how far to the finish. Linked up with some guy from Southampton just before the turn for the final climb which wasn't too bad - there was a turn on the way down that seemed to go in a full circle - and we stayed together till the final sprint for the finish.

Reckon I did it in 5 hours and didn't feel too tired - which as I could hardly to the club run a couple of months ago isn't bad going. Jo came in not long after me and we had a cup of tea and waited for the others to come in. Huw came in about an hour and 20 mins later having done 38 miles more than me and then it was off home to see how Claudia and the new cat had got on...

Thankfully didn't need a wee all the way round - I didn't fancy using one of those portaloos after all those blokes had been in them. Of couse, the blokes also made full use of the local countryside too....

[Amy]

[quote="TimN"] i think i might have seen Amy on the climb just after that.

[Mike I]

[quote="Andrew G"](well a different country completely)