10th of August 2013 - Milltir Cerrig and Aberhirnant loop

This week's route planning responsibility fell to Robbo, and anxious not to disappoint he delved deep into the crapiwheelers archive of 'character building' rides, and came up with this little beauty. Also reporting for duty were Hughesy, Tudor, Ronnie, Mike The Candle Davies, Lantern and newbie James. James had been out with us once before and it was obvious he had va va voom in abundance, which is of course to be expected when you're approximately half the age of the rest of the crapi peloton. This was however to be his longest ride to date. Always keen to encourage a fellow rider, resident sports psychologist and motivational speaker Ronnie faithfully promised James he's been sitting at home with a brew by 2 o'clock at the latest..... After the foothills of Treflach, the first proper challenge was the 4 mile climb of the Milltir Cerrig, which never seems easy whether you tackle it early or late in the day. Following an eye watering descent into Bala (Mike still denies he over-cooked the sharp left hander) beans on toast and Welsh cakes were the order of the day at the Bala cafe stop. At the cafe Mike announced he would be heading back via a more direct route, as he was to be the guest of honour / entertainment at a 'charity spin class' in Mold at 4pm. Ronnie decided to follow suit and James made similar overtures on the basis that his legs were cooked. 5 minutes later, the rest of the Crapis managed to talk James into coming back 'the hard way' through Aberhirnant, so two headed off towards Corwen and five huffed and puffed their way up the Hirnant, past lake Vyrnwy and home via Llanfyllin, Llansantffraid and Blodwell Bank. Total distance for the round trip from Ellesmere was just over 96 miles and a 15.9 mph average, whilst the Wrexham lads just nudged the ton. James eventually arrived home for his brew with the rest of his crapi companions around 5pm!

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Wolf in sheep's clothing - Welshpool 03/08/13

Le Patron decided we'd have a flattish one to Welshpool today, so we went out the usual way to Blodwell bank via Trefonen, through Llansantffraid before a 'left turn Clyde' up the short but steep drag towards Welshpool. We arrived at the Inglenook cafe in 3 separate groups which resulted in Patron and Lantern getting last dibs on the available tables. On the plus side, they did make a new friend who used to be in the film business and are auditioning next week. The pace back through Leighton and Buttington was brisk, but it went up another few notches on Criggion Lane thanks to big turns by Beast and Tudor, before a breakaway consisting of Tudor, Robbo, Ronnie and Candle went up the road. The rest is a blur, but my cramping legs this afternoon are evidence that the return via the Tour of Flanders was far from easy. Another good turnout today - Patron, Ronnie, Waudy, Robbo, Beast, Craig, Candle, Tudor and of course Lantern. The route maps also confirms it wasn't exactly flat, with nearly 2000 ft of ascent, ave 17.5mph. Craig was testing a Van Nicholas titanium bike with electric shifters today, I think a few of us could have done with electric motors!

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