Crapi Christmas Drinks

I know it might not look like it but we have been getting out every weekend.....except last weekend....oh, and this weekend too (looks away embarrassed). It was quite telling that we managed to get the best turn out of the year when we met up for traditional Christmas drinks and quiz last weekend. If my memory serves me correctly, those imbibing included Rocket (avoided the furnace hot fireside seat this time), Chrissy (full of cold), Lord Ronnie Baltimore, Robbo, Baby (who put him in the corner?), Beast, Ant (bravely sporting shorts in December) , Patron, Craig, Jude, Mike (no your eyes are not deceiving you), Dave, Coppi, Tudor, Brownie and Vino. I hope I haven't missed anyone, but after several scoops of Hydes original I wouldn't count on it. I'll post a photo of the festivities shortly. Happy Christmas to all, and let's hope 2015 is a great year for everyone who loves getting out on two wheels.

Clwyds, Halkyns and The Shelf

Kudos to Carl 'Vino' Jones for today's route planning. Following Disciples were Hughesy, Gaz, Ronnie, Robbie, Craig, Rocket and Bri.

Buckets and spades and a killer climb

18th October 2014 Start/Finish point: Dolgellau Holidaymakers: Rocket, Hughesy, Ronnie, Robbo, Brian, Craig, Tudor, Patron, Jack the Lad and Brownie.

Man of Steel (or should that be Iron?)

As most of you know, Chad had a nasty accident at work and as a result, he's been on the road to recovery for several months now. Until recently his biggest comeback ride had been a 45 miler which included one climb of the horseshoe. Yesterday he knocked that into a cocked hat when he kept me company on a 69 mile round trip with nearly 4500ft of climbing which included Ffrwd, Llanfynydd killer climb, The Shelf, The Nant y Garth pass and the back of the shoe. And the annoying thing is...he looked perfectly comfortable all day! I took a photo at the top of The Shelf just to prove he'd actually done it and will post it up here.

Lovely ride in the sunshine to Beeston

Blaenau lung buster

A good turnout today including patron, lantern, candle, Craig, Tudor, brownie, Chrissy, Ronnie, robbo, Gareth, vino and Colin Mcbride, on his first outing with the crapis. Needless to say bodies were strewn all over place on the return leg across ysbyty ifan and the migneint, and a breakaway effort by vino and Colin succeeded all the way back to the car park at Bala. Ronnie and I were grateful to Richie lee from Rhyl cc for sharing the work around llyn celyn as by this time the headwind was pretty fierce.

Spring is in the air....

Apologies for inexcusable delays in writing up the Blog but a few of us have discovered Strava over the last few weeks and the novelty hasn't yet worn off. Weather looks fair for the next few days, so we're off to Lake Vyrnwy this weekend. See you on the road.

Broken gears, broken bodies - Saturday 08/02/14

The Rocket threw down the gauntlet midweek by proclaiming that any rider who cried off this week because of bad weather should hang up their overshoes and take up knitting instead! Well that's not exactly what he said, but you get the idea..... Ronnie, Rocket, Robbo, Patron, Lantern, Craig, Vino, Chrissy, Brownie and Tudor therefore took up the challenge for what should have been an easy 47 mile loop to Prees. The weather had other ideas though, and a shocking side wind splintered us into 3 groups between Overton and Whitchurch, and it stayed that way until the welcome cafe stop at Prees. The final pairing was made up of Patron and Lantern but it was a solitary Lantern who rolled into the Raven with news of Le patron's return to base as a result of a snapped rear mech cable. A tailwind offered a brief respite on the initial return leg to Whitchurch but this soon changed again to a cross wind which again broke us up into 2 groups along Oldcastle road. The section from Worthenbury to Bangor was predictably hard as we turned further into the wind but I can honestly say that the final 5 miles from Overton to Ellesmere into the bared teeth of a hail and rain infested gale was the hardest thing I've done since Mont Ventoux. A hard but enjoyable day for those who made it and here's a useful link for those who didn't ;-) www.letsknit.co.uk

Just another winter's tale.....

Brownie, Craig, Coppi, Mike, Robbo, Ronnie, Chrissy, Lantern, Patron. Destination Corwen. Every year it happens. Sometime around late September, you'll hear the crapi's say they're "looking forward to winter so we can take it nice and steady for a bit". Everyone mutters and nods in agreement, as legs tired from Summer hilly outings yearn for steady social winter rides and cosy warm cafe stops. After all, winter miles equals summer smiles right? What happens in practice is quite different. Le patron issues the autumnal decree proclaiming the arrival of winter steeds, and for about a week or so from late October everyone's content to amble along. Something then happens to upset this finely balanced equilibrium. Invariably it's because we're just little kids in blokes bodies without the discipline and self-restraint needed to ride together sensibly. Today was one of those days! Bloody good fun!