Penhydd

Sunday morning arrived and after numerous suggestions from yours truly, only Uphilla graced me with a preference to ride the Penhydd loop before he left. I suppose I should get used to the blank expressions folk give me when I ask 'em what they'd like to do, but to be ignored x3-4 times during the course of wkend was starting to "grate" a little by now :(

Anyhow we zipped around into the next valley and unloaded our rigs before setting off on a blat around this most excellent trail. For me, it was made all the more special by having it fresh in my mind from yesterdays ride. "Careful, don't over do it" keep rolling through my head.

Over the course of the weekend we'd dutifully waiting for everyone to bunch up after each section which then meant riders were tailing others and bobbling around all over the place. As the posse didn't appear capable of falling into an approximate line of ability/speed, I suspect the slower riders and those with less confidence then feel pressured to keep crankin' and then end up making mistakes. I know usually I do in such situations. As my mutters were for the most part being ignored, I decided to try a slightly different tack this morning with a brisk pace and to only stop and regroup after x2-3 sections. Woe betide that I only mentioned this to a couple of riders and not to the deaf posse en-mass :blush Me bad.

Anyhow, a few twisty sections passed and by the long fire road winch I noticed that peeps were strung out nicely so halfway up I halted for a regroup and breather. This seemed to work as we carried on with the remainder of the initial fire road. Atop the climb we took another breather before Rob and I started the snake rolling again through the next set of 2-3 short sections. We were by no means hell for leather and calmly cranked the dull linking sections whilst keeping an eye out behind.

Atop the long climb after A Ridge Too Far we noticed Uphilla taking a breather behind us, so carried on. A few more section flew by with Rob comparing the ride on his Flux to yesterdays on his Jekyll and before we knew it we we'd zip'd through to Genesis, 3/4's of the way around - without any sign of the others. Ah well, we figured there's plenty of 'em to look after themselves so carried on back to the trail head.

Back at the car, I noticed a missed call from Uphilla (my mobile was still on silent from the nights kip) accompanied with a panting voice message (ooh-err misses) but unfortunately I didn't really get the gist of what was said. So I sms'd him and Dozer back saying we'd see 'em at the cabins.

Around an hour later the posse returned to "base camp" with Sicknote looking somewhat worse for wear :ohmy Apparently he'd taken a tumble not long after we'd finished the initial fire road slog :rolleyes Thankfully his injury's appeared to be superficial although they still looked raw and painful...

Unfortunately no-one had a map of the trail so poor ol'Sickers had to crank on with his injury's, deserving a 10/10 ol'chap. With a nasty 3rd injury in our last two visits (not to mention the bruises acquired in Scotland) I think we're long overdue a rethink on how we approach these weekends on such techi trails;

• My feeling is that the long gaggle of riders tripping over one another has gotta stop. So next time I propose we separate into smaller and more manageable groups - preferably of similar ability. Perhaps we can then periodically re-group or just catch up over lunch/dinner ?
  
• We need to ensure that most (if not all) have a suitable map to allow for a speedy retreat should anyone become injured. This has kinda fallen off our radar as the trails are littered with handy way markers.
• I certainly hope everyone carries a 1st aid kit...
  

What say you ?

For me this brought to an end another excellent weekends worth of top notch Welsh riding. Although I'd initially planned riding in the afternoon and again on Monday I decided enough was enough -I'd already slotted in an xtra ride on Friday and I didn't want to push myself too far/ injure myself again as I did last year. Tiredness and loss of concentration is fatal in them there hills, as my shoulder will testify.

See you all there again next year ???

Route: Tracklog

Posse: Darren (Heckler), DDave (Chameleon h/tail), Dom (Cannondale h/tail), Dozer (FSR demo), Farqui (5Spot), Les (Rockhopper h/tail), Rob (Flux), Sicknote (Rockhopper), Uphilla (5Spot), Zena (Fuel EX)

Mechanicals: Dozer's rear shock blew on his hire bike
Weather: clearing sky's with sunshine at the finish !