Sat 23rd April 2005: Fun in the Hills of South Wales!!

Well, I just got home. Do I win? I covered a total of just over 500 miles this weekend. That has to be considered a pretty long rideout.
Today was absolutely georgeous weather for blasting through the mountains. Got worryingly close to getting my knee down at one point (unintentionally!)

Anyway, I'm shattered now, the A34 is hard work in the wet.

Thanks guys for a great day out, about 24 of us I think, did anyone count? That's far more than I ever expected. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Next time us "Taffys" will take the tour into England, provided of coarse that you can arrange for a light rain shower so that we can feel at home. We'll use the drop off system properly.

I'm glad everyone got home safely, especially you Baldyman, next time it's the Bull Run in red pyjamas.

and a big personal thankyou to Gareth (Valleyboy) who sorted out my mis-fireing front cylinder, I was clueless (Fenda Extender on order today).

I'll look forward to meeting you all again on the Annual.

Originally Posted by Rich

Who was telling us about Castle Coch btw when we met up in then end? Im getting forum names confused with real ones etc. Thanks, anyhow!

That'd be me (Ceri/Ceri JC)! Glad we managed to get there in the end.

I had a great time, sorry for leading the group the wrong way at one point folks. Also, apologies to the bloke who was nothing to do with us, whom I mistook for jabba and pulled over

Checked the route on my Lidl maps when I got home and the cafe that we saw those bikers in, in the car park in Abergavveny, who told us the way to the Black Mountain Yamaha dealership was actually down as a "point of biking interest".

Great fun, in spite of the weather and when the roads dried up and the sun came out near the end, it was fantastic. Nice to meet you all and see your bikes in the flesh.

Props to Mogs for organising what was a great day out.
Now... lets have a gander at those pics of Jabba...

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

That'd be me (Ceri/Ceri JC)! Glad we managed to get there in the end.

I thought it was. I had the usual rideout difficulty of failing to work out who was who, not that it mattered as it was great to meet everyone

Originally Posted by tee jey

Things didn't get any better when I fell off my brother's mountain bike and knackered my shoulder again. Painful ride home and now off work for a couple of days. Apart from that I had a fantastic weekend, it was good to meet you all.

That'll teach you to get invoved in dangerous pursuits

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

Also, apologies to the bloke who was nothing to do with us, whom I mistook for jabba and pulled over

Originally Posted by Jabba-the-Hutt

Shortly after we got split up near the motorway junction, I saw a guy on a middleweight, blue naked bike circling one of the roundabouts. I assumed it was you marking the way, so headed down and when he turned off I (and consequently the others) followed 'you'. He left his indicator on after the turning, so I rode along side him giving the "your indicators are still on" hand signal. Confused look, so I point at his indicators, still doesn't get it. As there's a layby coming up and it'd be a good point to "collect" the group, I signalled for the bloke to pull over. Only when we're all stopped (and boxing him in on the layby), do I realise it's not you!

Poor bloke, he said it was his first day out on a bike (he'd just bought it) and admitted he didn't know what he was doing, hence circling the roundabout/indicators .

Had it been a nice day, I'd of double checked it was you, but in that rain I didn't think anyone would be out doing laps of a roundabout for fun
PS Did you see The Mass/My posts about the oversuits in the other thread?

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

As there's a layby coming up and it'd be a good point to "collect" the group, I signalled for the bloke to pull over. Only when we're all stopped (and boxing him in on the layby), do I realise it's not you!

Hope you didn't ask if he was Jabba-the-Hutt......might have caused offence

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

Did you see The Mass/My posts about the oversuits in the other thread?

Yes thanks, i'll be ordering a "medium" suit off them later

I want something like this suit to go over my summer kit, which is like a tea bag. Do you think I'll get away with a small?

Originally Posted by Rich

I want something like this suit to go over my summer kit, which is like a tea bag. Do you think I'll get away with a small?

I'm not sure, I think Mass has a medium, weren't you about the same height as him?

NB for Jabba and Rich. The Spada suits go into a bumbag which is small/comfy enough to be worn when riding, so even though it probably won't fit underseat (not sure what your bikes are like, but I don't reckon it'd fit on mine), you don't need to take a tankbag to carry it. I take mine with me for any trip longer than a day. You really don't notice you're wearing it (as a bumbag) and aside from being comparatively high vis (good for mucky weather, which I suppose is when you need high vis the most), the wind chill protection means it's worth wearing on dry cold days too if you're doing motorway riding.