5 of us set off on what looked like a good morning for cycling. That mood was not dampened by yours truly getting a puncture before we got past the Cwm Level football pitch. The offending half inch nail removed; we were back under way soon enough. (You should have seen three of us trying to get the tyre back on, I viral video missed if ever there was one)

Old road to Llanelli, the sun was out and the wind was blowing, Bob bade farewell and headed back from there. We all tucked in behind Nic to get across Kidwelly flats, until Mal saw the sign and shamelessly pulled out and sprinted for it. Coffee and carrot cake well received at Kidwelly and a route onward decision made. We headed off toward Carmarthen needing to turn left. Confusion as to which left had us turning at the one nobody intended. Turns out we were on a road none of us had ever ridden before, adventurous or what! 

It turned into an adventure with a hill that just kept on giving, surely that next little bend/switchback is the top. No there’s another one. Eventually we came out at Four Roads, picked a direction and headed off, (looking at the map after we picked the wrong one, should have turned left), which gave us a bit of a convoluted, but interesting route to Pont-Henri then Pontyberem and right, up another hill that just keeps giving.

Slight x-files moment as Mark disappeared, turns out he turned right before the. top of the hill and went straight to Llannon, so he came back to find us at the junction waiting for him.

Then the nice bit , downhill to Hendy with a third sprint for the sign. Back through Pontardulais with 2 turning right at the lights to head homne, 2 going straight on until Nic turned to have a few extra hills via Velindre. Home for coffee and dinner

John C.

The ride report: 15/8/21

Were back on the road and the run list; 7 and yours truly on the road on a day when the weather wasn’t looking too clever. Hopefully finish before it got really silly.

Good luck to Louise who was taking cycling far more seriously than us on a time trial bike somewhere.

The plan was a steady pace to Porthcawl so we could all stay together, it worked too.

The weather obviously hadn’t heard the forecast and started raining way too early, we’d only just crossed the Briton Ferry bridge; that did for Simon who turned for home while we all fiddled with waterproofs.

We carried on and all held our breath as a guy on a time trial bike went past us on the Baglan bypass; we all know how Trevor can react to that, so we thought oh no here we go again. But Trevor held his resolve and ignored him, and we carried on to Pyle, where he couldn’t even be tempted to sprint for the sign. (I’m convinced it’s a doppelganger, not the real Trevor.)

New boy Craig on his second week had his first taste of that marvellous Port Talbot air, just the thing to help clear any congested lungs, and that wonderful view, couldn’t be better. We carried on to Porthcawl, aiming at Greggs in Newton thinking it would be quieter, only to find over a dozen people waiting outside in the queue so we headed to town centre. 

Right next to that Greggs was a nice little coffee shop with tables outside so coffee and snacks all round, very nice too. Then there was a parting of the ways with those keen for adventure looking at loops involving hills and things turning right.

Too rich for Jeremy and I who turned left and headed home via the flattest quickest route we could find. We got to Briton Ferry before the heavens opened which had the waterproof on all the way home.

Got there safe and sound.

Well done to Louise who had another great result

John C.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/news/article/20200313-welsh-cycling-news-Welsh-Cycling-Coronavirus—Covid-19-Guidance-0?fbclid=IwAR03IRRafxbJSB1a-PvKYbrv25LJn6ndKmVdjG13M_aWVLk4ucpgGTOUy5I

• Organised outdoor activities for up to 30 people
• https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/news/article/20200313-welsh-cycling-news-Welsh-Cycling-Coronavirus—Covid-19-Guidance-0?fbclid=IwAR2l-BNJRelXQiyTJvuPIIBv8TBSsEvlj8RcMjpmUccyccmnr3n3Z5Jg3y0

The ride report: 31-01-2021

Fed up with cold feet I set the shed up early for today, kept the window shut and put the heater on at 7:30. It worked, whatever else I may have suffered my feet weren’t cold. The start line looked sparse with only Nic, Jeremy and I there, as the countdown ended and sounded the starting pip we set off and Ian, Andrew and Nathan appeared, and after few seconds Steve P appeared out of nowhere.

Pretty much straight into the KOM which kept the discord conversation to a minimum, the only general consensus is that just after the first KOM summit, when you think you’ve cracked it, turning left and hitting 15% inclines up to the radio mast seems a bit harsh. At least going down you can get up some speed.

A café stop set for just after the sprint was agreed, just before that IanT disappeared? Turns out he had the Zwift equivalent of a mechanical, a power cut. By the time it was back on he had well and truly lost the ride, Andrew enjoyed his café stop so much he stayed there and abandoned. At least his journey home wasn’t too bad.

That left five of us to do the second half. We had a bit of assistance up the smaller KOM and all set a PB that we’ll struggle to get anywhere near ever again. The chat was about weather and the fact that it was snowing again, leaving us all glad we weren’t outside riding on real roads.

Our collective efforts had us all over the line and earning the badge in 2 hours 41 minutes, which we deemed very creditable. Despite the slight relaxation of the lockdown rules allowing two riders we’ll probably stick with zwift until we can ride as a group.

Hopefully see you next week

Thanks to Nic for organising it again.

John C.

The ride report: 24-01-2021

Todays weather really proves the value of zwift. Even without a covid lockdown a few inches of fresh snow means riding the roads is not an option. However thanks to the technology 6 of us set off round the Achterban at Innsbruck, without breaking a single lockdown rule.

A big figure 8 with a trip up and down both sides of a mountain, 49 Km with 990 metres of climbing.

Ian T has his technology a bit more organised and was on discord, albeit with the microphone muted. That meant he could hear the comments about the virtual ‘flat cap’ he has somehow acquired, still no sign of the whippet that should accompany such a garment.

The group ride thing worked again with me still with the bunch as we went over the summit, twice. No way that happens in the real world, I’m off the back going up chemical road, never mind a mountain.

There was no sudden surge for us this week, though on the last descent Nic somehow managed to take flight and disappear into the virtual distance at a questionably high pace. A quick chat as we were going down set us up for the ‘Pretzel’ next week, some of us haven’t got that particular badge.

So next week, 31/01/2021 8:30. Watopia ‘The Pretzel’ , we do it all again

Thanks to Nic for organising it again.

John C.

The ride report: 17-01-2021

As with all group rides since September 2020 once again we used zwift to virtually assemble, this time in their version of France for the Petite Boucle. 66 Km and 484 metres so not too strenuous.

A fine turnout with 8 on Zwift with 6 of us on the discord app meant it was as social a ride as we could do. Zwifts clever ‘group ride’ algorithms meant all we had to do is keep pedaling to stay together, regardless of the terrain. Two or three mentions of a Greggs stop meant Nic could keep his Jaffa cake intake at the appropriate level and all was well with the world, despite an actual stop not being necessary, it’s not that long a ride.

Said Zwift algorithm had a bit of a moment with @20km to go and 6 of us went up a 5-6% incline for a few hundred metres at a rate that would have left Ineos Grenadiers floundering in our wake, however it corrected itself and we went down the other side slower than we went up. Still for a heavyweight like me going upfill at 46kph felt good, even if it wasn’t real.

The discord then came into its own as we were able to work out where the other 2 riders were and with soft pedaling and the group algorithm reasserting proper control we were fully reassembled before the finishing line.

We should keep discord going for the real rides, if any separation occurs it could be useful, and allow separate groups to keep in touch. Thanks to Nathan we know it works out in the real world.

Thanks to Nic for organizing it again. Hopefully back next week for another one.

John C.

_{^{Zwift on line virtual platform}}

https://www.zwift.com/get-zwifting