Let's all go to David's house - I hear Swansea is very nice in January!
:-)
(sigh)
Plans/dates will be set in a couple of weeks. I propose a day at Afan, a day on the Gower and a wee local night ride if we have the energy/time. If you're interested wave your hands now. Plenty of space for bikes (garage) but not that much room for people so if 15 of you want to come extra accommodation may have to be sought (unless you want to share the garage with the bikes).
Swansea is very nice right now incidentally. None of this pesky snow I hear the midlands has been having. Just a damn hard frost this morning.
Sounds good to me....
I'm sure we could always pitch a tent or two in the garden to increase the accomodation capacity... (bagsy an inside space though...)
;-)
Yep, all sounds good.
May I suggest 17/18th Jan as it may be one of the few free ones I have that month (already!).
Oh & a reminder to everyone that it's Andy's 29+1th in Jan so he'll obviously soon be setting a date for a huge party around then too! ;-)
Great! Broadcast the party on the internet :-P
Yeah I guess there will be some kind of commiseration event in Jan.. That date in Jan works for me but in fact might be the weekend of the big birthday bash which I share with Chris B (unless he wants to do something lame)...
I'm game. Sounds good david!
Yup, sounds good to me too.
Waving hand. Inner city camping - sounds good. And I'm sure the rising will be great too!
Me too! I think by then the world will be ready for my fluorescence.
Right, I'll pencil in the 17th/18th Jan.
"inner city camping"
I live in a wee village just outside swansea actually - it's quite a 'desirable' area apparently (at least it was til I moved in...)! There is the small matter of a heavily sloping lawn to contend with - might not be the best for sleeping on :-/
Sounds good to me.
Tim.
Sounds like a great plan, count me in if there's room.
Hi all,.. can I propose a new plan / altered plan / bugger things up?
Looks like Chris B and I are having our joint 30th that weekend (so that we can share friends and both look more popular than we really are).
Sooo... what you reckon to coming to lefy Warwickshire that weekend for bady shenanigans (Fri night or Sat tbc), maybe a cheeky ride down this way (can't promise epic trails but could show you a 4X track and do some street?!?)
And then a Wales weekend the following weekend?
Don't all shout at me! It's Chris's fault...
Either weekend suits me so I'll let everyone else fight over it.
Although I'm not sure we should encourage you to spend any more time at the 4X track Andy...
What are "bady shenanigans"?
I think bady shenanigans are Andy gets up to at the 4X track ;-)
sorry, bady = bday = Birthday
And yes, I'll be happy to just get on a hybrid at the moment (or to be able to put on socks without taking 5 mins!!)
Any objections to pushing this back a week - that'll be the weekend of the 24th/25th...?
Fine by me.
Just checking...
Bady shenanigans: 17th/18th
Welsh shenanigans: 24th/25th
That's looking like the new plan...
BUMP!
Two weeks to go.... probably time I had some idea of how many of you are going to turn up. Provisionally:
Jimbo
Andy
James D
Keith
Amit
Phil R
Phil G
Tim
Simon
Gate
As for riding, we'll wait and see what the weather does/what people want to do. If all goes to plan will try and do a short day at Afan (only 15 miles to the old trail centre so anyone scarily keen could ride there!), on saturday to leave time for a short night ride from my front door on Saturday. Sunday will be a 20 - 30 mile loop on the Gower peninsula, again starting about 15 miles away. Other more 'mid-wales' options include the Doethie Valley (20 mile wilderness loop featuring unofficially the longest natural singletrack descent in Wales) or the new trail centre at Brechfa.
Hope that sounds tempting!
Sounds ace, cheers DJ! :-)
Fri night or Sat am arrival?
Andy / Tim / Jimbo - car sharing?
Sounds spot on, need to get some lights though..
Can I blag a lift from any of the involved London boys?
Fri eve arrival is fine and would be best to make use of available daylight....
Gate - you can borrow my old lights if you like as i've recently treated myself to a new Lupine Tesla :-)
IS there still space left on this trip as i'm very tempted to join you lot seeing as i am now an old boy. that's if you'll allow me of course!
Will have to confirm for sure in a day or two, but i live in somerset so it's not really that far for me to come!
Gerard.
Feel free to join us Gerard. Everyone is crashing at my house so no limit on numbers provided you don't mind sleeping in the bath.
I'm up for it too, I'll have space in the car, so if anyone from London way needs a lift, let me know.
cheers dave, that would be great.
I would like a lift pete, will try and get away from work early friday and train it out to yours.
Hi guys, sorry for my lack of responses on here, had a few login issues.
I'd be up for riding, however, Afan is only 2hrs for me from Gloucester so if I may, I'd like to drive up and join you for one of the days.
Would that be ok?
Ruth
p.s. Any news on the celebrations for Chris/Andy's Birthdays? I feel I should buy them a pint....(one each of course!)
That sounds great Ruth - the plan is for a longer ride on Sunday so that day would probably be the best of the two in terms of making the drive worthwhile. However plans are, like the weather, somewhat fluid at the moment so if you can make either day it might be best to wait and see.
Sounds good david!
I can take my mammoth bike rack if 4 of us want to go from London in one car.
I am working my bar job on the friday night so i Will set of Uber early to meet you guys at afan on the saturday. I may also have issues with lights for the night ride, as currently i have no idea where the set my brother owns are in my house and whether they will last. So if anyone has a spare pair that would be awesome!
Reet, I'm planning on driving over Friday night. Might get out of work early and set off, although I'm not sure I can be arsed with the traffic so I might make it a later one. I think that's a bit more realistic. Will bring bike and lights and working legs. Oh, and I might bring the big camera and some flashy things. That could be fun too. Really looking forward to some proper mountainbiking and catching up with every one. It seems like I've been off the bike for ages.
Revised headcount:
Definitely:
Andy
James D
Phil G
Gerard
Gate
Amit
Pete
Ruth for a day-trip
Maybe:
Phil R
Jimbo
Keith
Tim
Simon
Could any maybes could let me know one way or another ASAP, as I'll be supermarket shopping midweek and need to have an idea how many Weetabix, Soreen and ginger cakes to buy. Will send a how-to-get-here-etc email later in the week.
I'm not going to be able to make the trip :-(
I don't think Phil R can make it either.
Tim's a no now by the way.
So who out of the london boys is driving down?
Pete or I. Lets formulate a plan through email...
As JD says, sorry, can't make this weekend. Hope you have fun!
Sos Dave, not checked this for a while since the weekend got switched around, won't be able to make the weekend so hold off any hasty GSC purchases for now.
I'm in Wales the last weekend of Jan for some Cadar Idris, Cli-machX and coed-y-brenin shenanigans, anyone's welcome to join.
Chop
I've just sent you all an email - if you've not got it can you let me know your email address please. Ta.
mwm21011 (at) hotmail (dot) com
gurfield at gmail.com
OK slight change of plan - I'm 90% decided we'll go to the Gower tomorrow since the forecast looks better for Saturday and I'd rather ride natural stuff while its not raining... That probably works better in terms letting us do as much/little as we want on sunday at Afan.
We'll still do a night ride Saturday eve - went up there last night and it's surprisingly mud-free. So one thing i forgot to say in the email... Don't forget your lights (CHARGED!) and bring spares if you have them. Oh and they'll be a fair bit of riding on dark country lanes so bring a rear LED if you can (not essential as i have a few spares).
See you all later/tomorrow.
Great weekend guys!
Some photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/damitamit/BikingAtDJS09#
Some great ones there Amit, I really like this one:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/damitamit/BikingAtDJS09#5295368134083616146
I'll upload mine later although most of them were taken in the garage! And like me I'm sure you're all awaiting a video blog update with baited breath :-)
David, you're in the one of the horses btw. The blue person in the background walking up a hill with his bike. The horse's mus be thinking...wierdo!
Great pics Amit!
Half a dozen of mine at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdymond/
I had a great weekend guys. It was good to be back out on the MTB. And thanks DJ for playing host. Blog thingy is now up, although no actual video sumary of the weekend. I typed it. Is that a cop out?
www.philgradwell.blogspot.com
Nice pics btw guys. I enjoyed them.
Here's the routes from Saturday if anyone's interested:
Day ride:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Gower-MTB-loop
Night ride:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Brynbach-Common-from-Pontlliw
Looked like a great weekend, sorry I missed it :-( Hope there'll be another get together soon...
Oh, and Gradwell - that is a serious beard going on!
Another great weekend... thanks everyone!
Katie:
"Who's the old man with the beard? Oh it's Phil...."
To make up for non-attendance this weekend, Andy has agreed to ride a time trial this year.
I just wanted to get that on the record before he takes it back. I'm thinking a 24hr, or maybe a LEJOG, would fit the bill nicely.
Or we could just let the mad Cefn Bryn ponies deal with him.
A few photees:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidjarrom/sets/72157613096008504/
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