The last time a large group assembled to head off to Ruthin back in February saw us absolutely drenched by the time we got there.
Remember these?????
Ooh lashing rain. Just what I needed, blown in diagonally off the mountain by a 40+ mph wind. Mmmm.
Well not this time, In fact Factor 50 was the order of the day as we all doned shorts and short sleeve jerseys for first time this year.
A healthy group of 17 left Acton Bridge, with Craig Lee arriving especially early and a whole minute before the allotted departure time of 9:30, however as early as he was, he still missed the photo (sorry Craig). I had crafted a special timber iPhone stand on the morning to assist me in the following photo with everyone in to, however, after a couple of false starts, the only person not to be wearing club kit volunteered to take it, I duly discarded the said stand. Even Keith Crute came along dressed usually in his club Jersey (he later told me he only had one, it was no surprise when I informed him that I could help him out with that one, he just smiled politely, I think that meant, thanks, but no thanks!).
A Fine Body of Men
We headed off the usual route via Waverton and Chester, with Jules and I doing much of the work on the front, we had our usual comfort break the other side of Chester before heading towards Lower Kinnerton, It was suggested to the WRC boys that they won’t get a nose bleed if they head to the front, and they duly obliged.
We turned right on to Kinnerton Lane, I had expected it to kick off, supringly, it didn’t, instead, we all rode a a nice steady pace as set by Jules and Ian Haddock from WRC to the top, no re-group required and down to Penyfforddan on to the next climb from Pontblyddn.
This time on the climb to Sun Spot, and so for the custom charge to the top, Geoff Mullett kicked it off, followed by little Si and Paul from WRC, I then jumped on the back, then the sound of Steve Hankeys squeaking pedal as he eased passed us all on to the front on his old steel bike with mudguards………..for 20 seconds or so at least, until he was rapidly spat out the back door. Ian Ralph’s had also latched on to the back, but by the first little kicker he was also gone. The four of us carried on, with Geoff setting a unbelievable tempo for what must have been about 2-2.5 miles. Si took a turn on front, which I am sure came as welcome relief to Geoff, it wasn’t long though before he slipped to the back, we approached the left hand bend before the top, Si, not being familiar with these roads, started to come past us, I can only assume he was intending to go for a sprint finish, until he got along side Geoff to see the long stretch of a hill in front, completely deflated he nearly came to a complete standstill, the three of us ploughed on, Paul was beginning to tire and waved me though, he gamely clung on but his efforts in Saturday’s sub 2 hr 50 on Cheshire proved too much as the elastic strapped in the last 200-300 metres to the top. Geoff and I crested the top and raced down to the lights for a Weaver Valley 1-2 before re-grouping.
It was here that 3 WRC boys left us and headed for home. We continued to Nant-y-Garth and the amazing rush through the bends, this is my all time favourite decent as it is nice, fast and windy without being dangerous.
12 of us arrived at the Garden Centre for our pre-ordered Llanberis style Lunch, which was very welcome, very nice and great value, we were also met by Kris Zentek who had been out to a BC road race in Denbigh.
The down side of a Cafe in Ruthin, is that it is too close to the Bwlch, and comes way too early after cafe stop. Again 4 of us set off at a bit of a pace, this time Kris taking the place of Paul, I did the early work on the front on the lowered half, Si did the middle bit, and Kris did the top bit. We re-grouped at the hotel before decending, unusually, into a headwind to Loggerheads, back through to Chester and to the sprint in Delamere taken by Kris, The remaining WRC boys opted for a second stop at the station Cafe, while we all went our separate ways.
Another top day out with our friends from Warrington. Thanks for all that came along.
Until Next time…