Mascot's 1st trip, 17th-July.
Arranged by myself, this route I test drove the day before to check it out and it worked.
Meeting at Aust services for 10.30 Mike, Jan, Andy T, and his overly chatty son Alfie, Martin and fully recovered from her bout of COVID Mand and myself, and new member Lilly, Jan's little dog sat in her basket, on the rear seat of Jan's bike, a test to see if the pooch could deal with it.
I am in the lead, there's only two with headsets Jan and myself, Jan takes rear guard duty, we set off and out on to the old bridge, across it, on to the A466 following it to Tintern old railway station keeping our wits about us, as there was a lot of cyclists and impatient car drivers crossing the line as we are approaching them. On arriving the plan is to eat early to avoid the rush later as we know it was going to be busy,
19min. 10mi
Lilly, released from her basket hopping around happily, saying hello to everyone, so all was good there. Service was not only with a smile, but with a song too, the waitress was very cheerful and sang a song connected with the number 21, the order number as she delivered the food, then Mike piped up "I know a song with your name in it", so he sang her happy birthday which cracked us all up. Bacon sandwiches and drink, and chat, Mike mentioning that Lilly could be the group mascot. After stuffing our faces, we move on after 47 minutes
Back onto A466 up to Monmouth, a slow tedious ride, join the A40, follow that up towards and passing Symonds Yat through Whitchurch turning left on to A4137 follow that up to Saint Owens Cross turning left on to B4521, which is a road used by my brother-in-law Sam and myself, it's a twisty road with lots of s bends, and tight blind corners, you don't need speed on this road but it allows you to flick the bikes around like toys. Arriving at the end of the road that tests your abilities, turning left onto Hereford road A40 and into the Abergavenny petrol station, knowing Oasis would be crammed, finding shade to park up in, as it is hot. Lilly was checked on arrival, and was fast asleep so all was good, but throughout the ride, Mike kept looking into the basket to check her if we were stopped by traffic. 63 mins 37 miles.
We sat down with cold drinks and socialized, trying to include Andy's son Alfie in the conversations, but Andy said no point as he only talks when wearing his computer headset. 45 minutes later we are remounting our bikes. I have a mesh jacket on and even with the forward motion it is hot. So, this is the last leg of the journey, partly to protect us and also Lilly. Mand also presented our mascot with a cooling bandana to help to keep her Cool on a summer ride, which was a lovely thought.
So, turn right, out on to the A40 out of Abergavenny, through the double roundabouts and turn on to B4598 which takes us down to Usk, this was an awesome ride, few cars at the beginning which turned off leaving the road clear for us to sweep the corners. There were a few idiots in cars doing stuff that was just unexplainable. Passing through Usk, briefly join A472, we continue down towards Chepstow via the B4235 , and another fantastic journey, barely any cars, keeping a constant speed sweeping the corners, yet again Arriving at Chepstow, Turn right onto Wye valley link road and on to m48.
This is where the group starts to disband, Martin and Mand come off at Aust to head home, the rest continue up to M32 where Mike, Andy and Alfie go onto the ring road. I mention to the only one who had a headset that I was popping into Fowler's to have a look around as it was still early, Jan said she'll join me as she wanted to look at jackets. After browsing, we go our ways, 70mins 44miles
And another adventure ends 91 miles all told and finish 2:34 an early finish 4 hrs including all the pitstops.
Enough for such a scorching day
Pete
Meeting at Aust services for 10.30 Mike, Jan, Andy T, and his overly chatty son Alfie, Martin and fully recovered from her bout of COVID Mand and myself, and new member Lilly, Jan's little dog sat in her basket, on the rear seat of Jan's bike, a test to see if the pooch could deal with it.
I am in the lead, there's only two with headsets Jan and myself, Jan takes rear guard duty, we set off and out on to the old bridge, across it, on to the A466 following it to Tintern old railway station keeping our wits about us, as there was a lot of cyclists and impatient car drivers crossing the line as we are approaching them. On arriving the plan is to eat early to avoid the rush later as we know it was going to be busy,
19min. 10mi
Lilly, released from her basket hopping around happily, saying hello to everyone, so all was good there. Service was not only with a smile, but with a song too, the waitress was very cheerful and sang a song connected with the number 21, the order number as she delivered the food, then Mike piped up "I know a song with your name in it", so he sang her happy birthday which cracked us all up. Bacon sandwiches and drink, and chat, Mike mentioning that Lilly could be the group mascot. After stuffing our faces, we move on after 47 minutes
Back onto A466 up to Monmouth, a slow tedious ride, join the A40, follow that up towards and passing Symonds Yat through Whitchurch turning left on to A4137 follow that up to Saint Owens Cross turning left on to B4521, which is a road used by my brother-in-law Sam and myself, it's a twisty road with lots of s bends, and tight blind corners, you don't need speed on this road but it allows you to flick the bikes around like toys. Arriving at the end of the road that tests your abilities, turning left onto Hereford road A40 and into the Abergavenny petrol station, knowing Oasis would be crammed, finding shade to park up in, as it is hot. Lilly was checked on arrival, and was fast asleep so all was good, but throughout the ride, Mike kept looking into the basket to check her if we were stopped by traffic. 63 mins 37 miles.
We sat down with cold drinks and socialized, trying to include Andy's son Alfie in the conversations, but Andy said no point as he only talks when wearing his computer headset. 45 minutes later we are remounting our bikes. I have a mesh jacket on and even with the forward motion it is hot. So, this is the last leg of the journey, partly to protect us and also Lilly. Mand also presented our mascot with a cooling bandana to help to keep her Cool on a summer ride, which was a lovely thought.
So, turn right, out on to the A40 out of Abergavenny, through the double roundabouts and turn on to B4598 which takes us down to Usk, this was an awesome ride, few cars at the beginning which turned off leaving the road clear for us to sweep the corners. There were a few idiots in cars doing stuff that was just unexplainable. Passing through Usk, briefly join A472, we continue down towards Chepstow via the B4235 , and another fantastic journey, barely any cars, keeping a constant speed sweeping the corners, yet again Arriving at Chepstow, Turn right onto Wye valley link road and on to m48.
This is where the group starts to disband, Martin and Mand come off at Aust to head home, the rest continue up to M32 where Mike, Andy and Alfie go onto the ring road. I mention to the only one who had a headset that I was popping into Fowler's to have a look around as it was still early, Jan said she'll join me as she wanted to look at jackets. After browsing, we go our ways, 70mins 44miles
And another adventure ends 91 miles all told and finish 2:34 an early finish 4 hrs including all the pitstops.
Enough for such a scorching day
Pete