The Brecon weekender always promised to be something special and so it proved to be. Three days of cycling, drinking and eating and all in celebration of Big Mike’s eightieth birthday. Mike’s family and the club had practically taken over the Castle Inn, occupying all but one of the bedrooms, one of the bunkhouses and there was hardly a blade of grass to be had in the camping field.
The first to arrive at the campsite was Bernard and his grandson James. In ten minutes they had efficiently unloaded the bikes and unpacked the camping equipment. Fifteen minutes later they were fully loaded and back on the road to Cardiff, having realised that they had forgotten to pack the tent. Ivor was next having caught the train up to Abergavenny and cycled from there, I came in a poor third.
Jenny’s idea was to just go out for a leg-stretching 25 or 30 miles on the Friday afternoon. As we were not going too far Jenny saw no problem in suggesting we stop off in Talybont for a pint at about halfway. Does she not understand the type of person she is dealing with? Although she tried to move us on, the genie was now out of the bottle. Although the majority returned home in an orderly fashion, Stewart, Ivor, Bernard and myself decided it would be a great idea to pub crawl back to Pengenffordd.
The one consoling factor was that the traffic was very, very light. People tried to convince me that this was down to good planning although I am firmly of the belief that most modern day cars were incapable of getting up some of the hills we were climbing. It was one of those days where it was only just over 50 miles but seemed like so much more. Still the lunch stop was very pleasant. I would like to give you some brief details of the route but my map disintegrated after about ten minutes and what with the rain on the outside of my glasses and the steam on the inside, I never really saw a road sign all day.
Back to the campsite and after a nice warm shower we all piled into the pub to watch the Ospreys beat Leinster. Things become a bit vague after that, but I do remember laughing a lot.
If Saturday’s ride posed the question about why we bother cycling; then Sunday’s ride provided the perfect answer. The sun shone all day, the route was as flat as you could wish for and the scenery outstanding. I think we went up and down the Golden Valley but I wasn’t really paying attention.
At this point the desserts started appearing from the kitchen. It soon became obvious that while the menfolk of the village had been out slaughtering the oxen, their womenfolk had been baking, baking and then baking some more. After three trips to the dessert table I finally yielded as I could not possibly eat one more mouthful. I thought I felt a comforting warm glow descend over me, but it turned out to be the heat from the candles on Mike’s birthday cake. Well perhaps I could muster just one last effort, it would be impolite not to, wouldn’t it?
The day was further enhanced by being greeted at the morning stop with cakes and drinks, lovingly prepared by wives, girlfriends and whatevers. I don’t want to play favourites but I was particularly taken with a certain fruit cake that was putting me in danger of failing a breathalyser.
Meanwhile, down at Keith and Jenny’s, every bed was full and there were five caravans in the garden. To narrate what 40+ people got up to over the weekend would take a book. This is just some of the incidents I happened to record.
James, in an act of grand-filial duty, accompanied us. Several pubs later, and just after a particularly vicious uphill section, Stewart announced that the large mountain on our left should, in fact, be the large mountain on our right and that we had gone the wrong way. Now common sense dictated that we simply head back down the road for a couple of hundred yards and take the correct turning.
Unfortunately, in a group containing the aforementioned quartet, common sense was not greatly in evidence. We felt it would be just as easy to go off road and cut across the side of the mountain. After thirty minutes, numerous swear words and several cuts and bruises we eventually arrived back on tarmac and on route. My apologies go out to James who, at times, must have felt like he had been sucked into a particularly bizarre episode of Last Of The Summer Wine. Friday evening was spent in the pub catching up with everyone who had arrived during the day.
Saturday came and so did the rain and the wind. The number of cyclists had swelled from around a dozen on the Friday to well over twenty on the Saturday. During the ride the weather sometimes threatened to improve but never really did.
By now our numbers had risen to over 35 and I just went along with the general throng. We also went through Hay-on-Wye twice while the literary festival was on. What an odd mixture of people this book reading seems to attract, I must give it a go some time.
I had noticed during the weekend’s rides that although we saw large numbers of sheep in the fields there were very few varieties of other animals to be seen. As we approached the barbecue I suddenly realised why. It appeared that every cow and pig within a twenty mile radius had been slain in order to provide sustenance for the large crowd that had assembled for Mike’s birthday. I, along with Ivor, led multiple raids on the barbecue pit in an attempt to prove that these animals had not given up their lives in vain; but after four visits I had to admit defeat and leave Ivor to battle on alone.
Postscript
Just a few thoughts, well-wishes and messages I would like to pass on;-
Many thanks again to Keith and Jenny for organising the event and throwing open their home to everyone. I would also like to thank everyone else involved in making it such a wonderful weekend.
It was great to see Ray, Juls and Annette in such fine form and in such high spirits after their recent trips to hospital. May the wind be always at your back on the road to recovery.
It was nice to meet our two newest members, John and Nigel. They seemed to have no trouble maintaining a good pace both on the bike and in the bar afterwards. Hope you enjoy your time with the club.
Best wishes to Brian, who aggravated an old hip injury and finished the weekend walking like Chester in Gunsmoke. Hope you are soon on the mend.
To Annette for providing Mike with a birthday shirt that read “80 Today and 80k – No Sweat”. With the hangover I had on Sunday morning it took a lot to make me smile, but that did the job.
It was great fun catching up with Sue Neal, who joined us over the weekend on her return from four weeks in Scotland and the Lake District. Sue is the only person I know who has more holidays than I do. It’s clear I am going to have got to raise my game to compete.
To everyone who took part in Tony’s walk on Monday; I hope you had a good time and I will definitely try to make the next one.
