It was raining quite hard as I drove across town to pick Steve up on Saturday afternoon and it was still spotting as we arrived at the pub car car park. I was therefore surprised by the turnout of eight for the ride.

It was a proper hot summers night last night: high twenties. Five of us met up at my house and headed out to do pretty much the same route as Ricky and I did on the 20th of July.

Parsley and Steve had never ridden the bridleway out from Old Guadaloupe before and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named hadn't ridden it for donkeys years; the same as Ricky and I hadn't before we rode it on the 20th. It was good to have so many people riding a "fresh" trail right on their doorstep and they all enjoyed it.

With only a few weeks to go to the big trip to Whistler it was time to dust off the "big" bike at the weekend and give it a run out. Nine of us were booked on  the uplift at Cwmcarn but our numbers were down to eight before we set off as Shakey dropped out last minute and we couldn't fill his slot.

The drama started before a bike was anywhere near being ridden with Stu "Mad Dog" living up to his nickname and doing some stunt driving past a fireball of burning cars on the M42! Phone calls and more patience on the part of others meant we were later than planned meeting up at Cwmcarn but not too far off the mark.

Another hectic week outside the world of cycling and I was gagging to get out for a ride on Thursday night! A good bike ride is certainly therapy for a brain and body stressed out by normal life. At least it is for me!