Welcome...........

It's Mountain Mayhem time again already!....we didn't have a team this year, but went up anyway and saw the Mazda Bongo Friendees outnumbering (and outblinging, hey Paul, Lynda???) those old hat VW T4's . The usual run start, followed by the collection of nutters prepared to ride in 10 mile circles for 24 hours then set off and as usual, there was mud, sweat and tears (of laughter) as all manner of bikers rode away on a motley collection of bikes from rigid singlespeed nutters to full on fancy dress riders (the one who rode the race wearing an ironing board springs to mind.) Photos here...

After watching the night racing and seeing the difference in the lights now that good leds are hitting the market, Jedi Knight Mark sucked me into the  DARK SIDE  on Sunday when I became his apprentice, doing the 60 mile 5,500 ft roadbike sportif in a whisker under 4 hours much to my amazement! Ulf and Simon went for an off road ride, taking in the off road delights of the Malvern Hills, as Mark and I rode over them on the roads....I now know where the "stiffback" name for roadies comes from, perhaps this was caused by my backpack though? Simon photographed Ulf trying to stand up in the really strong wind...he looks ready to grab the rail to stop him getting blown away!

My stable of bikes grew as well, I purchased another folding bike at a bargain price, and very neat it is too! Here it is unfolded, and folded, with a nice aluminium frame, disk front brake, 3 speed hub and odd enough to take my fancy.

Rides are organised  every weekend on Saturday. The rides start at 8:30 am from the car park in Nelson (follow the link on the left for a map) and cover most parts of the Valleys, with forays further afield to the Brecon Beacons, Black Mountains, Forest of Dean and  Mid Wales. The Forest Enterprise tracks at Cwmcarn and  Afan Argoed are often visited, and we  organise trips to North Wales to sample the Coed-y-Brenin, Nant-yr-Arian and Bettws-y-Coed routes during the summer months. 

The Club attends various organised events every year, and provides support to club members thanks to the help of a Sportlot grant which has allowed the Club to purchase a set of bike tools and a pop-up gazebo to allow bike servicing in the dry, whatever the weather. If we've gone camping to the event, we have a club barbeque the evening before the race and have a good time.

The Club has also  organised longer trips to the Lake District (Tim Woodcock's Lakeland Loop), the Sierra Nevadas in Spain (check out the excellent  http://www.switch-backs.com to see where we went), Morzine/Les Gets and last year we went to Les Arcs. We try to offer a varied mountain biking experience that means the weekend ride is most definitely the high spot of your week.....why not come along and give it a go?

View from High Street, Lake District

Top of the Rhondda

The Black Mountains

Enjoying a snack, Coed-y-Brenin

River crossing, Sarn Helen Roman Road

The Sierra Nevadas, Spain