Absolutely. But MaM ole mate, the clue's in Zip's forum name - he's going to be getting pretty impatient after some of our group keep stopping every five minutes to pick up our pensions from Mach post office, to change our incontinence pads, to remind the other riders to get their hair cut, and to unwrap yet another Werther's original....

He did say social reg and what's more social than sharing a bag of werthers, (well maybe the odd whisky before we start off)

Looking forward to it. Already abandoned bike 1 as I don't want to bodge it together, so will be on the trusty cotic

I have the whisky covered to add to our tea and toast before we leave so just bring the werthers reg ,zip as reg says bring yourself a warm Jacket as reg says I am a serial bimbler

Without trying to steal Reg and MaM's date, I am also riding in a small (5? currently) group and you'd be very welcome Zip. The rough route plan for Saturday is apparently about 40 miles, and involves tea at the Star. I'm going to tentatively suggest this is bimbling pace, though of course one man's bimble is another man's hot lap, and vice versa.

Zippy wrote:(hoping the weather nerds forum thing I'm following and their prediction for a second beast from the east don't materialise

DON'T TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER..................

thenorthwind wrote:Without trying to steal Reg and MaM's date, I am also riding in a small (5? currently) group and you'd be very welcome Zip. The rough route plan for Saturday is apparently about 40 miles, and involves tea at the Star. I'm going to tentatively suggest this is bimbling pace, though of course one man's bimble is another man's hot lap, and vice versa.

No stealing of anything there Mr wind ,I'm sure our bimbling pace is a bit slower than yourselfs due to all the things reg has already mentioned , so the more offers for zip the better

Thanks All,

I'll say hello to as many people as I can when I arrive, and go with the flow. I've got a bit of a headcold today which I'm hoping won't materialise into anything worse But very much looking forward to a weekend in Wales.

Who's else is at The Star Inn on Friday night?

JohnClimber wrote:Who's else is at The Star Inn on Friday night?

We'll be there John.

So long as Nige isn't coming I'll be fine, or I won't go to bed until it's time to get up due to having too much fun .

Nice gentle wobble from Caersws station (rejected mountain road this year), up the nasty-but-fun Llawryglyn incline, proper special-request under-the-counter mug of tea and a welsh cake at Staylittle, purchase any forlorn looking furry animals, then up onto Penycrocbren in the dark to gaze for a while down onto the twinkly lights of Ye Olde Starre Inne. Then blast down the track to a beer. Perfect afternoon right there.

I'll be at the bar for approximately 7:24pm
Looking forward to showing my face!

I’ll be there, driving straight up from work so hopefully should be there around 9 O’Clock. I have a twin room booked if anyone wants to share, you even get your own bed I’m fairly sure I don’t snore

I like that pinocchio smiley Stevo - could well be appropriate .

PS. Nice usage of the 24th minute there Jeffer. It's not one of the rarest ones by any means, but gratifying to see it being aired occasionally. It's not well known that I'm the Chairman of the Campaign for Real Minutes. I do get rather despondent when people lazily use the obvious ones - eg. "I'll see you at half past". Quarter to/from are marginally better but still need more effort. The rarest and most coveted are obviously those noble ones such as xx.37 and xx.51 - the prime-numbered ones especially. But it does take years of training before they can be let loose on unsuspecting recipients. I've seen ambulances called after an xx.17 was deployed for a dinner date without proper and correct preparation.

Got my room booked at the Star. Looking at the weather I may chicken out of bivvying and will bring the tent, it barely weighs anymore but always feels less 'Bearbones'. Everyone all happy with their route of choice?

Nope. Earmarked pub closed for the winter. Amateurish mistake - on their part not ours . I'm sure it'll come good in the end - always does.

(w*ea!h@r ain't that bad surely? bit of drizzle(*) when you're quaffing your tea and toast at the start and tropical 8c?)

(*) to go with the lemon variety thereof

Reg, we’ve gone soft after last winters tropical outing.
We need some more weather like the delight that was the winter bivvy... I’ve re-evaluated my travel plans and due to a comfort break at Telford Services’s (highly recommend) and you’ll be delighted to know that I’m due to arrive at seventeen minutes past nine O’Clock in the evening

That's more like it.

Just thinking about packing. My valet has laid out a full suit of bam baselayer, freshly laundered and ironed my tarp, positioned some Ti pegs in exactly parallel lines next to it, and decanted 18ml of finest ethanol into my fuel bottle. He really is a treasure. The stableboy is giving my valiant iron horse a good rub down and fettle as we speak.

I did think about packing some kit but instead removed the handle bars from my bike

Hopefully DHL will deliver my new ones, I’ll remember to get some tape etc etc, working is really inconvenient.

RIP wrote: ...Nice usage of the 24th minute there Jeffer...

When it comes to bikes and beers, time is critical

RIP wrote:I like that pinocchio smiley Stevo - could well be appropriate .

PS. Nice usage of the 24th minute there Jeffer. It's not one of the rarest ones by any means, but gratifying to see it being aired occasionally. It's not well known that I'm the Chairman of the Campaign for Real Minutes. I do get rather despondent when people lazily use the obvious ones - eg. "I'll see you at half past". Quarter to/from are marginally better but still need more effort. The rarest and most coveted are obviously those noble ones such as xx.37 and xx.51 - the prime-numbered ones especially. But it does take years of training before they can be let loose on unsuspecting recipients. I've seen ambulances called after an xx.17 was deployed for a dinner date without proper and correct preparation.

I concur with the senitment. However, if giving a time to the nearest half an hour or quarter of an hour, depending on the circumstances, you're generally allowed a leeway of +/- 5 minutes, whereas specifying to say a non multiple of 5 would indicate a tolerance of +/1 1 minute at most..!

On another note - I'm working from home / half bed ridden today I got a lift into work yesterday and then cycled the 22 miles back - that took me 2 hours (all on road, normally takes 1.5 hours or so this time of year), and felt horrible. I'm pretty clued in as to what clothes to wear for what temperature and exertion level on the commute, but I had to get my insulated gilet on part way through the ride as I just couldn't maintain temperature. Yeah, bugger, I'm ill.
So looking dubious even arriving at the moment, we'll see. If I don't make it - I will Bivvy this weekend regardless.

BB events seem to make you ill recently!

or soft...

Bad luck with the lurgi Zippy . For a few days before an event I generally stay in bed 24/24 with the quilt over my head, breathing through a surgical mask, just to make sure. Although maybe Ben's right :



Pretty much packed, although having to do an emergency bottom bracket change exactly same as 2 years ago, sigh. On bars: full winter bedroom 1.9kg, although temps look warm so am tempted to take summer(!) bag and reduce to 1.5kg. Out the back: workshop+spares 600g, bathroom & 1st aid 205g, kitchen+breakfast 240g, Rab smock 290g. Stemcell: Trailshot 140g + 500ml water. Fuel tank: lock, money, etc. Say 4kg, excluding worn clothing, still too much. Chambermaid currently helping me with my, er, fitness preparations.

Richard G wrote:BB events seem to make you ill recently!

In my defence, missing the BB300 was due to smashing my ribs - but otherwise yes there does appear to be a correlation.
More likely to be the 24 degrees C temperature but 21% relative humidity in the office though