Long Good Friday

[Mike Mant]

Hi All
Well what a day we had on Good Friday. We all left on time and met up on the way. Dave Arndell, Brian Lacey, Neil Barber, Trever Brooking, Welsh Mark The Vincent Bro's from Brockweir and me Mike Mant. It was a good drive up for Dave and Me in Brians new Sprinter,tidy see. On arrival at Tirabad carpark, we unloaded and got ready. Sadly Trev's bike did not hit the start line as on start up he had a water leak that we could not fix. Blessing in disguise, well if it had leak on the trail we would not have noticed it till his motor had seized. So place your bets, I think it was good luck not bad that it leaked when it did. So Trev departed and we hit the trails. We rode some great trails to and around Brechfa Forrest although sadly the council have found some money from some where to repair some great technical trails much to our disappointment. We stopped for lunch in LLandovery at the cafe at 14-30. Where we fixed Brian front brake as he had lost some fluid. We then took the trails south west and up over the Roman rd to Sennybridge. Here we met snow drifts and ice and had some great fun with Dave showing how not to climb up a snow covered hill on a Beta and how to head butt a snow drift on a Beta. Turning down into Murder Hill by Trecastle and the Bates Motel, the drifts where so deep we had to turn back and take the road too Sennybridge Ranges, an area I know well. As we rode up on to the ranges the time was pushing on it had gone 17-00 hrs and the temp had dropped to well below freezing. The Snow drifts in the Hedge rows were over 2m high although the roads where clear. On taking the gravel road on the first part of the trail the drifts looked quite bad 3-to 4 ft deep . I hit the first and the new Berg stopped dead, back wheel spinning and parked up right. I stepped off into the snow with everybody laughing. We had to review the situation Dave and Welsh Mark viewed that maybe it was a bad idea to carry on. we decided to abandon ship and return by road. At this point with Daves help, I pulled the Berg from the snow drift only to find it would not start. Time waits for no man so Neil towed me back to Sennybridge garage. The boys took to the road, back to the car park picked up the Vehicles and returned to the garage to collect me and off home we went talking about the days experiences. The reason I have written this report is not to tell everybody that the new bike has broken down. Or that Dave Arndell fell off more times than i can remember. That Bet's and Gas Gas had the day over KTMs and HUSABERGs. Its that when you ride lead and you are thinking where to go and focus on completing the trails. Where are the petrol stations. How far you have to go You also have to listen to your riding Budies. We / jointly made the right decision that Long Good Friday. Had we not stopped , had we not had a review of the situation. We could have had serious problems. Sennybridge Ranges and the Brecon Becons are superb places to ride, but it ain't like a Sunday morning trip around Bristol. Weather conditions can greatly affect the days outcome. Risk assessment for trail riding ???????????? Listen to your mates you know it makes sense. Or was the new Berg trying to tell me something. "FATE" or good Luck. We had a great Days Trailing, but it was a Tad cold. When you see Icicles on the end of Welsh Marks nose its time to call it a day. My thanks to Dave and Mark for a helpful Day.

Ride Safe

Mike M

[Ian Trevor Brooking]

Great ride report mike i am gutted that i only made the car park but yes your right i was a blessing that the bike leaked in the car park £20 worth of gaskets rather than £300+ rebuild , the rest of my day was driving to et james and then back to bristol to fix the bike , next time mike