Testing the dog

[Sir Fallsalot]

My  ride today didn't go as planned. I started off by going to get fuel and while there a copper pulled in which immediately reminded me i hadn't taxed the bike so went home to do it on but it  just wouldn't let me do it. No problem i thought i'll just nip down the post office only to find out not every post office will do vehicle tax anymore. Took me over an hour to get it sorted and ended up riding to Builth Wells on the A470 to make up time instead of all the back roads i'd planned to do and it rained most of the way there.

I Started the trails at Builth wells quarry this and the two lanes after they were all quite sloppy my worn out C02 rear tyre was letting me know every inch it travelled how worn it was, but at least the rain had stopped

Don't look too bad here but the fields were wetter than an otters pocket

Looking back

from these lanes i headed to one that follows the A470 from Newbridge on Wye towards Rhayader which was nice and easy its been graded to suit pushbikes as its part of a cycle route now

after this had a look at a lane i haven't done in years just outside Rhayader it's only short but after travelling up it a bit i stopped because it was too deeply rutted for the 650's fat ass and the rear tyre had no grip to stay on the sides of the ruts.

I walked up to see how far the ruts went and for once listened to my own advise and turned back

next was the lane i know as Piano keys it heads up to the top end of the Elan valley and its a cracking lane for the bigger bikes at least it would be if it hadn't started blowing a gale and raining this was the last time i got the camera out, my waterproofs had starting giving up at this time water getting through to my arms

by the time i got to Claerwen Res after riding down the Elan Valley i could feel the wet getting to my body.
Riding the track let me experience a strong head, tail and side wind as its snaked its way around the res, at the end of the track i decided to call it a day and headed home the quickest way possible which was the road to Tregaron, Lampeter, Llandovery and then back down the A470 over the beacons. even with shit tyres and the wet these roads were a dream to ride on the dog ran when i got home i was drenched only thing that was dry was my head It was the wettest 187 miles I've done in a long time
The dog ran great right up until i got back to Merthyr where it coughed and died but started back up again straight away wondering if it sucked some shit through the carb i'll check it tomorrow 

[XTreme]

Great stuff Fred.......fucking hard going though! 

 

[Sir Fallsalot]

5 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Great stuff Fred.......fucking hard going though! 

 

Tell me about it the rain on the way out was only drizzle so not too bad it got bad when i was at the furthest point from home so had no choice but to tough it out, mind you i should have headed home after Elan valley instead of going around the res and adding a couple more hours to my ride home 

[boboneleg]

Brilliant Fred.  I find the lane by the quarry quite deceiving, I've had a few moments on my 950 through there but fortunately never hit the deck.

I've been saying for years that they'll try to downgrade this lane eventually, they're putting a lot of effort into grading it, I think the bicycle warriors want it for themselves .

 

[Sir Fallsalot]

2 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

Brilliant Fred.  I find the lane by the quarry quite deceiving, I've had a few moments on my 950 through there but fortunately never hit the deck.

I've been saying for years that they'll try to downgrade this lane eventually, they're putting a lot of effort into grading it, I think the bicycle warriors want it for themselves .

 

Yes i agree with both comments, they have cut all the trees at the start of the quarry one there's a few mucky bits that can catch you out. At the moment there's multiple user signs on either end of this lane and i could see evidence of 4x4 use so if they have use of it they will fight tooth and nail trying to keep it as they have less than us to use