Saturday 20th September - King Weston or Chepstow or Berkeley (north)

just seen the bbc forecast. it should be warm but there may be a few showers dotted around.

so we'll head north and do what the weather allows.

if there looks like no chance of rain then we could get as far as berkeley, if it's dry but touch and go we'll settle for chepstow and if wet it'll be king weston. either way, king weston offers an obvious tri-option.

the last time we had this plan it chucked it down just as we arrived at king weston. you may recall that we conducted the TdF sweepstake.

i'm open to ideas regarding this month's king weston sweepstake, but here are a few ideas to get us started...

- the number of riders we lose on the way back
- the number of times jeannie takes a turn on the front (an option if you're conducting a solo sweepstake)
- the number of times nick cramps up on the way back (an option if you have 50+ entrants)

etc. etc. etc..... i'm sure you've got better suggestions, so fill your boots; it's what this forum's for.

Thanks guys so much, I'm home safe, I went to a&e and had an X-ray on my leg no break thank god, few cuts and grazes and a saw ego!! What a silly place to put a post!!! I'll be going to spec savers Monday morning!! Thanks for the help and getting me back to gordano. I really appreciate it.

Sam Roth.

When your dad sang 'go ahead and jump...you might as well jump' he was being metaphoric.

Glad you're better; hope the marriage is healed too, it'd be a shame if you had to find a new shoe supplier. Perhaps santa may put a new sat nav in his sack before he comes down her chimney this year.

Haha we are fine she just finished a 13 hour flight ,and trying to find the services was hard enough for me! Bless her, got there in the end. I just didn't see the post i was so close to the riders in front. I can't stop laughing at it iv learnt a valuable lesson don't cycle to close and don't cycle head on into posts that don't move!

Four Words
Never a dull moment.

Glad your home safe and not too damaged. Keep us 'posted' on your recovery.

Could somebody spill the beans and tell me what happened? How did Sam manage to hit a post? I'd call it a shambles!

Although I was just behind Sam as the accident it all happened so fast its difficult to say but the consensus seems to be that as we were coming off the Severn bridge into Wales the bike path narrows considerably and has a nice solid metal bollard to stop cyclists going to fast as they enter the steeper downhill section. There were about 10 of us and the 2 people before Sam sepperated and went either side of the bollard but by the time Sam saw the obsticle it was to late! It didn't help that there were 2 other cyclists just to the left that may have distracted him. The result was that his bike hit the bollard and Sam was sent flying head over heel down the path. He eventually crossed the bridge back to the services where he waited for his other half to pick him up. Unfortunately she had a few problems and missed the services and then somehow ended up in Bristol. So we had time to drink coffee in Chepstow and pick him up back at the services and guide him back to Gordano services where she was waiting.
This and Steves broken chain near Portishead added up to a tough day.

On a brighter note Ivan has asked me to look into getting some new club jerseys. Look out for an announcement soon. Hopefully we can get at least 10 orders to make it worth it.

TTC - 8.5/10 nice welsh cake.
OJC - 4/10?
KF - 7.5/10
Stats - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/3493779

Well, there were lots of pauses but it wasn’t a shambles.  The process to aid Sam in getting back worked fine, and there was no splitting of the return group even though there were lots of unscheduled stops and waits.   Just been in touch with Sam and bruises aside, he is good.  More importantly, his bike suffered only minor damages and is up and running again.  Just needs the new left shifter setting up and he will be out on Wednesday.  Oh to be young and recover so quickly.  Must be sniffing ladies shoes that does it!  
On the topic of my broken chain.  I discovered to my cost  something that most likely everyone but me already knew.   You can make a chain shorter but not longer.  This is because when you push a link pin even not fully out it removes a tiny ring of material from around one end of it, rendering it non re-usable.   Because the interference fit on one end is still operational, it may stay put for some time, as mine did but eventually it will come out.  Lesson learned.  It's now repaired with a genuine new Shimano pin.