Stodge.org

This weekend Doug and I did the Raw Dyfi Enduro, a 55km endurance mountain biking event in the Dyfi Forest, just north of beautiful Machynlleth. As ever, it was a very well-organised event, with heaps of enthusiasm put into the whole affair by the people from Summit Cycles and locals alike. There was a lot of climbing, but some great downhills, and the conditions weren’t too sloshy. Yes, they were very sloshy indeed, but this was Wales and the whole affair could easily have been much, much soggier. I would also like to express my thanks (somewhat cryptically for anyone who hasn’t done the event) to the drummers.

The fun of the weekend was dampened only by Telford. To be fair, it’s not Telford’s fault that we were diverted around our intended battered fish destination of Welshpool and overshot a chippie in Shrewsbury due to bladder constraints, but it is Telford’s fault that it’s a bloody ugly place. It consists of roundabouts punctuated by oddly-shaped office blocks or unhappily-clad residential towers, with little option for residents but to rely heavily on their cars for even the most minor tasks — the chippie we eventually found was styled as a ‘drive-in’.

It took us an hour of bombing around Telford to find our fishy treat, and it was worth it in the end (just about), although my tongue is still burnt from my mushy peas.

12:20pm:
Some photos from the event: I’m in the first photo, number 135, looking daft in my yellow helmy.