BOB in Afan Argoed
It was that Saturday in April (the 28th) when the weather forecast was for really wet weather coming from Wales and for storms and heavy rain all over the south. Well, for those of us that went there was only a downpour on the 2 hour drive to South Wales and the rest of the day was beautiful.

Afan is quite tough but was quite do-able and as a club ride the team spirit was excellent…..and that's my way of a) thanking the team for waiting for me once or twice at some of the steeper climbs, and b) suggesting that many more of the club membership would have found they could do it so we can have more BOBs colours on the valley walls!

For those that do not know Afan then I can sum it up to start by saying it is a bit like Swinley Forest and the Lookout but much more extreme.

After the 2 hour drive to get there and the usual assembly of bits we had to wash our boots in disinfectant - it hasn't cured my sore feet or mouth yet though. This was followed by a slog up a fire road for almost 2 miles as a warm up. You know then that mostly its all down hill - but it wasn't! There was half a mile or so of slopey rooty technical track before we got to the first of the downhill trails. This was being built while we were there and they were adding boulders in the way and more corners to slow it down and make it safer. Kevin offered our services to help their volunteers later but that all got forgotten after we'd done a bit more of the trails here.

What followed were expertly constructed mountain biking single track trails that had every thing in them. They were long, much longer as individual downhill trails than we are used to. There was a flinty twisty section between the trees, followed by a technical rooty section; then a series of switchbacks with steep sides (down) with steps, roots and all of the above. And in between those there were sections with just mud.

When you reach the bottom of these trails the grin factor is huge despite the aching thighs through standing off the saddle for so long. After lunch we went and did the other side of the valley!

The restaurant is a bit like the Lookout but bigger, brighter, serves meals at really reasonable prices and didn't mind us being all muddy…in fact, they encouraged us in, were very friendly and even remembered Kevin and the BOBs from the last visit here.

Then, sadly, we had to go home………but not without a pledge to return in the not too distant future! The visitor centre even had a bike hire service and, most importantly, a jet wash to clean bikes at 50p a go. We needed a mid way clean at lunchtime - the muddy bits were that good!

Finish the day with a jetwash - for body and bike. Kevin

Still, the day's adventures weren't quite over for Paul Ayers and myself. Paul's car started playing-up and we pulled into the service area just before we got to the Severn Bridge. The nice man from the AA couldn't make it work so he organised a car-and-us pick-up to take us home. The driver was a very, very nice man (just like the old AA adverts I hasten to add) and we finally arrived home at near to 11.00pm.

Roger Wayte

(Online Ed's note: don't go speeding along the M4 near Port Talbot. Overhead speed cameras have been installed, as I found out to my cost when a letter from the Welsh police arrived. They kindly took a photograph recording my speed at 85mph and requesting £60 in exchange for 3 points, oh *%$$£&).

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