Men of Manx Training Tour

 With just three weeks to go until our trip to the Isle of Man in April, the M o M quartet decided to get some training in.... well two of us did.  The Highgate Viking unfortunately has had to drop out of the tour leaving the trio of myself, The Walton Wheeler and the newest member of our group, Malcolm aka The Grinstead Giggler.

The Grinstead Giggler

The Walton Wheeler was tied up with work  so couldn't make this training ride and the Giggler was passing by on his way to Swansea to collect his youngest son from University, which provided the ideal opportunity to try out his newly acquired Raleigh Array electric bike on the savage roads of the Vale of Glamorgan. When I suggested a route that took in 14 pubs, The Giggler's eyes lit up.  As someone who suffers from alcoholic constipation (he can't pass pubs) he soon became realistic when I indicated that we wouldn't have time to sample all of them but maybe 4 or 5 would do?

M o M Training Ride route

Departure

Leaving Llantwit Major we headed to the village of Wick where a slight adjustment in the saddle height on the Raleigh Array was called for.  Up until that point Malcom had resembled a butchers boy hunched over his handlebars struggling up the gentlest of hills. Hurtling downhill to Castle Upon Alun and onward to our first stop The Pelican Inn at Ogmore.  It used to be called the Pelican in Her Piety but since her refurbishment she has obviously lost some of her reverence so is now just known as the Pelican.

Thirsty work

Half an hour later we found ourselves in the warmth of the Star Inn in the village of Troes, outside Bridgend where the only other person in the pub, who happened to be smoking outside and witnessed our arrival, accused us of cheating using electric bikes.  When further questioned as to his understanding  of how ebikes worked,  the aforementioned youth displayed a complete lack of knowledge so opted to scuttle back inside to quaff his pint of Guinness.  We in turn followed,  to quietly sip our halves of shandy!

The Star Inn, Troes

By the time we left the Star it had started to get a little chilly and time was getting on,  so rather than risk  further stops at the Hare & Hounds and the Farmers Arms in the village of Aberthin we headed straight to Cowbridge to seek advice from the cycling guru Simon Leadbitter of Simon's Cycles.

The ever helpful Simon

We caught Simon at a good time - he was just about to close - after briefly discussing the merits of Bosch motors over Suntour hub motors we noticed that the light was fading and that The Grinstead Giggler's front light wasn't connected. With the speed of a phantom, Simon had connected the wires and had both front & rear lights working and for good measure injected both front and rear tyres of the Raleigh Array with puncture saving slime for the princely sum of £12.  He did suggest before we left that for all  we knew, he could have been squirting water into the tyres. We invited him to join us for a pint in the Bear Hotel next door but he declined, preferring the company of his lady friend for a romantic walk.

The Bear Hotel, Cowbridge

We had to stop at the Bear so I could have a quick catch up with my eldest who works there but bad timing on my part as he had finished his shift at 4pm. So we had a pint in his absence. A quick visit to Waitrose across the road to get some supplies and we were heading out of town up the hill with our lights resplendent in the increasing gloom. Twenty minutes later we arrived at our last port of call, the Blacksmiths Arms in Llanmaes, which was full of early evening drinkers. Unable to get a seat we loitered by the bar clutching our pints and ruminated on the success of the Raleigh's first real test of cycle touring before heading the last couple of kilometres home to our slow cooked beef in red wine and the sumptuous lemon cheesecake and Bailey's Truffles which Natalie (Malcolm's wife) had very kindly made.

Loitering with intent in the Blacksmith's

Home in the dark

After dinner the ride was analysed in depth and the maps of the Isle of Man were poured over with further plans of possible routes which avoided steep hills being thrown into the mix and all done with lashings of ginger beer. Roll on April and let us pray for some dry weather.