Did the Tour Of Pembroke 65 mile route. The weather was not very good this morning, rain and very blustery. So it was with great surprise that Fairweather actually got kitted up and joined 515mm, Tall Paul and yours truly!
We eventually got started a little after 8.30, and immediately started the first climb of the day. There were quite a few to fit in by the end, none that were in the same league as the Forest Of Dean ride we did a few weeks ago, but they were plentiful.
The wind seemed to be changing direction with every 5 minutes. And as we were using quite a few back roads with high hedges, the gaps where there was a large gate or no hedge caused you to suddenly get blown sideways. Very disconcerting when you are descending at any sort of speed. The rain was beginning to ease off, but the odd heavy shower would suddenly hit us much to Fairweather's annoyance.
The drop down into Newgale and over to Broadhaven was a highlight and for the first time Fairweather actually managed to get round the downhill lefthander into Broadhaven without some sort of self induced incident. Chapeau indeed!
We watered briefly in Newgale but one of our number was struggling with the pace. So apologies to T.P. for leaving him to recover longer while the three of us set off once more.
The rain had stopped for a while now but as we headed into Pembroke the heavens emptied, and made life a bit more difficult for the riders. It went very dark, dark enough to turn on your lights if you were canny enough to have them fitted.
We made quite good time to Pembroke and the crossing of the Cleddau was quite spectacular. Especially with the wind. 515mm did a sterling job keeping the pace up in the circumstances.
We pulled into the last feed station for a banana and a visit to the "ty bach" and with 20 miles to go we upped the pace once more. Those last miles flew by, even with the threat of cramp, and traffic, the climb out of Tenby was done in no time. The small 12%'er towards the finish was hardly noticed as we rode purposefully on. And before you knew it we were across the line and that was when the sun decided to come out!
