Quick report of an uneventful ride. Turned out to be Pacer heavy with Paul, Mark, Ben (doing some outdoor Zwifting), and I. Plus Martin (comfortably stepping up), Karl (less comfortable), and guest riders Jon and Jon from something called "Tondu Wheelers".
Nice tail wind out to Neath, where Karl, bored by all the flatness turned off for some hills, probably. New lane eased us up through Cilfrew with views across the Neath valley before a slightly grittier (and big hole-ier) than anticipated descent to Crynant. On through Seven Sisters and Onllwyn where it transpired we hadn't all become Tadej clones and there had in fact been quite the breeze behind us, which was at this point very much more in front of us. Paul and one of the Jon's to the front to take us to McDonalds at Glynneath avoiding the fat man on a motor bike who tragically had lost the power of speech and was only able to communicate with a horn.
Mostly downhill and mostly headwind home. My chain was skipping more frequently as the ride progressed. Idiotically, Paul suggested it was a worn chain, although I was able to assure him it couldn't possibly be since I changed it very recently. Nice ride, and back in plenty of time to watch the dreary culmination of Flanders (and the much more exciting women's race). Good to have more new faces out. Hope to see more of everyone as the weather improves.
Hope you all had a good Easter, and a productive bank holiday Monday. In unrelated news I'm spending mine replacing a massively stretched chain and wrecked chainring and cassette.
