Christmas is coming, and that’s probably why we didn’t see Steve Hart riding last night, the thought of the ever closer Christmas ride and the Oak steps must be looming like a huge shadow, come on Harty the boys want another letter of the month in MBR!!! Other notable absentees on the ride included, Myself , Bernaaard, Johnny Mechanic, Jock and of course the ‘laugh a minute’ belching Dez. Despite the absenteeism, it was still a good turnout, 14 riders no less, all the more impressive with it being Crock’s turn to lead the ride. This week’s ride report will be on Captain’s Corner.

As ever after a hard ride, the boys were in need of some light refreshments, so after a weeks absence it was back to the Fwrrwm Ishta, on arriving Cunny and Quim informed us that there would be no hot food provided, after preparing food last week Crock conveniently forgot to tell them we would be going to the Church house instead, so this week it was dry roasted and crisps. As the night wore on it became increasingly evident that we have a vain, self-centred, thinks he’s chocolate member amongst us. This particular member was heard giving rave reviews about the look-alikes section on this website, and then proceeded to say “ I look like Ioan Gruffudd mind, loads of people tell me I do, you know Hornblower, you know the guy who plays Hornblower Ioan Gruffudd” I think you know who I mean, bloody ponce…

We also had an upset member when it emerged that Kev the Gallon was none too pleased about the fact that on the website there was no mention of the fact that Kev is our vice captain. He does a sterling job within the club and while the Captain is always leading from the front, every ride Kev brings up the rear making sure that no one has been left behind, sometimes we have to wait 10-15 minutes for Kev, as he is probably scouring the ground making sure that no-one has dropped anything or dropped something from their bikes during the ride. Even last night he was putting the boys first, forfeiting a lovely hard climb up Rudry mountain for the thankless task of a nice gentle undulating tarmac lane, to make sure that he got to the Maenllwyd Inn early and kept some space for the boys when they arrived, typical of the man always thinking of others before himself our VICE CAPTAIN Kev the Gallon!!! (hopefully before long there will be a new section to the site called Vice Captains Verses, where Kev can tell us all about his favourite brand of peanuts, the best way to tackle Snowdon on a Mountain Bike and Country Lanes for Mountain Bikers)

A good night was being had by all, Tom and Mark Owgie left early proving that the night was just getting better and better, and the captain began to loosen up and crack jokes after indulging in a couple of halves, his mood did alter for a little while, as the boys began to discuss a ride for Sunday, the Captain rather sadly announced that he wouldn’t be able to make Sunday as he was taking his wife to their caravan in Biffins Bridge, some of the lads enquired as to why the caravan hadn’t been shut up for the winter, to which Scrippsy was slyly heard to reply out of the corner of his mouth, “if I had my way it would have been shut up for the winter months ago”!!!!!!!! Obviously you don’t often get your way skipper!

Another couple of mentions, after being out of work for 18 months congratulations must go to Ant for successfully completing 3 full days in work! BT are coming to take the telephone box away from outside the Fwrrwm as Gaz finds it difficult not to jump in there and turn into his super hero alter ego and some residents of Machen were rudely awakened by what they thought were fireworks last week, when in fact it was apparently Dez belching on his way home from the pub!!