We went to Wales, was so that Tom who is very keen on mountain bikes,
Could go to a mountain bike ‘demo day’ at Coed-y-Brenin,
Let me explain, before hand, Tom had booked on line to try out some of the bikes he aspires too, all the big names were there, touting their gear.
Tom had 3x 40min slots booked, and off he went in to the forest, on about £3000 worth of mountain bike.
Mr Uhdd took some for a test ride too, the pair of them were very impressed; but they can dream on.
Joe and I went for a walk instead, it is where we came across beautiful moss,
We took the Gain waterfall trail (and we’d like you to note that the sign says it is a strenuous route, so maybe Joe should nave worn something other than his Crocs on his feet.) We found the waterfall
and an awful lot of ants. Not just any old ants, but the famous, coed-y-Brenan hairy wood ant (it is their eyebrows that are hairy, apparently) there’s
a very nice video here, narrated with lovely lilting Welsh accents and with much better shots of the splendid ants nests than I managed.
May 1, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Sadly biking has become very expensive. When I started riding in the early eighties it was soooooo cheap.
Now its not.
Tom will get his dream bike one day
My last one took about 4 1/2 years or more to save. I have a Mercian on order. Now Ive been waiting since the eighties for a frame made by them.
Ants, now theres an eighties thing. Led by Adam. The Ants were an awsome band.
May 2, 2010 at 4:29 am
How exciting for Tom to be able to try out his dream mountain bikes and meet some great folks ~ and how fortunate he has parents who care enough about his dreams to take him to this special event!
As far as the ants go…quite fascinating, although I wasn’t able to see the video (not available in this area). However, I was curious to see if I could find any info on a youtube video…and I found this!
May 2, 2010 at 8:41 am
Well there you go, Glo. I never knew that, Laidbackfellrunner and I will never look at Ambergate in the same light again.
May 2, 2010 at 6:23 am
Three grand for a bike, wow I didn’t realise they went to that price. Still must have been great to have some time trying them out.
May 2, 2010 at 8:40 am
Now, that’s a lot of ants! With hairy eyebrows, no less.
May 2, 2010 at 1:57 pm
I had to forward this to Rob the Firefighter. He had a passion for cycling of all kinds when he was about your Tom’s age. His first job was in a bicycle shop, where he learned to build them from the spokes up. He still loves them. What a wonderful vacation in Wales you had! Leaving aside the hairy wood ants of course.
May 2, 2010 at 11:56 pm
Thank you to Glo for posting an ant video for all to see.
Mrs. UHDD, there is something so magical in the forest shot with the two bikers, it looks more like a place one might find fairies not modern bikes.
May 3, 2010 at 9:27 am
That looks like great fun! I don’t ride any more but always enjoyed bike riding.
I know just how expensive frames, let alone bikes, can be as I knew the guy who orginally imported Merlin titanium ones and which cost well into four figures even back then! xx
May 3, 2010 at 9:20 pm
ants in ambergate , whatever next