Mach' N Back ... Winter WRT?

Mach' n Back takes place on the weekend of Jan 14th/15th in tropical mid Wales. You can think of it as a mini, winter WRT. It's non competitive and the emphasis is firmly placed on fun and socialising. To try and ease any potential weather issues the start/finish point will be Llanbrynmair community centre rather than Ceulan as with the WRT. If it sounds like something you fancy then you can find full details and a link to the on-line entry by going to http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/pages/news.html#MNB2012

Bear Bones 200 entries are now open.

Anyone who didn't get their full bikepacking fix on the WRT may be interested to know that on-line entries are now open for the Bear Bones 200. The BB 200 takes place on October 15th/16th in sunny mid-Wales and should hopefully prove to be a proper mental and physical test.

I won't go into the details here but if I've sparked your interest nip over to the Bear Bones site where all is revealed.

http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/

The WRT is moving home!

The Welsh Ride Thing is moving home. The WRT and everything to do with it, now has a new home at Bear Bones Bikepacking. Bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk is a new website dedicated to all things Bikepacking. There's reviews, trip reports, a forum and obviously a blog, where you'll find all the drivel and ramblings you've grown to love on the WRT blog.

Pop across, take a look and sign up for the forum. It's early days yet but the site will grow if people use it and join in. Feel free to send stuff in for inclusion, reviews, reports or anything else you think will be of interest.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So this is the bit where I say thank you. Firstly, thank you to everyone who came and rode. You endured some pretty poor conditions ... considering how wet and windy things were the number of bail outs was remarkerbly few and I didn't have to play at being Thunderbirds even once!

Next up is a very big thank you to all those companies who donated their products for the raffle. Asking for prize donations is one of the jobs I hate but everyone who donated made it a pleasure. Obviously the list of companies that donate prizes is always shorter than those who don't ... so please bear that in mind the next time you're looking to buy something. What goes around comes around, so support those people and companies who support you.

Lastly, I'd like to say thank you to Dee. Without her the WRT doesn't happen.

The efforts of everyone above means that this years WRT raised £1481 for Wales Air Ambulance ... hooray!

If this years experience hasn't finished you off or even if you've decided to retire from active service and become an armchair bikepacker ... you might want to keep your eye on the blog over the next couple of weeks.

Once again, thank you.

Stuart

WRT ... The Finish.

Waking up on Monday morning was just like waking up on Saturday morning ... only the weather was worse. High winds and rain were still present but as with Saturday, as the morning went on the weather started to improve. With that improvement came a steady trickle of returning riders. By midday that had changed into a flood of riders, all eager to grab a brew and stuff their faces with cake.

It was fantastic to see so many smiling faces. Some might have been smiling due to the relief of being home safe and sound, for others the smiles were proof of their achievements ... all were great to see.

Kevin ... ALL 15 GR and just about to ride 25 miles home!

How much cleaner this had been 2 days earlier.

No shortage of sheep shit on display.

Tea is the best recovery drink known to man.

More start line pics.

• This belongs to Ian from Wildcat Gear ... looks fast stood still. There's a sleeping

bag, down jacket and spare clothes in that front dry bag!

• Roo ... never far from food.

• All smiles but it had stopped raining by then.

• Paul and his singlespeed Niner.

• The exit is actually to the left of the picture.

• The maiden trip for Pete's Singular.

• The one legged pedaling race got off to a fantastic start.

• Slugwash looking proud after his weigh in, not that he won.

WRT ... The Start.

It's never a good sign when you open your eyes, switch your ears on and all you can hear is wind and rain battering the house ... that's how it was on the morning of the WRT. All morning the rain kept coming, you knew it was windy too as the rain wasn't just falling down but sideways!

The storm before the storm.

I knew a touch of Welsh liquid sunshine wouldn't put anyone off though and by around 10.00 cars started to appear and slither around the field in search of traction. Luckily, as more riders arrived the rain decided to leave ... it was obviously beaten by everyone's enthusiasm.

There's always faffing to be done.

The weigh in (off) started sometime around 11.00, riders had their bikes and kit weighed on the official WRT scales. There was some interesting results, the majority had implements of torture weighing somewhere between 50lb and 60lb all in. There were some that came in considerably lighter, Nick from AlpKit was the only rider to manage a sub 40lb weight but a few others weren't far off ... it must have been the last energy bar that tipped them over the edge. Almost more impressive was the heaviest bike/kit/trailer combination ... a total weight of 129lb!

Built for comfort not speed ... 129lb all in!

We were a little late drawing the raffle but once underway it was a tickets, prizes and shouting fest of the highest order. Some lucky people walked away with some very nice prizes ... £150 Rab and Phd down jackets anyone?

The pole dancing proved popular.

With most riders booted and suited it was time for the off. Some had a harder time than others deciding which way to get out of the field but in the end all were successful ... lets hope they all make it back on Monday!

If I press this button it'll turn on the teleport device.