Llanthony

We cycled a few short rides during June, taking advantage of the evening Sun. One ride took us to Wentwood , where for the first time we saw a pink object in the sky, which we were to find out later that it was Mars which was the nearest it had been for many millions of years. We also tried out our touring bikes with some big 28mm touring tyres, we cycled up to Hafodryns and then up the mountain track back to Pontypool , the bikes performed well, we now had the perfect touring machines Then came our trip to the Gospel pass, near Llanthony abbey. We met at 4.30pm in Newbridge on Usk, we then cycled to Abergavenny via Usk, We ate a Chinese meal in readiness for the ride into the Black mountains. We briskly took the lane to Llanthony, where we stopped for a while, the road was quite busy as it was Saturday evening. However the sun was shining , the birds were singing and we were enjoying the gradual climb up the valley, remembering the previous year when we camped near Llanthony. We were 36 miles into the ride, near Capel y Ffin when disaster struck, a Range Rover had overtaken us quickly on the lane, I remarked to Nick that the driver was going so fast that he might cause an accident. A mile or so further on, Nick was slightly ahead of me around a bend , I did not see that the Range Rover had met a van in the lane and was reversing back at some speed, as I came around the bend it happened, I was confronted by a terrible sight, Nick had stopped, the Range Rover was in reverse , I braked but lost control I screamed AAAAAAAARRRRRRGHHH!!!!!! I remember twisting out of my pedals as I hit Nick with my body and then scraping on the hard asphalt road. I got up immediately, Nick was just staring with a shocked look on his face, the driver asked if I was all right, I seemed to be OK, so he drove off, then as I went to get on my bike, I realized it was badly damaged, what I thought was just the bars moved in the stem, was in fact a serious damaged frame, the top and down tubes were both bent, my beautiful gold and blue Mercian was ruined!! We walked back to Llanthony, amazingly the Mavic wheels built by Nick were undamaged ! We reached a phone box where I rang up my wife Ann to pick me up, Nick cycled home I felt pretty miserable!