Irondocs Barbados

Roamers!!


I hope you didn’t have too many problems due to Tomas last weekend.
Generally speaking we were fortunate not have been hit harder. Spare a
thought and say a prayer for all who were affected here and in St.
Lucia and St. Vincent. I’m sure you will play your part in giving
assistance to anybody that needs it.


On a lighter note, the planning for our Independence Day
round-de-island roam and picnic is picking up pace. There’s no Nation
Fun Ride this year so we have to get together and have our annual
opportunity to socialise... right? For those taking on the
round-de-island roam, we will assemble in the Brownes beach carpark to
roll out at 4:00am. It’s important that we start early cuz we expect
to be on the road for about 5 hours. The earlier we start the less sun
and traffic we’ll have to deal with.


The route will basically be thru Bridgetown, up the west coast to
Sutherland Hill, past the cement plant to St. Lucy parish church,
south to pass Farley Hill, down to East Coast Road and Cattlewash,
dipsy doodle across to Bath and Codrington College, Blades Hill,
around East Point to Sam Lord’s Castle, back to the airport, to
Oistins and along the south coast back to Brownes beach.


It’s a fairly long route (over 50 miles I think) so those of you not
riding are more than welcome to drive along with the posse as “support
vehicles”. You know... like how they do it in the Tour De France? Lol,
not quite but you could carry some water, tools and any other stuff
the riders might want you to hold on to. I’m thinking of bringing an
extra pair of legs myself!


After the roam (by bike and car) we’ll get to our picnicking on
Brownes beach I figure between 9:30 and 10:00am. Start thinking about
what you can bring to contribute to the eats and drinks... might be
good to have a masseuse on hand too!


Whoo... I’m so excited already that I’m taking up the whole email
talking about the round-de-island and picnic. Let me know which option
you’ll be going with... 1. Riding 2. Driving 3. Picnicking 4. Riding
and picnicking or 5. Driving and picnicking.


Hmmm... I don’t want to go on any longer so I will have to include the
notice from the GSSDC next week. Stay tuned.


For tomorrow’s roam we’ll use the stormed-out route from last week. If
we get another storm tomorrow, that route will be abandoned
permanently!


Assembly point: Garfield Sobers Gymnasium
Assembly time: 5:30am
Roll out: 5:45am


Longer route: Exit gym compound near Fort George Heights and head to
St. David's, keeping left-ish at the Y to pass the church. Left at the
link road (Staple Grove) and across to the T, then right to pass thru
Watts Village en route to the Boarded Hall junction. Left and across
to the Turnpike. Right and then right again to pass thru Carmichael
and all the way to the corner by the Brighton market. Take the left in
the corner and follow the road all the way to the triangle at the
Mount. Left and down the hill to pass thru Ellerton and back to the
Turnpike. Right and onto the road that leads to the St. George parish
church, continuing down the hill to Charles Rowe Bridge. Straight
across onto Lower Estate and past Roberts Manufacturing to the T
junction. Right and a short left and then left at the reverse Y to
head to Kelsi's supermarket and then the Hothersal Turning roundabout.
Left onto the ABC H'way and across to the Norman Niles roundabout.
Left and thru Neils Plantation, past the Salters junction and all the
way to the Essco roundabout. Right and across Dash Valley to the
junction with Mapp Hill. Left and thru South District, and then right
onto the Staple Grove link road back to St. Davids. Return to base via
Kent, turning into the gym complex after passing the Fort George
Heights entrance. About 30.6km.


Shorter route: Follow the longer route all the way to arriving at the
Turnpike the first time. Straight across onto the road leading to St.
George parish church. Left at St. George primary school and past St.
George secondary to the Essco roundabout. Straight across and rejoin
the longer route thru Dash Valley, Mapp Hill etc. back to base.


That’s it for now,
See you tomorrow...
Adrian