Date:
Tuesday 17th November 2009
Riders: Paul, Keith, Paddy, Stephen, Colin, Neil & Alan
Departure time: 19.40
Arrival time: 22.15
Distance: 18 miles
Weather: Mild, dry, windy.
Soft Tyres, Brittle Chains!
The Routemeister was back in body and mind, but a few weeks away from his mountain
bike seemed to have had a strange effect on said mind!! He had proposed a devilish
looking route that I don't think any of us could really follow, but none of us
wanted
to let him down so we blindly headed off into the unknown.
We had a good turn out of seven gents on a mild windy evening.
I had an unusual start on my way to WP, as I went through the
gate
near the cricket ground, I turned around and saw lots of bright
lights
heading towards me. Being a member of the GOWCC, naturally
I held the gate open for the six mountain bikers that sped
past.
The start was straightforward enough, although a car had to
break sharpish to avoid taking out the front two as they turned
onto the Southwood road! Onwards to 'Greg's Leap' where Alan
made a pretty good attempt at the classic 'Controlled Off'
dismount.
It brought back memories of my old bike's serious lack
of breaking power. From here to Grenofen Bridge where we
had our first puncture stop.
I supplied the light and morale support for Colin's tube change
as the other five headed towards Double Waters to loop back
and
meet
us
at the
Halfway House.
From Paddy's account of the loop, he and Stephen went racing
up the hill out of the valley thinking they could take a nice
little breather at the top only to find the other three cruising
on their tails!! We regrouped at the Halfway House but soon
mechanical failure struck! Stephen's chain broke so we had
more injury stoppage time, but with Paddy's assistance these
experts can get a bike
back on
the road in no time at all.
And to prove the repair was good, the Routemeister was soon
heading off again, leaving everybody behind! We headed towards
Plasterdown, briefly onto Jordan Lane then picked up
the road to Huckworthy. This next stretch was the real killer,
from Huckworthy Bridge we turned left onto the Daveytown road
then continued uphill until we turned right to take us to the
old railway via Routrundle Farm.
As time was pressing and the repairs had eaten into our drinking
time, there was an instant unanimous decision to take the quickest
route to HQ. We dropped off the old railway and onto the Walkhampton
road, but our progress was delayed by a Range Rover that reluctantly
had to reverse some distance to let us all by!
At Walkhampton we had punctures number two and three, this
time Neil and Stephen. As Neil's recovery vehicle was already
in Yelverton a call brought a quick response to take him home.
If Stephen's puncture had been the front and not the rear,
I'm sure he would have wheelied all the way to HQ!! Anyway,
when we did all arrive at HQ the Social Sec had lived up to
his name and got to the bar first to line up the beers. We
were all glad to take a seat and a breather and maybe the next
time the Routemeister comes up with one of these plans, we
will do as he suggested and say NO THANKS!!!
There was still time for one more puncture, Paul's rear tyre
had lost it's air quicker than the Social Sec could down two
Jails! Did anything else go wrong on the way home? I can only
report that I did battle the head wind to get home safely.
Reporter: Keith
