Date: 6th October 2009
Start time: 19.40
Finish time(s): 22.00
Riders: Paddy, Stephen, Colin, Greg, Keith & Paul
(4 out of 6 from WP plus the Pres!!!).
As summer drifts gently to autumn, the leaves
turn red and gently float to the ground and as they enjoy
the last of their
Indian Summer the gentlemen turn their attention to more leisurely,
gentle evenings of entertainment……………………………………..BACK
TO REALITY.
We gathered in the dark and drizzle which
got heavily worse all evening. Dartmoor returned to its normal
state of damp
and wet. With yet more investment made and Exposure Lights
profits for 2009/10 in the bag (Greg and Stephen have both
invested in the Enduro MaXx 3 LED wireless light and increased
their mortgages substantially in the process) we hightailed
it from WP across the aerodrome with the aim of finding Greg’s
new route down to the Walkham. Darkness and drizzle didn’t
help and we faffed about for a bit before stumbling upon it.
So, down to the Walkham wooden bridge and
then along the path to Grenofen. Instead of the normal straight
on to Double Waters,
Greg took us right up the VERY steep hill to the Halfway House
and then out onto the Whitchurch Road briefly before a sharp
left out to Plasterdown. We found the Grimstone and Sortridge
Leat (grim by name and last night by nature) which was followed,
at quite a pace, all the way to Merrivale, which by then way
up in the clouds. Thence up the road from Merrivale, towards
Princetown, picking up the Yellowmead Farm track to the Kings
Tor bypass and back to HQ down the old railway (into quite
a stiff wind….wow that makes a difference) and through
Walkhampton.
Despite the weather becoming more and more
grim through the evening, thankfully the drizzle never really
managed to turn
itself into full on rain and with the air temperature up at
around 15°C was not as unpleasant as it could have been.
Greg pushed the pace on and I for one was
tired by the end (Colin claimed not to be but revealed big
red “S” on
the front of his T-shirt and red cape which he had changed
into in a phone box….Westy, keep the underpants on the
inside next time!!!!!). 2 hrs 20 mins of punishing riding on
and off road with precious few breather stops culminated in
a total distance (depending upon whose bike computer you use)
of anywhere between 0 and 19 miles (plus Keith’s extra
2 to get to and from WP – big respect an old man for
the extra mileage)!!!
Most importantly, over 2 hours of incident
free MTB’ing
was had. Not one puncture or derailleur to fettle and only
one off (that I know of), which apparently to Paul, was my
fault.
Bring on Winter.
Reporter: Paddy
President's Footnotes: I would call this route 'The Beast of
Willowby'! I felt tired when Greg just described it before
we left and it only got worse from there!
And there was another classic off, this time by Westy.
Very gentle fall, but after landing, his bike decided it would
rather rest on top of his rider and Westy got trapped for the
second week running!! Don't ever let him out on his own!!
