Date: Tuesday 15th September 2009
Start time: 19.40
Finish time(s): 22.25, 22.30 & 22.35
Riders: Sam, Paddy, Paul, Colin & Al
A dry, fine but windy evening and a cobbled
together route as we went along to minimise exposure to the
wind. A case of
the blind leading the blind at times but a confident start
from WP down to Meavy, up Stephens “Earthquake” to
Ringmoor Cottage. Cross country then to Brisworthy Plantation
and Cadover Bridge. An incident free ride up to the Clay pits
hanging a left at the top of the road to skirt round the back
of the pits with the aim of showing Paul and Al the “pits” and
lovely views of Plymouth/South Hams…..autumn is clearly
upon us as darkness prevailed!!!!!!!!
Because of the dry conditions Paddy felt the need to soil
himself to ensure people knew that he had been out on a mountain
bike ride. To this end he chose a most innocuous bit of track
to undertake acrobatics going over his handle-bars into a wet,
gorse filled ditch. Thankfully the bike was fine.
We all then descended rather gingerly down
to Quick Bridge arriving on the Wotter – Cornwood Road
just down hill of the riding stables, with most of us sustaining
rather less
spectacular dismounts along the way.
We then moved onto Lee Moor and on towards Shaugh Prior before
a planned left turn down onto the tram-line and into Cann Wood.
Paul and Sam had other ideas as presumably they had the whiff
of hops carried on the prevailing winds from Princetown. With
a surprising burst of speed they left the rest of us for dead
going in the wrong direction. When we finally caught up with
them we had to turn them away from the direction of HQ for
further cycling exploits.
Onwards to Cann wood where one particular
section took our fancy so we did it three times before finally
leaving in the
appropriate direction towards the Plym valley cycle track.
A straightforward run home was on the cards with an ETA at
HQ of around 10pm. Paddy clearly had other ideas. In an attempt
to curtail our rehydration process he managed to do untold
damage to his bike with the aid of his detachable derailleur
on the steep ascent up the road towards Clearbrook. The terminal
appearance of the bike meant once again that our party separated
as Sam manfully raced off into the distance to bring his bike
ambulance back to the beleaguered Paddy. Paul and Al followed
at a fairly stiff pace to get the beers lined up and does anyone
have any idea where Colin went? We were all finally repatriated
at HQ where our esteemed President kindly joined us to celebrate
the Pilgrims slide to the base of the Championship and presumed
obscurity. At least Paddy and bike are repairable – one
has to be less optimistic for Argyle!
All in all quite a marathon ride!
Reporter: Al
