Date: Tuesday 14th June 2011
Route: WP, Lake, Burrator, Keith's bridge, Norsworthy, Deancombe, Handrail, Meavy, HQ.
Riders: Keith, Sam, Nick, Gidon, Paddy & Richard (new rider)
Depart: 19:40
Arrive HQ: 21:50
Distance: 13 miles
Weather: Cloudy but nice

Met Office 0-1 President

The Met Office gave a forecast for heavy rain at 7:00pm, I forecast no rain, another embarrassing prediction from the boys in Exeter with their multi-million pound computers!! Five other gents trusting local knowledge came out to ride and we welcomed yet another new rider tonight, Richard (the second). Paddy had reassembled his bike and touched the biggest tree he could find!! Martyn made a welcome reappearance after his big off. Not ready for the mountain version yet, but a few miles on the road bike got his confidence back.

We set out for Burrator with the intention of having a 'halfman' if needed. After a little forest loop, we passed 'Sha**ers van' then I had one of those déjà vu moments. Paddy went over the leat and took the sharp left followed by Sam who crashed to the ground over the handlebars. Next up should have been Paul, laughing at Sam before falling into the leat! But no, that was October 2009 (a Golden Pants moment), not June 2011. This time Nick was following Sam and immediately stopped to check on Sam's well-being. A little bruised and bloodied but otherwise OK.

As we followed the leat to the drop off above 'Keith's bridge', Paddy demonstrated his absolute trust in his bike and his nerves of steel by negotiating the raised section where falling into the leat is the soft option! The rest of us followed on foot and that was pretty scary in itself! 'Keith's bridge' is only half a bridge now, but we did all cross the Meavy safely.

Down to Leather Tor bridge and left up to Westy's forest trail and back down to Norsworthy. As we went to go up the Deancombe track, we passed some City nutters with body armour on!! Back through the trees and bogs to the handrail where Gidon did an impression of a kangaroo on a mountain bike. It was the longest controlled off I've ever seen, certainly a record for the GOWCC and most probably the World!! It make me laugh so much that it drained all my energy away!

We decided to head for HQ via Meavy and stopped at the Royal Oak briefly where Fraser was working. The city nutters had stopped for a drink and did now appear more human with pints of ale in their hands! We learnt later that Rob was in the pub not having the best of meals, should have come out with us instead!

We arrived at HQ fairly early after a relatively easy ride with lots of stops waiting for Richard. David turned up after having done yet more training for the Classic. At the end of the evening it was felt by all that if Richard wanted to join us again, investing in a new bike would be essential!!!

Reporter: Keith
PS After eight weeks all on it's own, I finally recovered my water bottle from Martyn's track!