Date: Tuesday 17th December 2013
Route: WP, iron mine, old railway, shaggers, norsworthy, boneshaker, nuns cross, ditsworthy, scout hut, Half Man: Sheepstor, HQ; Full Man: Earthquake, HQ.
Riders: Keith, Greg, Martyn, Gary, Sam, Jude, James and Gidon
Depart WP: 19:45
Arrive HQ: 22:04
Distance: 14.5 miles
Weather: Mild & muddy and wet under tyre

With a torrential downpour over yelverton at 6.45pm the email came in that the meister was going to give it a miss afterall, but an hour later there was a good turnout of hardened gentlemen seeking the opportunity to put in some miles ahead of the christmas excesses. We met Gidon at the shops having been delayed by the Xmas play and headed briskly to the burrator area for some fun.

With early pacesetters Greg & Sam upfront we made our way along the railway and dropped down through the technical section to Norsworthy bridge. A few gents dismounted and were stripping layers off ready for the ascent up boneshaker. I set off first and was surprised to lose the pack quite early on running into 30 odd Dartmoor rescue on a training mission halfway up. I was just starting to think I'd taken a wrong turn when I started to sense Greg n Sam on my tail. Of course I'd set out a tad too early pace wise thinking we were at nuns cross when in fact there was one further very rocky ascent left. Sam & Greg slipped past with ease destroying the spirit as the foot went down for the first time in the evening.

We all reconvened at the top of Boneshaker and ran into a couple of fellow bikers who seemed surprised we had just come UP! boneshaker as they were looking forwards to going down!

The hard work done, in the main, the thoughts turned to the long descent to the scout hut via ditsworthy. Following Sam down - half way he had a flat and had come unprepared without tools or a spare tube. Lucky then I was on hand to oblige. A call came in from James and we said to head on to earthquake and we will see you at HQ. Keith, Gidon and myself waited whilst Sam got going and as the skies cleared, a chill set in. I don't think it was the right evening for Keith's first foray down Earthquake since the fall and broken collarbone back in August, so we opted for a half man route back to HQ, largely by road, through sheepstor and via dousland.

The rest of the pack completed eartquake successfully and all made it safely back to HQ just before 10.

We convened in the farmers bar for a change where we were greeted by two non riders that evening: Paul and the meister. There was talk of the upcoming Xmas do on Friday and a lot of chat about likely Xmas presents suitable for a gentleman. Gidon was pedalling helmet torches and sonos equipment, Paul was sharing Mandela and Tom Daley jokes and Stephen revealed that he buys and still plays good old CDs although he informed us that all purchases are now also available in the cloud!

All in all a fitting start to the Xmas season!

Reporter: Jude