Date: Tuesday 17th September 2013
Route: WP, Sha**ers, Keith's Bridge, Norsworthy, Meavy, HQ.
Riders: Gidon, Sam, Martyn & James
Depart WP: 19:40
Arrive HQ: 10:00
Distance: 13.8 miles
Weather: Good enough

Velominati report

Tuesday night and to be fair the weather hadn't been at its best. Not many emails were forthcoming and some of those suggested a slight apprehension about the weather conditions. But as we know, Rule 9 comes into play here and so a small number of real men decided to set out. It was good to see Gidon who had used Rule 11 to good effect and decided against going to parents evening. Sam was waiting for me on arrival and Mr Horler also put in an appearence. All of us were of course resplendent in our kit (17). We were just about to leave when Colin put in an appearence. Hard man Colin. He's had some dressings sorted and is on the mend. I can't help wondering if his fall was due to overly applying 23.

We decided to keep it local and make some roads around Burrator. Turned out it was a lovely night and not too wet under tread for most of the ride. Iron Mine Lane soon gave way to the old track then a drop to the leat following it east. Here we met the Rockin' boys (58) and enquired as to their current injury tally. They're doing well with a broken thumb now in addition to the ribs and lung episode from the summer. (no need for no.5 here). Sam soon had us under way again following the leat to Keith's Bridge. Is it me or is the crack getting bigger?

Then it was a surprisingly fast run down to Leather Tor Bridge hanging a right up the hill (55 done). We then negotiated the drop down to the road, slightly tricky for me as I'd found my headlight doesn't sit on my new helmet so I couldn't see round the corners. Hence, this was a bit of 85. A quick blast over Norsworthy before Sam lead us somewhere. It became vague for me from here on. Luckily Sam did a 59 and I just had to follow which worked well most of the time. We did get a little navigationally challenged at one point but the other three put there heads together and soon got us going again. I have to admit, I was worried about breaking 69 but feel there must be some exception for cliffs or maybe I need to 5. Once we'd broken the hill, it was back on for a swooping descent to somewhere and before I knew it, we were navigating the rock path towards the dam.

We popped over and then headed down towards Greg's leat on the other side before following the 'bridlepath' down to Meavy. I had a moment here but I'm not going to tell you about it (81). From there on, it was a whizz back through Meavy and to the pub where we did a bit of 52. It might only have been 13.8 miles, sorry 22.2km (24) but as we all know it is 68. I'm taking these rules quite seriously, I even did a bit of 65 on Wednesday when I got home.

So, if you were put off just get on and 5.

Reporter: Martyn