Date : Sun 4th Oct 2009 Time : 09:30 start, home by 17:40 Lanes : Lots Runners : Me, KwakaGeoff, Landyman, Withybrook, Mike, NeilEXC, ChrisM
A overcast but dry start from my house. Everyone arrived on time for a full days ride - trying to see if we could get in all the lanes between Plymouth and NE as far as Lustleigh.
A quick pop up 202-157 woke all the riders up - and then onto the easy -158, -159. On the first bend of 158, the front end washed out Chris's bike and he hit the deck before he knew what had happened - giving himself a nice rib bashing (which luckily didnt seem to detract him thru the day). Near the end of -158 it drops down after a bend for a small rocky descent -- Withybrook didnt notice this until he ws on the descent with too much speed, a bit of braking closely followed by some badgering !! After a fueling we hit my newly founded -154 which isnt easy even when dry. At the top eneryone eventually emerged panting and puffing and steaming themselves up. At this point I thought the slipperyness of these lanes with their light dampness and covering of leaves meant the going would be tough/slow and we wouldnt hit our final destination (again !!). But we pressed on.................... Taking in lanes of South Brent and onto Dean where -076 was a joy to ride. There was a nice river running down the slatey gulley and so much water is was actually really grippy - so everyone reached the top without too much probs. Then up -086 which always has a victim or 2. Mike had an oscar winning ascent when his bike veered off to the right, wheelied out of control and came down right across a metal cart-wheel lying beside the lane (you can see the wheel in withybrooks pic below, but I didnt get Mike on camera ).
Withybrook having a laydown - and having a picture-whore moment too !!
Finished off lanes around here before moving onto the Rattery lanes - all of which were done with minimal fuss including everyones fave -096.
From here made our way to towards Buckfastleigh for an early (midday) pasty at the Steam Railway / Butterfly place
L-R - Me, Landy, Geoff, Mike, Neil, Withy, Chris
Now one thing I've noticed recently when leading runs is the pace seems to get a lot better after lunch, especially for the slower run members - all of a sudden they are up with the main pack all the time. This was so today, with Withybrook finding his lane-legs and riding real well for the rest of the day (apart from his regular badgers ).
From Staverton towards Newton taking in the wonderful (but too dry at the moment) -007 with the normal river crossing photos.
Chris
Mike
A mad orangeman (Landy I recon)
And in true 'Tom Daley' fashion, Withy manages a perfect '10' for crossing without a splash
Making our way through the Liverton where it started to rain a little, making Simms hill just that extra bit slippery - but everyone got up first time - Withy having a bit of a moment near the bottom but recovered well
Geoff
Withy
Chris
Neil
And from here the time was still good so we managed to get to Lustleigh and finish off the final destination with Jonny-Canns and the Dartmoor Way (a dream of a lane - apart from a couple of 4x4s holding me up -- although one of the drivers was a babe, so all forgiven ).
Heading back Neil and Chris cut back across the moors to Tavistock and the 5 of us made our way thru Newton to Ipplepen/Marldon to take in a few good lanes here - and on -081 I had a squirrely moment before coming round a bend to find a couple of quads, 1 of which was recoving from his own fall-off moment (didnt know you could fall off these !!). Guy at the rear I recognise as maybe a trf member ?? - anyhoo we precariously squeezed by the quads and continued. At the end of -079 Mike had to make a mad dash back to Tavistock as his lights decided to give up working and it was already close to 5pm. Hope ya made it back ok mate. The remaining 4 of us took in the little cluster of lanes around and including Tally-Ho. By now it was raining pretty hard, Tally-Ho was well slippery again but everyone got up without too much fuss. Headed back to totnes where we finished laning on -123 before calling it a day and heading back home. At least things dried up fairly soon after we left Totnes.
A real excellent days riding, plenty of thrills and spills -- and nice to have a taster of slippery lanes again after being spoilt with a month of dry ones !!
It was a great day, about 90% of the lanes were new to me and some absolute crackers included. Ribs were smarting for a wee while after that tumble, thought I was going to have to quit at one point. Thanks to Graham who was on hand with some ibruprofen and by lunchtime all pain had dissipated. No problems today though thank goodness.
Many thanks to Mark for a great run and Neil for kindly getting me back home on time.
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