We were encouraged by an impressive turnout for this year's Rough Stuff event at Ideford. Luke had to rest for a moment at the "Budgie Box" at Caton as he felt light-headed, but eventually we pressed on to Gappah Cross, being dampened by a light shower at Heathfield.

Several of our youngsters, including Ashley and Paul, were taken completely by surprise when we turned right instead of left at Gappah, heading past Ugbrooke House and across the A380 Exeter to Newton road. On the other side of the dual carriageway we were taking the footpath to Olchard, but the way was obstructed by an annoying wooden gate. Keir thought he would help out by lifting the gate off its hinges, but try as he might he could not make it budge. There was laughter all around when Tao came along and lifted it off easily.

When we had met up with the other Devon DA riders at Ideford we had lunch under the second and final shower of the day. We then got on with the competition, which this year was reasonably hard and tiring because of the long route required to reach all the testing off-road sections. Eventually we had to leave at 4.15, before the results were announced, in order to get home at a reasonable time.

Tao's broken chain delayed us by another thirty minutes, and by the time we had ridden through Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot for a slightly different journey home it was 7pm when we finally reached Buckfastleigh.

[This report never previously published - please tell us if you see any errors]