Jamie Davey and David Waldron, both from Dawlish, were able to join us this evening for their first ever evening ride as they happened to be camping for the week at the River Dart Country Park with Jamie's large family. With so many mountain bikers it was clear that a special ride was called for. No‑one was disappointed with the Avon Dam spectacular ‑ but then, no‑one ever is!

Arriving at the dam, which was not as full as it should have been at this time of year, Michael asked a number of the youngsters if they could work out why there was a large quarry‑like hole in the landscape. Even when they were looking at the large slabs of stone that made up the dam they still had difficulty working out the answer!

The mad romp across the moor to Cross Furzes was punctuated this evening with Shane Teague falling off in a stony gully. He landed squarely in a muddy stream, and was then nearly run over by Martin Luke who thought he could get past ‑ he ended up coming off as well, and landed on top of poor Shane! To conclude the acrobatics, Julian did a somersault over the handlebars when his path was obstructed by Matthew HW. Michael had no sympathy, saying that Julian must have been going too fast if he couldn't stop in a controlled way. The grass was soft, however, and the only real damage appeared to be his saddle ratchet.

Arriving within the Buckfastleigh town limits on the dot of 9.45 many members took up Michael's offer of refreshments at Crofters before creeping home at the late hour of 10.15. Still, it was half term!