Album - South Dartmoor Cycling Club

South Dartmoor CTC Album

Reports

Friday 31 December 2010
19:00 - 23:00

Social: Cinema Trip, Tron

4 Participants: Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Liam Freeman (12, Buckfastleigh), Michael Jones

We bought a family ticket to see Tron in 3D this evening starting at 8.20 at Vue Plymouth. On the way down we called in to Tesco but found it closed at 7pm for New Year's Eve so we just got some refreshments from the garage there.

The cinema was fairly quiet so we got excellent seats. Everyone loved Tron: it was a fantastic world and great fun to watch from start to finish. The film made an excellent finish to 2010.

Sunday 2 January 2011
10:15 - 13:00

Morning ride: Converted to Social

Drizzle turning to rain

4 Participants: Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Michael Jones, Jack Parnell

Disappointing weather greeted us for this first ride of 2011. We played some computer games in the hope it would improve, but when it got worse we booked squash courts at Ivybridge and enjoyed some excellent games there. Jack picked the game up very quickly and achieved some good scores by the end of the session.

Friday 7 January 2011
19:00 - 22:00

Social: Games Evening

5 Participants: Neil Ault, Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Michael Jones, Zac McGrath

For the first social of the New Year we organised a games evening, starting with Lord of the Rings and finishing with Call of Duty.

Sunday 9 January 2011
10:15 - 12:55

Morning ride: Chalk Ford

Sunny but cold

6 Participants: Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Ryan Havinga, Michael Jones, Zac McGrath, Jack Parnell

Ryan was on a mission today: he wanted to take a set of scenic moorland photos for his GCSE Photography project, using an old-fashioned film camera, and Chalk Ford was the destination he had in mind. Zac rang as we were about to leave and finally caught up with us half way up the hill to Cross Furzes.

We had to negotiate some icy patches on the lane to Lud Gate, but once we came out onto the open moor it was clear that the weather we perfect for photography. While Ryan snapped away the rest of us negotiated the larger than usual stream that had flooded the path, then we all enjoyed the downhill track to Chalk Ford.

There were two large pigs in the field, and we couldn't help wondering if they might be the piglets we saw there last year. The downhill track to Scoriton was as stony as usual, but we took our time as were in no hurry to end this perfect min-winter ride.

View towards Teignmouth from Pupers Hill (Michael, Olympus C-60Z)

The group at Chalk Ford (Michael, Olympus C-60Z)

Zac and Ash on the track from Chalk Ford to Scorriton (Michael, Olympus C-60Z)

Friday 14 January 2011
19:00 - 22:00

Social: Music Quiz

7 Participants: Neil Ault, Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Ryan Havinga, Michael Jones, Zac McGrath, Jack Parnell

We had a lot of fun with our Music Quiz tonight, with Michael asking questions about the top selling singles from 2010 and 2009 as well as Neil doing a round of his own favourite tracks. There was a TV themes round as well, just for Callum.

Sunday 16 January 2011
10:15 - 12:45

Morning ride: Belford Mill

Cloudy & windy

6 Participants: Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Ryan Havinga, Michael Jones, Zac McGrath, Jack Parnell

Ryan really wanted to do the ride to Belford Mill at Ashburton and everyone else seemed happy with that even though we did it fairly recently, so we set off along the old Ashburton road and past the park. The woodland track from Belford was quite muddy today but it's the track everyone loves so there were no complaints. We returned through Ashburton town and, by popular demand, along the A38 to Buckfastleigh which was remarkably quiet this morning.

Friday 21 January 2011
19:00 - 22:00

Social: Pool

7 Participants: Neil Ault, Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Ryan Havinga, Michael Jones, Zac McGrath, Jack Parnell

Our initial plans for Pool and Asda at Plymouth morphed into our more usual Pool and Tesco, but after several good games of Pool and some good discounts at Tesco everyone had an enjoyable evening - especially Callum who always loves a trip out.

Sunday 23 January 2011
10:15 - 13:30

Morning ride: Staverton

Dry but cold

6 Participants: Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Michael Jones, Zac McGrath, Jack Parnell, Brodie Scott (14, Buckfastleigh)

New rider Brodie proved himself a very capable cyclist on this leisurely amble along Colston Road to Staverton. After enjoying the riverside path we spent a little while playing Frisbee and rocket in the park, doing our best to catch them despite the stiff breeze. Our direct route home via Abham was punctuated with many stick fights between Callum and Ashley.

Friday 28 January 2011
19:00 - 22:00

Social: Games Evening

7 Participants: Neil Ault, Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Ryan Havinga, Michael Jones, Zac McGrath, Brodie Scott

None of the youngsters could agree on which of the many videos on offer would be best for the evening's entertainment, so they played computer games while they thought about it and ended up not watching a video at all! We finished with some practice games on Lord of the Rings to help Brodie learn the basics of the game.

Sunday 30 January 2011
10:15 - 13:00

Morning ride: River Dart Country Park

Sunny but cold

5 Participants: Ash Freeman, Callum Freeman, Michael Jones, Jack Parnell, Brodie Scott

Our favourite tree on the lower Hembury track (Michael, Olympus C-60Z)

Ash, Jack, Callum and Brodie at Gallant Le Bower (Michael, Olympus C-60Z)

With the temperature barely above freezing at the start of the ride we rode through Buckfast in search of suntraps and found one on the lower Hembury track where the bright winter sunshine warmed the sheltered woodland air. Michael seemed to spend quite a bit of time trying to pump his tyres - his pump didn't seem to work properly after Zac used it last week!

From Gallant Le Bower we took the woodland track descent to River Dart Country Park, where unsurprisingly there were no campers to be seen at all.

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