With excellent weather encouraging us and several new bikes in the group we decided to ride to Fermoys for the first ride of 2006. We got as far as Staverton before Josh's new bike developed a problem with the bottom bracket that couldn't be fixed on the road. Josh was understandably disappointed that his new bike had failed after just a week, and sadly he had to wait to be collected by his father.

The rest of the group continued through Torbryan to Ipplepen where the garden centre was crowded with shoppers eager to buy up the hugely discounted Christmas gifts. After we had enjoyed some excellent refreshments Dennis and Kane were still ready for more, so we extended the ride by continuing on to Denbury and then investigating the prison there - a path through the grounds gave us all a good view of the layout of the complex which turned out to be much larger than any of us had imagined!

Our final route home took us through Woodland and Landscove. Many congratulations to both our younger riders who amazed us all with their high speed and enthusiasm! It looks like we'll be able to ride longer and farther on future rides!

As a reward we organised a social trip to Plymouth to watch the new Narnia film - and of course Josh was allowed to come!