This officially turned out to be our best ride of the summer. We rode to Ashburton on a glorious sunny morning and tackled Ausewell Hill with enthusiasm. Callum O’B got faster as he went up and it was a great feeling when he actually reached Cold East Cross with the rest of us. Just for a change this notoriously chilly cross roads was warm and very pleasant.

Jack had been really looking forward to visiting Bonehill again, a destination that had always been his favourite ride with the club. It was so good there today that we ended up spending 25 minutes there: everyone really enjoyed it and Callum O’B wanted us to visit again on another ride soon!

We took the track to Natsworthy and then followed the road down to Widecombe where we had a very enjoyable café stop in The Green restaurant: the milk shakes were nice, but not as good as the ones Michael makes at Crofters, even though they used the same Crusha syrup. We met ex-member Luke Fursdon in the car park, now running 15 acres of his parents’ farm and a b&b.

On the steep downhill into Ponsworthy Michael’s front brake cable snapped and had to be replaced. He was pleased to see that Ash and Jack were coming back up the hill to see where he was this time, an improvement on a recent ride to Staverton. We continued down the lane through Leusdon, made an adjustment to Callum O’Bs brakes and then rode along the grassy riverside at Spitchwick.

When Michael checked his pannier for his blue Aerobie Superdisc Ultra (Frisbee) it wasn’t there. He assumed he had left it at home, but in reality he had failed to pack it away after we used it at Spitchwick on Friday evening. If only he had realised he could have initiated a major search for it. Still, Spitchwick was very busy, so it was likely it had already been taken by someone.

Ash and Jack rode the Slalom on the way home, bringing us back to Buckfastleigh by 4.30. There was time for games until 5.15.