Tao was late today, arriving at 10.40 instead of the usual 10.15, so we decided to do a local ride rather than the originally-proposed car-assisted ride to Exeter. Tao was pushing for something harder and full day even though Lawrence and Callum O’B probably weren’t fit enough for that, so we compromised by heading for Totnes with the option of going a little further if everyone was up for it.

We rode out along Colston road, delayed for a few minutes when Callum’s chain broke.
Then at Dartington, on the cycle path near the water wheel, Jerry’s tyre went flat: apparently he had broken off the end of his Presta valve earlier when pumping it with Michael’s pump but hadn’t mentioned this fact to Michael. To make matters worse his rim wouldn’t take a Schroder valve, so we had to take Ash’s Presta tube out to replace Jerry’s and then put Ash’s spare into Ash’s wheel. This was all rather a waste of precious tine. There was some amusement when we noticed that the tube Jerry took out had sellotape covering a small hole – he blamed Jack for suggesting the idea!

The wind was really picking up now, but it was still generally bright and sunny with occasional cloudy spells. We went to Morrisons café which turned out to be amazingly cheap. Lawrence bought a full fry-up and ate everything except the mushrooms and tomatoes which he gave away to Jerry. Callum had a hot dog, the rest of us had drinks and cakes. It was good to get a Latte for less than £1.50!

Tao and Michael decided on the shorter route home, so after spending a little leisure time at Totnes Quayside we took a link track Tao knew from Bridgetown through Bourton to the Gatcombe Tracks. Unfortunately this included a huge climb which really discouraged Lawrence – he ended up walking most of it. He does have some problems with his bike though, and he liked the idea of Michael doing some repairs to keep it going until he gets his new bike.

Ash and Zac did jumps at the bottom of the track into Littlehempston, then we returned straight home via Staverton with Lawrence picking up a bit of speed as we got closer to home. When we got home at 3.15 Callum was being asked by his parents to return home for a trip to London. For some reason he didn’t want to go and preferred to enjoy the social at Crofters, but after some persuasion he agreed to go on the understanding he would get to see Tin Tin on Wednesday. The rest of the group watched the conclusion of Inception while Tao went home and returned with a delicious-looking Apple Crumble, made with apples picked from Michael’s trees.