Everyone has saved their pennies for this rather expensive night out at Plymouth. An hour-long game ended with Callum fluking second place with 112, closely followed by Neil, Ash, Zac and Ryan. There was time to call in to Tesco on the way home for those who wanted some bargain snacks.

A powerful headwind made the ascent of Dean Hill quite an ordeal. By the time we reached the top Michael had to offer incentives to persuade the majority to take any route home other than the shortest! In the end we took the right turn up towards Skerraton, stopping at the stream near the top for a chocolate break where we discovered that huddling behind the stone wall shielded us from the worst of the wind. We headed home via Nurston, pushed down the hill with a welcome tailwind.

Highlight of our games evening was an epic Lord of the Rings battle where Brodie, Neil and Michael challenged Ash, Callum and Zac. The former team were victorious on this occasion, and Brodie learned many new tricks of the game.

Heavy overnight rain was forecast to continue all morning, so we played computer games until midday and then went to Ivybridge for some challenging games of badminton.

Everyone played their own choice of games during this evening's enjoyable social. To round off the evening we visited Tesco at Lee Mill during the final hour: Brodie couldn't at first see the point in going there if he didn't need to buy anything, but he soon joined in with the spirit of the evening in which everyone found something interesting that was reduced or otherwise excellently priced.

We were very pleased to welcome our two new members, Callum and Connor on a dull but dry morning. The plan was to run a fairly easy morning ride that included a few fun tracks, and after toying with the idea of Landscove we eventually settled on Colston Road, a popular route for new riders. We may good progress to the Dartington cycle path, but then Michael's planned route through Staverton hit some resistance from our regular members who quite rightly pointed out that we went there quite recently. After some discussion we decided to take the Rattery road home, stopping at the footpath on the left for some Frisbee and rocket fun.

When our new riders were fully rested we continued up the long climb to Rattery sawmills - it has to be said that Callum was very relieved to finally reach the top! Compensation came in the form of the downhill from Pennywell Farm, made all the more enjoyable by the appearance of the winter sun. Congratulations to both our newcomers, who performed really well on a harder-than-planned ride. We'll keep it easier for Callum's next ride.

Tonight, after smelling the pizza many times on our visits to Barbican Leisure Centre, we finally managed to organise a social to Pizza Hut. We played pool while waiting for a table for seven, which finally became available at 8.20. There was only really time for a single course: Zac and Callum chose pizza but everyone else chose desserts as they had already had some food at home. Callum O'Brien managed to visit the ice-cream factory four times before admitting he wouldn't quite make his planned twenty visits! We topped off a very enjoyable evening with a quick visit to Tesco at Lee Mill.

The forecast of heavy showers merging together for mid-morning turned out to be a little late, as the showers had started by 10.15. We waited for a dry spell, determined to get out for at least a short ride, and finally headed out for Buckfast at around 10.50. Everyone except Brodie voted to return home rather than visit the tracks in Hembury Woods, no doubt discouraged by the ominous rain-bearing clouds that were rolling towards us from Dartmoor. The rain arrived within a few minutes, leaving us nicely wetted for the games social that followed.

Everyone enjoyed this evening's games evening, especially the second half when we began trials of a new network game.

Spring is coming, and our members are turning out in ever greater numbers. Eight of us set off on a chilly morning for a detailed exploration of Hembury Woods. Callum O'B, out for only his second ride, was feeling the pain from a recent leg injury by the time we had ridden through Buckfast, so we abandoned plans for a detour through Michelcombe and set about tackling the main hill through Hembury.

From the top we took the path through to the fort, where Ashley was particularly disappointed to find that logs had been placed strategically to prevent cyclists riding down the steep slope. Our devious route took us through to one of the glades at the far end of the woods, where chocolate was enjoyed by the hungry ones and Ashley and Gavin vied to see who could throw the rocket the farthest (Gavin one by a few metres).

On the rough descent to the river Conner B, who had not done an off-road ride with us before, could be heard shouting "I . .don't .. want .. to ... die .. yet ..", so he was clearly enjoying the fun. Callum F's fun came to an abrupt halt however when he picked up a pinch puncture on a particularly rocky section of the track. A spare tube ensured a speedy repair, and we concluded our ride with the riverside track back to the car park, where Zac finally met up with us at 12.30.