Devon TRF Group Forum

Having responded to Newbie Tom's request for a ride out from Exeter but finding him busy this weekend, and with no takers for my "Culm to Dart" mystery tour, I was lucky to hitch a morning out with Chairman Steve's newbies and others run around the Exmouth area. A perfect opportunity to have a run out on the DR having shod it with a new Army Special Mitas rear tyre, wrestled on in my lunchtime 'working from home' on Friday. I took the opportunity to add a rim lock to the rear wheel to allow me to run less pressure, hoping the heavy duty tube will prevent compression punctures. But having suffered horribly on high pressure knackered tyres up in North Devon a couple of weeks ago, I was determined to find myself some grip! Combined with lowering gearing, the bike is slowly evolving into a pukka Devon-proof green laner. So a dull but mercifully dry Saturday morning greeted my puffy man-flu'ed eyes jacked up on Day Nurse as I trundled down through Broadclyst, Exeter and off towards Exmouth. The gearing is noticeably lower now, the engine buzzing away at 6,000 rpm pulling 50 mph ish.

Meeting at a Tesco on the outskirts of Exmouth I supped on a reviving cappuccino as Steve on his WR400, Debbie on a WR250, Mark 'Harty' sporting his twin tanked, Sahara-proof KTM, Chris on a corpulent Kwacker KLR650 and Mark 'Dobbo' on his TTR 250 amassed and were ready to roll at a prompt 9.15am. What with the Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Equestrian Events Organiser present, it was a very DTRF officer 'heavy' ride out, a collection of such lofty personnel would certainly not be allowed to travel together on say Air Force One! One strategically driven articulated lorry on the wrong side of the road could have left the club in crisis  JJ.

Anyway, under an ashen sky and a hint of spittle in the air we headed towards East Budleigh Common, nice easy, lovely sandy trail down to the reservoir for a group piccie. We traversed trail to trail across towards Otterton and then down into Ladram Bay. I keep meaning to stop there and have a decent look at the 'stacks' standing out in the bay, but today we were on a mission to cram in as many lanes in a relatively short time, so no shilly shallying.

Something I've noticed since moving back down here is that with every trip out, however innocuous it seems, always seems to end up in some sort of drama. Well when out riding last time, weirdly a squirrel landed in my lap from an overhanging tree, I'm not sure who was the most surprised me or my new rodent friend, any it scarpered PDQ. However, today, Chris took it upon himself to bag a squirrel for himself, by launching the rather bulky KLR up a lane-side tree! Unsurprisingly, gravity had something to say on the matter and he baled big time, destroying his number plate, indicator and clutch lever. So 10 minutes later he and the remnants of the 'team' exited the lane down in the holiday park. Luckily, the immense bag of crap I carry on the back of my bike actually contained a spare lever for my Serow which was a perfect replacement, 5 minutes spannering and we were back on our way. We meandered across a number of other lanes in the exotically named North Star area, culminating riding up to the viewpoint looking east to Sidmouth. Here Harty regaled us with the story of the rider on one of his runs who ripped his elbow apart falling on the slippery roots, criss-crossing the lane near its end. The same roots Harty had also done his knees on previously. Hence we were all very circumspect riding that section, however, it was dry so nothing too testing.

He headed over to Collaton Raleigh, Newton Poppleford, Venn Ottery and Tipton lanes, a high density of easy going longish runs allowing us to run at a pleasant pace with only the odd horse rider or walker to be mindful of. Somewhere near Metcombe may be there was a lovely little ford, not deep but a decent run and Steve sent me ahead to grab a bit of video of the gang coming through, Steve made it look easy, Mark had a bit of a wobble, then Jane made it look easy right up to the very end when apparently distracted by something moving in the water, a trout possibly, obviously having tea in mind, made a desperate grab for it. Fully immersing herself and with a few rather un-ladylike words she came up empty handed, I must admit, the stream did not look sufficiently large to support edible trout, but I admired her commitment. It was only later I found out that as a stickler for personal hygiene after working up a sweat she always insists on a bath half way round a ride.....J Still being a callous sod, I've recorded it on video for your entertainment! Thankfully no harm done and the bike all clean and shiny we set off arcing back towards Exmouth taking in more hard bottomed, mostly sandy lanes with one muddy section captured on video. The final lane taken as a group was one I tried to find one evening in the summer but failed, and I could see why - it is barely footpath width, a single rut UCR running parallel to the B3180. It was a lovely long run through gorse and heath, the DR's pegs just gliding over the top of the rut. Being used to rutty lanes in the south east, I was reasonably un-fazed but Chris struggled being lower to the ground, and Jane exited the lane noting its 'technicality' shall we say, or words to that effect. We all thanked Steve for a very entertaining morning and went out merry way from there.

Harty kindly, led me through the "Crealy Bike Wash" which I've not been through before and was fun, Mark slamming into a boulder, but held it together, which was fine as I did not have the camera ready anyway... Finally on the way back to Cullompton we rode down another lane I've not ridden before just north of Pinhoe, which Mark delighted in telling me took some Hertfordshire TRF folk over half an hour to get up through claggy Devon mud. Riding down was not much easier, following close behind, Mark wedged the Katoom and gave it a good handful, ducking to one side I missed the worst of the roosting... A big heave released it from a submerged rock and the newly shod DR breezed through - new tyres, gotta love them. So home to power wash me and the bike and all in time for a late lunch - kerchinggg!      

Video here:

Sean