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Lorn's Leading Ladies.
Words by Lorna "XTC" Towers, pictures by Ben "Slick" Gilbert
Ben "Slick" Gilbert asked if we could lead a run including his partner Anna who has recently bought a bike and taken her CBT. A plan was hatched for me to lead a novice-friendly ladies run (eek, my first time as run leader!). The runners were to include myself, Anna, Jules, Lynne, and Jackie. Unfortunately Jules had to cancel at the last minute after introducing a very sharp knife to her finger - ouch, hope it heals quickly! Several of the ladies had decided to accessorise by bringing their husbands/partners with them.
Dave was being an honoury woman for the day so accessorised by bringing Andy! Actually the plan had been for the chaps to head off on their own but with Jules missing in action her partner Clayton was also missing so the boys came along with us.
We started from our house and after a quick coffee started with a couple of nice gentle lanes, 202-188, 189, 191, then Anna and Ben came back along 191 while the rest of us came up 190 and met again at the end of 189. We quickly swapped badger sightings (Devon TRF speak for toppling over!) and carried on back along 188 to the very slippy 202 where more wildlife was spotted, then along 203 for a quick breather. It just started to spot with rain here, which we saw on and off throughout the morning. Back up 202 and 203 and off to my old boggy lane of 169, although the worst bits have been filled in now. At the end of 168 we stopped and briefly enjoyed the view of the estuary while a skip lorry backed along the length of the lane after making a wrong turn.
We carried on to 145 where all the ladies sensibly avoided the tree hanging out of the hedge blocking the lane but Andy was distracted, possibly by the bevy of lovely ladies in front of him, and hit the branch and had a personal close-up of the slippery surface of the lane. We carried on to the loop of 150 which Anna sensibly waited at the end of as it was very slippery today. We then went on to 134 and 339 where several of us decided to collect some foliage to decorate our houses for Christmas, someone had trimmed back the lane but had left the debris right in the middle of the track! From here we carried on into Totnes were we had a scheduled toilet break (not something the boys seem to have to worry about on their runs) and a coffee and pasty. Here we bumped into "Landyman" (Devon TRF member) and his crew who stopped to say hi. Andy had to leave us here as he had only got a morning pass.
From Totnes we headed out to 118, 115, 114, 117, 323, 113, 111 and 110. Anna then decided she was a little warm and decided to have a little swim on 100. Whilst the guys helped her restart the bike and generally took piccies we were passed by a couple of KTMs and shortly after by (Devon TRF Members) Brownie, Weka and the gang. Captain Paul (Devon TRF Member) confided in me later that he had taken a quick trip up and down Tally Ho and had been held up! We carried on through 102 then took and executive decision to change the route as the rain was coming in and Anna was very wet. Captain Paul fancied a quick run up to the castle, I wasn't sure of the route there having only been twice myself so he gallantly took over leading. Taking us down 103, then after a bit of a wait at the next junction we turned round to discover Anna having a minor mechanical problem which was soon fixed, it was then decided that the castle was perhaps a little optimistic as the rain was coming down quite hard and with the ground already so wet and slippery the climb up the grassy track would be quite tricky. We changed route and headed down 103 and onto the start of 153 where I once again took over the lead for the lovely descent through this lane, from there we made a break for home, some dry clothes and a hot drink.
I really enjoyed my first time at leading, although it was a little nerve wracking keeping an eye on everyone, and I'm not sure I could have done it if I didn't already have a good idea of the route.
Stats for the day (5th Dec.):
4 Ladies
1 cross-dresser
25 Lanes
41 Miles
5 Hrs
A couple of minor mecahnicals
I hope everyone had as much fun as I did, and well done to Anna for doing so well, shame that you wouldn't have seen Ben's big wobble being in front of him, apparently it was quite something. Look forward to riding with you all again soon.
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