This was an unusual ride-out for several reasons. The Chapter had organised two rides over the weekend to the Ace Cafe and their Harley-Davidson 105^th Anniversary day. One left on the Saturday, stayed overnight at the Travelodge, and returned on Sunday, whilst the second travelled there and back on the Sunday. As it happened, Yvonne, Andy and I were spending a few days with Sonya, our daughter, and her partner Mike in Amesbury, Wiltshire. Andy had a ticket for the Reading Festival (Metallica were headlining on the Sunday), and Yvonne was quite happy to stay at home, so Sonya took the opportunity to ride pillion with me. As a result, we did not accompany either of the rides, but made our own way to the Ace Cafe via the A303, M3, M25, M40, A40 and North Circular, a distance of about 80 miles. Our first stop was for petrol at the Sommerfield Services in Amesbury (just of the A303). As soon as I lifted the nozzle a metallic voice said:

‘Would the customer at pump 4 please remove his helmet?’

This was me in my normal open-faced helmet! Fortunately, I was not too low on fuel, so I returned the nozzle, we got on the bike and left, showing the attendant exactly what I thought of him and Sommerfield’s stupid discriminatory rule. As it so happened, the following week there was a letter in the MCN from someone else who had had the same problem at another Sommerfield garage.

Bikers unite and boycott Sommerfield until they change their pathetic ways!!!!

Moan over, now back to the story. As we had made an early start, we arrived at the Ace when it was quite and easy to park. After a drink and a look around the shop (patch bought for Andy), the overnighters from the Chapter started to arrive, and were rather surprised to see us there. A pleasant time was spent chatting and looking at the bikes. For some reason, I got talked into joining the rest of the Chapter on the first part of their return journey, a ride to the Stratstone H-D shop in Walthamstow.

Unfortunately, no sooner had we left when the Sunday group arrived, so we never actually met! Considering it was London, the ride to the H-D shop was not too bad. We made good time and the sun kept trying to break from behind the dark clouds. The shop was OK, but there was nothing to interest me, so with no Yvonne, I didn’t spend any money!!

On leaving, we followed everyone back to the M25 and then made our own way back to the M3 and Amesbury. It was a good day out, with Sonya really enjoying the ride as she does not get many chances since she left the family home.

Whilst Mom and Dad were at the 105th Anniversary Harley Davidson Rally in Minehead, I was competing in England’s National Road Rally with my ex boss Bob, who rides a Triumph Bonneville.  I left on Friday evening to cover the 180 miles from Lincolnshire to Bob’s house, where I was staying overnight.  I’m sorry, but there are no pictures – we had nowhere near enough time for that!

The rally is described as a navigational scatter rally because the contestants all choose their own course having only a common final destination.  It works like this:

Controls or checkpoints are established across the country manned by volunteers from local clubs.  The controls are open for an agreed period from the official start at 2pm on Saturday until varying times on Sunday morning with the final control remaining open until the closing time of 10am Sunday.

Each entrant chooses his/her starting control and then visits a number of other controls with the aim of covering as many “official miles” as possible while ensuring arrival at the final control no later than 10am.  “Official miles” are the distances published by the organisers between each of the controls.  They are not accurate real world distances but approximations and rounded to 5 mile increments.  The controls have to be visited in sequence according to a control matrix published by the organisers showing permitted links between controls and the official miles of each link.  The maximum possible mileage is 540.

Bob and I chose to start from the “Alton” control followed by the “Winchester” control.  This is an excellent point at which to explain about the official miles/actual miles dichotomy.  The official mileage between these two is 25 but, as the “Alton” control was located the other side of Farnham and the “Winchester” control was in Eastleigh, the actual mileage was 38.

The weather as we left the first control was just fine: 18C, sunny but not too bright, not raining, no wind.  Once on the open A31 a headwind made life a little bumpy and it got worse once we joined the even more open M3.  Fortunately the return trip up the motorway and on the A34 to Newbury and beyond was made much more pleasant by the steady tailwind.  Progress was steady and uneventful up as far as Abingdon but then we started getting signs of things to come: route planning and summer weather - the rain started here.

On the route planning front Bob had made great use of Google maps while I had employed Microsoft Autoroute.  Fine tools both but sometimes things which are blindingly obvious sitting in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee and an array of highly detailed maps & satellite images aren’t quite so obvious on a crowded wet road with only a few tank bag notes and riding against the clock.

Lesson #1 - simplify the route by all means but don’t simplify the notes!

We arrived at the Burford control (in Carterton) a little behind schedule and decided it was time we took on food and water (cheeseburgers and fine, fine, coffee) then continued up the A40 to Andoversford.  (Where exactly?  Who’s ever heard of that then?)

The trip on to Worcester was uneventful but wet.  The rain was really starting to dominate now.  As Bob handed in his card for marking he noticed that it was now wet!  It was alright, however, as it was not his tank bag leaking - just that by walking indoors with the card in his hand, a river of water cascaded down the outside of his jacket sleeve.

Lesson #2 - waterproofs carry a lot of water, especially if pocket flaps aren’t closed!
By the time we reached Stratford-upon-Avon, and located the actual control itself, we were starting to feel the cold.  The temperature must have dropped to no more than about 12C by then and it was definitely time to add more layers.  The friendly bunch running the control had provided boiled sweets for the riders and the sugar hit was very welcome.

Lesson #3 - it gets cold riding at night, wear more layers!

And so to the National Motorcycle Museum at Meriden.  According to our schedule we should have arrived there at 9:10pm.  It was nearer 10:30 when we arrived; refer to Lesson #1 above.  The museum itself was closed obviously but the control was comprised of two tents pitched in the grounds with a good supply of hot drinks, biscuits and, most importantly, towels.  Bob used the towel to dry his hands before taking up my offer of a dry spare pair of gloves (having left his spare pair at home).

Lesson #4 - leather gloves aren’t waterproof, have a spare pair!
I’m going to draw a veil over the details of the trip to Cannock, 25 official miles away, as the carefully prepared route directions were set aside in favour of a remembered shortcut to the well established transport cafe at Cannock.  The overview is: 82 actual miles and four hours behind schedule.  Fortunately, although a bit miffed at first, we saw the funny side and treated it as the comic farce of the century!

Time to review our options!

All our efforts would be wasted if we failed to get to Bletchley by 10am (and some controls on our list would be closing from 6:30 onwards).  The planned schedule was for us to arrive at Bletchley at 8am, leaving an error margin of 2 hours.  We were now 4 hours behind, not 2, so we decided to omit the Whitchurch control and ride straight to Stoke-on-Trent.  This would reduce our official mileage from 540 to 510, but it was still enough to score gold. Going straight up the M6 to Stoke meant that we were only 3 hours behind when checking in.

At Darley Moor racetrack near Ashbourne we were approached by a rider seeking chain lube - some people take their maintenance schedules very seriously indeed!  Still 3 hours behind, oh dear.

At Kegworth, the 3 hours was stretching, serious effort would now be essential.  We decided to go as quickly as we could to Bilsthorpe straight up the M1 then review options.  Unfortunately, the combination of road works, complete with lane closures, a 50mph limit, and rider fatigue meant that we sailed past J27 and had to go to the next junction and ride south again, arriving so far behind that drastic surgery was now needed.  Cutting another control would mean dropping below the gold threshold into silver. We decided to cut two as we’d still manage silver with the reduced mileage, so Gainsborough and Lincoln were both consigned to the bin.

On the ride down to Grantham Bob was puzzled by the fact that, although the sun had risen now and the rain had stopped, he felt colder than at any time during the night.  On arrival, he realised that this was because he had failed to button up his jacket, or even pull the zip to the top.

Lesson #5 - motorcycle jackets only do their job properly if they’re done up!
In conversation with our hosts at the control I remarked, with a thoroughly dejected tone, that “we’re only going to get silver”

Lesson #6 - riding all night getting tired/cold/wet and/or hungry can warp your sense of perspective!

We were the last riders to check in at Leicester before the control closed at 8:10. Bob made a quick dash for a pee and came back to find me in philosophical mood having realised that, taking the mileage down to Bletchley into account, we already had enough miles to score silver, so we could bypass our last planned control and ride straight down the M1 at a leisurely pace.  What a relief, so Bob accepted the offer of a free cup of coffee while we reviewed the ride so far … until … Bob remembered the rules and, having checked the matrix, realised we couldn’t ride straight to Bletchley, we HAD to go via Dunchurch - which closed at 9 o’clock!

We left the Fosse Riders’ club at full gallop and cut our way through the traffic out to the M69 with brutal efficiency. This was serious riding now, no more time for wrong turns, comfort braking, slowing for bends, feeling tired or any other weaknesses.  By Dunchurch we’d gained a few minutes which were promptly absorbed (and then some) by the need to refuel - 6 mile diversion - before joining the M45 for a desperate 35 mile dash to J14.

Milton Keynes - surrounds Bletchley for those of you unfamiliar with the geography - was designed by, and is maintained by, a particularly malicious bunch of highway engineers.  We were off the motorway by 9:45, but both of us could increasingly sense the glittering prize slipping out of our grasp by the sheer time soaking complexity of navigating through the maze that is Milton Keynes!

At last, and not a moment too soon, we found the entrance to the hallowed estate, drove in and stopped, right there on the entrance drive - no time for neat parking - grabbed our control cards and dashed in to the control desk bang on ten o’clock!  Having calmed down a little, adrenaline is a very powerful drug, we returned to our bikes, still sitting there on the driveway, to find we had left the keys in the ignitions.  Now we realised that we were both starving, so we made our way over to the canteen for breakfast.

Looking around we could take a little stock of the rally as a whole:

Bikes of all sizes, makes and vintages: Velocettes, BSAs, Triumphs, BMWs, Harley-Davidsons, Francis-Barnets, Royal Enfields, Hondas, Kawasakis, Yamahas, you name it. Many were being ridden two-up, including a step-thru Honda C90, which achieved gold!

Canteen and car park full of tired but happy, excited even, bikers, many far too old and respectable to still be messing around with motorcycles, most still wearing their waterproofs ready for the ride home.

Official miles: 455 (silver) - actual miles: 915 including the rides from and to home!

Knackered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

17^th May and it was off to the BMF show at Peterborough. This year, it was Andy wanting to buy things, but me paying – no change there then! To begin with, we had to pick up Nobby, (Andy’s Suzuki), from Martin’s garage, as it had been in for a few jobs and a MOT. As I had taken him over on the Kawasaki, we decided to carry on by using the two old bikes for this trip. A steady ride at 70 mph, (keeping to the speed limit of course), saw us arrive just in time for a heavy rain shower. Riding round the showground to the parking areas, I could see that cars were in the field we used last year. I stopped one of the stewards and asked where the bikes were parking, only to be told ‘Straight on’. Out came the Anglo Saxon vocabulary, whilst questioning why, at a bike show, it is the bikes that are put the furthest away from the entrance – remember Donington Park last year! Now give this guy a round of applause for using some common sense. About 100 meters ahead there were a couple of bikes, with cars, on a hard standing area.

‘Go and park by them. You will be alright there because it is where we are parking’.

What a star!! It was only 30 meters from the entrance. He must be a biker!!

Once in, Andy was off to see what he could find. Initially, he was after a leather waistcoat for his Chapter patches. He got one for £20!! Next, he saw a place making number plates. He fancied a black and silver one to match the Nightster. It looks good, and at £15, a deal was done. Finally, he bought a leather bike jacket. It is a good job the ‘Kwak’ has panniers and a top box!!

As always, it was a nice way to spend a few hours!! When’s the Tail End Show?

First day of December and we are still out and about on our motorcycles! Andy (SV650S) and I (Roadking) were off to the Motorcycle show at the NEC, Birmingham. We were joined by Neil, (Heritage), and newcomers Jess and Ryan, who, having just passed their motorcycle tests, were coming as pillion passengers on the back of the Harleys.

The weather was fantastic, being cold but sunny. We made excellent time as far as exit 9 on the M42 when the forecast congestion kicked in. Filtering was the name of the game, so we were soon parking up in the bike park, secure (wrist and bike bands), under cover and close to the main entrance. Well done NEC! A million times more considerate than anything Donington does for bikers!! If ever proof was needed to show the advantage of bikes over cars, this was it. A trader later told me it had taken him over 2 hours to get in!!

Into the show and the first stand we arrived at was Harley Davidson (no surprise there then!) We had our first look at the new XR 1200 Sportster and the two versions of the Rocker. We like the look of both, but as single seaters as there is no way Yvonne would contemplate that pull-out rear seat on the Rocker C. At just over £9,100 the Fat Bob also looks good value for money. Moving on, we checked out the new Buell, before visiting the other manufacturer’s stands, including the big four, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda. We saw race bikes from Rossi, Haga, Pedrosa and Toseland, and many super custom bikes of all shapes, sizes and ages. There were stalls for everything you could wish for, riding gear, accessories and customising ‘bits’. There were many club stands, and here was the one disappointment. The HOG stand was awful! It was tiny and simply had patches as examples over the walls. The guy sat there looked bored out of his mind. It was little wonder that nobody visited, although other club stands were buzzing! If that had been in the States, they would have had special attendance pins and all kinds of things going on. What a missed opportunity!!!!!

In the end, I bought a pair of JTS textile trousers from Infinity, (just what I was after and failed to get at the BMF show), Andy bought a Fuel exhaust, Neil bought a Shoei helmet and Jess and Ryan will have a much better idea of the sort of bikes they would like to own in the future.

After an uneventful ride home, we arrived tired but pleased with an excellent day out.

All the time in we were in Germany I have wanted to do a BMF rally, and even when we came back home, something always seemed to come up to stop us going.  So it was great to be off to Peterborough on Saturday 15^th September.

It was Andy and I, as usual, but this time we also had Tom with us.  Now Tom’s a newcomer to motorcycling, having only passed his test, and bought his first bike, the week before!  Now being an ‘old git’, compared to Andy, he was able to do a direct access, which enabled him to buy a R6.  So, 0830 hrs saw us leave, Tom on his R6, Andy on his SV650S and me on the Roadking.  Taking the A1, it was quick and easy to get to the East of England Showground in Peterborough.

There were lots of stalls selling everything you could think of, and more.  We had a bacon butty and drink first, then went and watched the old-timer speedway.  This was excellent!  The oldest rider was 80, and bikes ranged from 1920s and 30s Rudge Whitworths to 50s and 60s JAPs, before getting on to the Jawas.  With all the old bibs from teams that went out of action many years ago (New Cross, Wimbledon, Wembley, Rayleigh, etc.), it brought back a lot of good memories, as I used to do a bit of riding in the early 70s.

Then it was on to the stalls.  We went in and out of them all, sometimes quickly and sometimes not so quickly.  The weather was glorious, so the heat slowed us down.  With a Fanta at £1.50, we also drank slowly.  The stalls were all round the stadium.  Towards the end we found the area where all the clubs were situated.  We spoke to the Bandit and SV club (Andy) and the H-D Riders Club of GB (me).  Nearly back where we began, we found a guy doing airbrush pictures on leather.  As I had had no luck with finding any of the things I was prepared to buy, I had my name done on the back of my bike jacket.  As I had to leave the jacket, I went and watched the short track racing (British Championship) while Andy and Tom went to buy things they had seen on our travels.  When they returned, Andy had a new leather jacket and Tom had a jacket AND boots.

A nice ride home rounded off an excellent day.  We will definitely do it again!

On the 18^th June, Andy and I used the old Kawasaki GT550 to ride into Lincoln and park up at Webb’s Motorcycle dealership. This was where Andy had booked our trip to the Triumph factory in Hinckley.

We travelled by coach, stopping just outside Hinckley, for a pub lunch. It was then only a ten minute drive to the factory. Having received our visitor’s badges at the gatehouse, we were escorted to the reception area, to be met by our guide for the tour.

The first part of the tour was in a small lecture room where we were firstly given coffee / tea and a small pin badge, before being shown a slide show and told a brief history of the manufacture of Triumph motorcycles. They started in 1902, so they are one year older than Harley Davidson. In many ways their paths are similar; expansion and decline, before redeveloping into a stronger organisation. They are considered a small manufacturer, but are now producing 45,000 machines a year. This should expand further as they increase the number of models they produce to 20 in the near future. At the end of the show there was an opportunity to ask questions. I asked if they had a museum as I was interested to know if they had examples of the Triumphs I used to ride in the 1960s. The answer was no, because they give any bikes to the National Museum in Solihull, and that is close to the factory. I feel they have this completely wrong, as it should be ‘in house’, like Harley.

It was then “Please collect your safety glasses and ear defenders” and we were off to the factory floor. They produce some parts themselves from castings, and assemble engines separately, before putting the bikes together. The assembly line kept moving slowly, so the person had time to do their job by walking over a short distance before it passed into the next person’s space. Also, the order of the models being assembled was mixed, e.g. a Tiger could be followed by a Sprint. It was interesting to note that both of these operations differ to the way H-D carries out their assembly, as they produce a batch of one model and then change to a different model, and they stop their assembly line at each person, so requiring no slow walking.

Towards the end of the tour we were able to see the new Street Triple in its different colours. These machines have not been seen yet, and have been produced for bike shows and press viewings.

Finally we were taken to the shop so that purchases of T-shirts etc could be made. I could not believe they had items out of stock! That would never happen with H-D. Excellent tour, great bikes, but still work to be done on the PR!!

Saturday the 2^nd June was sunny as Andy and I set off on the Roadking for Brantingham, north of the River Humber, and just west of Hull. This was to be our overnight base for the ‘HOG on the Humber’ run the next day, organised by the Aire Valley Chapter.

We decided not to use the Humber Bridge, so the trip took us north of Lincoln on the A15, before using the M180, M18 and M62 to quickly circle round the Humber. The camp site was at the Hull Ionians Rugby Club, so the facilities were excellent. Tent up and it was time to hit the clubhouse. There were a range of alcoholic beverages on offer, (well it was a rugby club), together with a selection of hot meals for a very reasonable £4 a head. Suitably refreshed, we awaited the evening entertainment. This turned out to be a rock group called the Penetrators. These ‘old guys’ knew how to play and were a great way to pass the evening, together with the roast pig!!

Sunday was again sunny as we waited for many more bikers to appear for the ride-out to the bridge. At 1100 hrs we set off for a gentle run round South Yorkshire before arriving at the car park on the north side of the bridge. Here we were met by even more bikers so that the first section of the car park was completely filled with bikes. After a short break, the bridge was closed to traffic, and we were off. Over the bridge and we looped round to return, waving to those still heading in the other direction.

It was a well organised event and raised a lot of cash for charity. It is well recommended.

Saturday the 26^th May saw Andy and I heading back to Donington Park for the first attempt at holding a new motorcycle festival – Bikefest UK. The weather was good so we were in high spirits on the ride down. However, as usual with Donington administration, bikers get the wrong end of the deal. We parked in the area designated for bikes and had to walk some way before we got to the entrance gate, passing the car parking areas on the way!!

Inside there were the usual stalls for bikes and accessories, although for such a high profile event, I have to say I was disappointed at the number and range of offerings on display. I’ve seen better at regional bike events in Germany. At least it saved me being tempted to buy anything, even an event T-shirt, as they didn’t have any!! (I didn’t see any around the Craner curves at the WSB meeting either). Opportunities missed or what!

Positive points were watching the everyday bikers doing their stuff on track. We had contemplated having a go but our riding equipment was not considered good enough. In a way I’m glad, as watching them come round the Melbourne loop, I wondered what I would have looked like on the Roadking!! Good on all of those who had a go, as it was very entertaining for the rest of us. In addition, we had the Rizla Suzuki superbike boys doing a demonstration test day. Seeing Chris Walker and Carl Crutchlow riding gave you a clear understanding of the difference between the professionals and the amateurs.

Finally, there was the KillSpills protest ride terminating on track. The Donington part started forming on the central area of the track behind the inner stand on the start and finish straight. We wanted to take part, but by the time we got there, we didn’t have enough time to go all the way back for the bikes. But I did buy a 617 Ride T-shirt. It was called the 617 Ride this year because that was the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by diesel spills between 2000 and 2005. So we stayed and watched the 255 riders arrive from London (after being to Downing St). They had a short rest and were then joined by the 263 Donington riders for a lap of the track.

In summary, it was a mixed day with good and disappointing points. As a national event, it has to be bigger and broader in it’s outlook. Maybe it was because it was the first time? I suppose we will have to go next year to see if it has improved.

0800 hours on 12^th May saw Andy and I heading for Castle Caereinion, near Welshpool, to start the Welsh National Rally. We were going into the ‘unknown’ as we had never done a rally like this before, having to plan your own route and collect answers to questions at unmanned places throughout Wales. We planned to go for Gold, which meant visiting 3 manned stations and 12 unmanned places. In the end, due to a) taking so long over finding the first unmanned place, and b) not having realised that all manned stations close at 1800 hours, we settled for the Silver (2 manned and 8 unmanned).

Our route took us north from Castle Caereinion via Llangollen and the Horse Shoe Pass to Abergele, west past Llandudno and Colwyn Bay, south and southwest to Bala Lake and Penegoes, east to Newtown and southeast almost to Knighton, before finally turning north back to Castle Caereinion.

We covered 320 miles on the rally, and 100 miles getting there and back from Codsall, where we were staying overnight, for a days riding of 420 miles. We both enjoyed the experience, and it gave Andy a good chance to get to know his new Suzuki. We will do something like this again in the future.