What an excellent weekend!

[azekeil]

My weekend started on Friday when I went home from work early (to Bristol) because their internet access wasn't working, again. Not that I need it for my job or anything, or that I have better connectivity from home *sigh*.

Aaanyway, I picked up ev1ldonut from his house and made our way to kissycat1000's, who had been feeling ill. I made her promise to have an early night so we didn't feel ill over the weekend. Apparently I am to blame for it NOT happening that way because I handed out the beers shortly after arriving. I was just in the mood for a beer, okay?

Slightly concerned I hadn't actually planned a route, so arranged to meet with stuartl at the pub an hour early to thrash one out.

Saturday morning - kids off, clean, adjust and oil bike bits, wait for dylan and kittiewitch to arrive, forgot to pack the car, pack the car in a rush (shit, the tent!), watch kissycat1000 drive off with ev1ldonut, leaving her bag with her purse and phone safely.. in the house. Luckily I saw it and packed it.

The weather for the weekend held out as the weathermen promised it would - not too sunny but not raining made for perfect riding conditions :) I did check the projected weather myself to judge how accurate the forecast was likely to be by the proximity of other (bad) weather to the UK but it was pretty damn clear :)

A nice ride down the A40 from Cheltenham to Oxford. The pub is on the A40. I knew that the A40 becomes the M40 shortly before the pub, so I wanted to stay on the A40. However, it wasn't called that and I chickened out, deciding to go on the M40, as I knew the pub was at junction 7. The sign as I got on the M40 kindly told me I was at junction 6, so it should be the next junction, right? Wrong. We travelled for far too long, before seeing a sign for junction 8. I turned off and pulled up, before calling the pub (luckily I had the foresight to program the phone with the number beforehand). It turns out junction 7 is only available if you're going westbound! Gah! So, about turn, off at junction 7 and find the pub (after carefully riding past it the first time, just to be sure, you know). stuartl had just arrived. kissycat1000 and ev1ldonut beat us there too.

Some drinks, some had some food. markbanang arrived with florence90. The route was discussed and eventually instead of trying to do an impromptu route we decided to ride to a nearby bike show at Chinnor. stuartl does a good job of describing the show (amongst other things) in his post here. The atmosphere was great and we got to see a lot of interesting bikes, including a drag bike based around a harley engine which won the prize for the loudest bike. It didn't so much have exhausts as short.. pipes. I was a bit fearful when they wheeled out a two-battery starter motor to actually start the damn thing. I WANT one. As well as the 6.7 litre chevvy engined trike with wheels that would have put most tractors to shame. The low throbbing that machine gave out was orgasmic. I WANT one of those too ;)

We then arrived at a Harley shop which was having a big bash for some reason and got to see lots of lovely fat Harleys. I still reckon I ought to have a Harley/cruiser despite their impracticalities and crap handling. I've been working it out, I think I need three bikes - an old beaten up fast sports bike for racing, a tourer for every day and a fat harley with loads of chrome for town/cruising/relaxing. So, house with a double garage then? Like that's going to happen any time soon *sigh*.

For the actual ride after the show and the shop, we followed markbanang on a route he made up (as he knows the roads around there the best) which went well, but I did have to ask him to stick to the 30 limit in built up areas - my fault, I should have given him some guidelines before he started. The riding itself was fun, we all played sensibly and there were no breakdowns or mishaps so I consider it a success.

So, despite the lack of planning we had a fun day and saw lots of interesting things as well, which a pre-planned route might have been too rigid to take in. It kinda organised itself, all without my help too :) (okay, thanks stuartl and markbanang for basically sorting out the routes and florence90 for her local knowledge and finding the pub!)

Back to the pub via a supermarket for munchies and extra beer. On the way back from the supermarket we got confused because the lead and another rider who knew the way were in different lanes at the roundabout. Of course the lights went red leaving dylan and myself to guess which way they'd gone. I followed dylan who went what turned out to be the wrong way. Luckily I remembered how to get back to the pub and had dylan follow me as I followed the right signs to get there :)

We decided to set up tents and whatnot before the meal. The meal was great - good quality simple food cooked to perfection. The lovely landlord Tim and landlady Pamela took great pains to make sure everything was done properly (without being in our faces all the time) and showed us respect (that's rare, believe me!). They are top people and lovely, the pub is airy and spacious with a pool table and great food. They have live bands every Saturday and a blues night every Thursday (I believe). See my initial bike meet post for details. They have a field which they're in the process of clearing out, and are biker friendly. They're happy to have people (patrons) camp there free of charge too :). I thoroughly recommend them to anyone thinking about biking in the area.

The meal and long day made us all quite sleepy, so after sorting out the airbeds we had just one pint in the bar before all collapsing into our respective tents, or nearly. kissycat1000 mentions that in her post (amongst other things) here :).

Not much sleep was had - due to the music, not the fact that we were all 'swingers' and in the 'bonking tent' as the locals believed..! Oh, and kissycat1000 IS a squeaky toy, and we proved it *prod* *grin* ;)

I woke up early on the Sunday morning feeling pretty groggy and wiped out. Eventually we all surfaced and stuartl came back. We packed up the tents into the car and left the car at florence90's house while we went for another ride. dylan and kittiewitch left to go home, dylan didn't want to get back too late and wasn't as used to riding as the rest of us.

We went for another ride, this time with stuartl leading at least one part of the ride. He was very restrained.. until we got to a stretch of dual carriageway. I knew he was going to do it and I managed to just about keep up with him until we got to about 100mph when he started disappearing off into the distance. He reports he got to 140mph. I wasn't too far behind, touching 120mph before braking. Apparently his bike isn't quite right as he explains in his post, but mine certainly needs the carbs cleaning and balancing yet again. I will get around to sorting the tank out so I won't have to keep putting the embarassing rain cover on and getting the carbs cleaned *sigh*. Of course, not wanting it to sound like an excuse but I *did* have the heaviest load being the biggest bike; myself and ev1ldonut, although I know I was definitely the biggest problem in the equation *grin*.

Anyway, we got back to florence90's where we all went our separate ways. kissycat1000 took the car back to Cheltenham and I took ev1ldonut (with helmet donated by florence90!) back to Bristol via the scenic route (A420, M4, A350, A420 again) and had lots of fun on the way back, riding more confidently after the weekend of practise and ev1ldonut being an excellent pillion. ev1ldonut talks about that in his post here

After seeing aeia's post (and picture here) about her racing days and my experience taking Mat home where I raced a Porsche Boxter through Bristol (and won, of course) I think I want to do something like that, possibly at Castle Combe, with fiendster amongst others. I believe I can take it sensibly enough so I don't bin my bike (my only transport) but still have fun :)

Sorry to those who couldn't make it. Hopefully there'll be another one if the weather holds out into Autumn that you lot can all make. Other than that the plans all went off without a hitch and everyone had a great time I think :)

Comments

[serena-lesley.livejournal.com]

I'm not a bloody squeaky toy :P

Great ride though..... I had SO much fun. thank you for organising it. *kiss*

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

You mean taking you up on your suggestion to turn it into a bike weekend and enthuse enough that it was infectious to others who actually organised the finer points?

Sure :)

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

A great post, well done :)

Anyway, I just want to rephrase the bit about dylan leaving, it sounds like you think he's an inexperienced rider ;)To anyone who doesn't know Dylan he was just a bit tired after not having ridden for a year, he just left to recover a bit at home.

Anyway, yeah, I have the bike booked in on Friday to have the EXUP valve looked at, I'm hoping that they fix the problem and don't disconnect the diag sensor or something stupid. Given that I'm probably off to Dad's Friday night they'd better do a good job :S I'll have a courtesy bike, though, so I'll tell them in advance that I'd rather have it done right than quickly.

With regard to the racing thing I definately fancy some kind of motorsport but I don't think motorcycling is for me. The old man in me doesn't want to cripple himself as a result of a minor oversight and some of the other motorsports aren't anywhere near as dangerous with almost the same level of rush. Thoughts?

[serena-lesley.livejournal.com]

Well all I did was suggest it, and rope in dennyd (who couldn't make it in the end due to his broken leg anyway).. I didn't actually do any of the other stuff, therefore it wasn't my effort. :)

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

Oh yes you are! *giggle*

*prod*

[serena-lesley.livejournal.com]

*squeaks involuntarily*

Oops.. Bugger :/

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

rallying - always wanted to try that myself, and bloody safe as well in a proper car

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Oops, yes, didn't mean it like that (sorry dylan!). Racing? Hmm. I know exactly what you mean but I think I want to do motorcycling. At least there are no things like walls or trees or oncoming traffic to screw you up should you come off.

I've got more thinking to do about it but I may well find myself attending the odd track day (but being sensible about it as you know I can be).

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, definitely want to do rallying. In fact, that was before biking :)

Aah, one day, when I have money to burn.. *grin*

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

yes that was definitely a bloody fun ride home, esp the impromptu boxter race :) beat the ride on stuartl's bike... (but don't tell him I said so, shhhh!)

and a bloody good weekend in general :)

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

hmmm, don't think a weekend rally course is all that expensive (not cheap either though...) maybe next year we could organise something for a few of us?

[serena-lesley.livejournal.com]

a bloody good weekend in general

The sleeping arrangements particularly.. ;)

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

yes indeed.... *grin*

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

Could you quantify your argument?

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't approve. And I even said to ev1ldonut afterwards that he must never ride like that..

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

May very well have to :)

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

I did a 1-day rally course a couple of years ago. It was 250 quid for the day which wasn't cheap was it was a great laugh. I'm really glad I did it, really glad I spent the money and have no regrets. Having done it, though, I wouldn't do it again. Instead I'd put the money towards an old 205 or something and take it to an amateur rally. A distant relative of mine actually organises amateur rallies, I could probe in that direction...?

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

you were still being a bit cagey with me on the back, cos of me being bigger than your other pillions (cos they were tiny girlies and I'm not) and you still getting used to the bike.

But Alex is v used to me on the back and really let it go with some deep cornering and hard acceleration... big adrenaline rush :)

yours was still bloody fun though and can tell when you are totally comfortable with your new bike, then it will likely be a different story :)

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Why not? :)

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

now that sounds interesting... so long as there is sufficient saftey gear installed in said old 205...

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

As per comments below :)

I've often thought about picking up an old 205/mini/escort and fitting a roll cage...

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I didn't mean to criticise your race with the Boxter. You know that I raced that TVR in Bristol relatively recently, and then I wasn't exactly restrained yesterday :)

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

Very democratic and flattering, thank you ;)

*smiles irl*

And yeah, I am getting a lot more confident with the bike, as florence90 can probably vouch...

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

Ok, I shall have a probe and see...

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

Most of it will be regulation anyway, things like a safety fuel tank, roll cage, fire extinguisher etc will all be mandatory even for amateur rallying.

I'm also definately interested in off road trialling where the object is to get through a given course without touching the marker posts. There is no time limit, you just have to get the vehicle through the river, over the slippery hill, over those rocks, through those trees etc.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

No.. what I mean is only people like ev1ldonut and jikatal (adrenaline junkies in other words) would appreciate what I did... ;)

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

I think I'm offended that you don't think I'm an adrenaline junkie.

I think...

[jikatal.livejournal.com]

ROFL :D

"But Alex is v used to me on the back and really let it go with some deep cornering and hard acceleration"

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Oh you BASTARD. Trust you :P~~~~~

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Ah, you are, but not in such a blatantly life-disregarding (or blindly trusting perhaps?) way as jikatal and ev1ldonut..

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

to echo azekeil...

you bastard... you complete and utter bastard...

heh ;)

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

I look forward to the next go ;)

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

tis true... you'll not find many so blatantly disregarding of our own lives as myself and jikatal!!

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

I've only just worked out who you are.

D'oh!

[dylan.livejournal.com]

If you want to have lots of fun racing, you could spend £250 on a day's rallying or you could do a kart night for £25-£30. In fact you could do 10 weeks for £250. It depends whether you want tuition, exciting vehicles or just want to go racing. I did a trackday in my own car for £40 (which went to charity anyway) and got tuiton included.

I think a karting night would be quite fun.

If you had a trailer and somewhere to keep a racecar then you could do a season for £500 in some branches of motorsport.

Bike racing is waaaaayyyyyy too dangerous

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I've done karting before. It's fun, but not fun enough.

I'm not talking about serious racing, just being able to go around a custom-built track without worries of obstacles or oncoming traffic and blind corners etc etc.

[dylan.livejournal.com]

Why not go to the Isle of Man TT and participate in mad Sunday?

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Tell me more?

[dylan.livejournal.com]

Errr, you've not heard of the TT? mad Sunday? And I thought you called yourself a biker ;)

Basically you book a ferry now for next June (they may be all booked up already), go across for a week, there are thousands of bikes over for the week, every pub is packed with bikers, people doing wheelies etc up and down the road outside the pubs all night, on mad Sunday they make the roads one way and only bikes can use them, everybody screams round at mental speeds (there are no speed limits on the Isle of Man), a few people fall off/get killed and the rest go home.

Oh, and some race happens at some point

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Heh :)

I might just stick to an organised event, perhaps with tuition, like the one aeia attended recently.

Re:

[dylan.livejournal.com]

Ok, I prefer to stick to cars as far as racing goes. Let me know if you decide to go to an event and I'll come along and support/laugh at you.

I'm going to spectate at a car racing event 2nd/3rd August in North Yorkshire (60 miles from Whitby ie Rose and nearish to Newcastle) if you're interested in tagging along.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

That's kissycat1000's Alton Towers birthday trip dude! Are you coming along or what?

[dylan.livejournal.com]

Not if it clashes with the motor racing. D'Oh!

Ah well, have fun

[markbanang.livejournal.com]

As well as the 6.7 litre chevvy engined trike with wheels that would have put most tractors to shame.

The trike really was gorgeous. I'm pretty sure that the trike used old race car wheels on the back. I presume that the front wheel is pretty much irrelevant and I have to wonder if it actually relies on differential braking on the rear wheels to steer.

It very much reminded me of the HitchHikers's quote "Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, steers like a cow."

I've been working it out, I think I need three bikes - an old beaten up fast sports bike for racing, a tourer for every day and a fat harley with loads of chrome for town/cruising/relaxing.

I had pretty much decided on four. A relatively sporty bike (the SV for the moment), a relatively reliable bike (the NTV for the moment), a posing bike (a hog) and a trail bike (an XT350 for going up the ridgeway).

On the way back from the supermarket we got confused because the lead and another rider who knew the way were in different lanes at the roundabout.

Sorry about that, both lanes are used for Oxford traffic and I got cut up on the roundabout so I wanted to get as far away from the idiot in the cage as I could.

He reports he got to 140mph. I wasn't too far behind, touching 120mph before braking.

This is where the SV starts to struggle two up, a 650 twin just can't keep up with the likes of the Thundercat or the Trophy.

ev1ldonut being an excellent pillion

I was really impressed at how good all of the pillions were this weekend. It was really easy riding with all of you.

Sorry to those who couldn't make it.

Yeah, and we expect dennyd to get well soon enough to come out with us next time.

Hugs,