First Guided ride Sunday 13th 2013
This was just going to be a small ride between myself and a
good friend of mine Tony. The whole idea
of the ride was to expand our existing knowledge of the lanes and byways that
we had. I had previously brought some maps
and had marked out a new route for us to take.
It would initially take in some familiar lanes, followed by some lanes I
had been guided down once or twice but never led; the middle of the ride would
see some new lanes and byways. Then as
we headed back once again the byways would become more and more familiar until
we were once again riding the lanes we know so well. Simply just a case of expanding into new
territory.
However there were a few new members on one of the forums we
use looking out for a ride. I remember
when I started; it was a daunting experience trying to find lanes not knowing
where to go, whether or not the lane I was on was legal or not etc. etc. So it was mutually decided that I’d put the
ride on the forum as a beginners ride, a slow ride to start the New Year
off. All were welcome and that there may
be some map reading to be done.
The post was received with open arms and by the time Sunday
morning had arrived we had a minimum of 12 people turning up. This was going to be a great start to the New
Year, but a big group like this throws up its own problems. Firstly sod law says the more people on a
ride the more likely someone is to have a break down or accident, and secondly
with a large group it would be easy to lose someone. This
second problem was easily solved by using the second man or corner man system
and by having a sweeper. The first
problem was out of my hands.
Sunday morning arrived, it was very cold but not freezing
however it wasn’t long before the cold started to come through my clothes
chilling me a little. I arrived at the
petrol station a tad early so I could fuel up and introduce myself to
everyone. To my delight when pulling
into the garage there was already a good collection of eager bikers waiting. Fuel and formalities done, it was now just a
matter of waiting for the last few people to arrive, set some rules and head
out. I always find it slightly annoying
waiting for those, and you always get them, who seem to arrive late. However on this occasion it was my own friend
Tony. Once he arrived a final head count
was taken and we’re on our way.
The first lane went well. This particular lane has a nasty
little corner that I never have seemed to have mastered. I think it’s because it’s quite sharp and
rutted, the idea I suppose is to use the rut as a berm to carry you round, but
I never feel comfortable on it.
The next
lane is a double ford where we had the option of a bridge. Which some decided
to take. Everything was going great I
was just checking to make sure people where behind me at corners and junctions
and all seemed to be going well. The next lane saw us having to kill our
engines for a very spooked horse, which did eventually pass us taking one step
forward and two back. Eventually when
the horse and grateful rider had passed and were at a safe distance we were
once again on our way. We had only
started the next lane when Scott the sweeper came to tell me that one of the
riders had gotten a puncture and was back at the pub at the beginning of the
lane fixing it. We turned the group
around and headed back to the pub.
Unfortunately some of the group either had misunderstood or simply misedt
the pub and I spent the next few minutes chasing them down the road.
Once regrouped in the car park we set about fixing the
puncture. It was apparent what had
happened. He had no rim lockers on his
wheels, rim lockers push the bead of the tyre against the rim of the wheel and
under heavy load stop the tyre form turning on the wheel. This is what had happened resulting in the
valve off the inner tube being ripped off when everything had rotated. No puncture repair kit or amount of tyre slim
was going to fix this. Luckily someone
gave him a new inner tube and the fix was underway, but he was rushing about
too much and in his panicked frenzy to get the bike repaired he knocked the
delicately balanced bike over resulting in a broken ignition switch. After several attempts the wheel was once
again secure on the bike, the ignition was sorted as best we could and finally
we were once again on our way.
Lanes 4,5,6,7 all flowed nicely and the ride was now well
underway, but as I waited at the end of the 8th lane news came again
of another puncture. Unfortunately it
was the same guy as before, but this time it was his front tyre. We took another break and can to the decision that
we would make our way slowly and carefully to the nearest garage via 3 lanes
where he would repair the tyre.
Underway again but we had only managed to get to the first
corner when I noticed that there was only two of us. We stopped and waited only to be informed
that the unfortunate guy who had had the two punctures now could not start his
bike and that he had also decided that he was going to call it a day and call a
recovery company to get himself home. I have
never left anyone behind before and it really upset me to do so, I strongly
believe in you go out as a group you come back as a group. Whether it was a
matter of poor maintenance or just bad luck I really don’t know but he seemed
to have the situation under control and no longer wanted to hold up the ride. We continued on and managed to complete a
further 4 lanes, it was now around lunch time and five of the riders had to
depart as they had family commitments.
Now down to six riders we found a lane which was hard to access
and continued on our way. Stopping for a spot of lunch and a refuel at a
service station we lost one further rider.
We were halfway through the day but only about a third of the way
through the route. I decided to push on
as the middle part of the ride was the bit I wanted to ride and explore the
most. I could chop and change the last
part of the ride if the time ran out and I needed too.
Now with only five of us we cracked on making up some lost
time and covering some miles, it was now however very cold and we did have to
stop every now and again to warm our hands up. Lane after lane slipped under
our belt with no incidents. It was a great ride with lots of flat fast wide
lanes and a good selection of muddy twisty boggy lanes. It was however evident to me that most of the
return trip would have to be skipped or we’d be riding in the dark, something that
I really didn’t fancy.
We now needed once again to refuel and as I needed to
shorten the ride we took to the road to cover some miles. The light was fading
and it was at this fuel stop we lost another rider as he was quite close to his
home and we would now be travelling away from where he needed to go. The four of us were all now making our way
home in the same direction; I was trying to make a direct route whilst taking
in as many lanes as I could. As we
progressed along the byways and lanes they became more and more familiar and
with this the pace quickened. The light
was now almost gone and we were riding in the twilight glow of dusk. Along with the loss of light went the warmth
of the winter sun, it may only have been a couple of degrees but it makes a big
difference and we found ourselves having to warm our hands every so often.
We now sat at the top of the lane where our unfortunate and fated
rider had left us some five or so hours earlier. It was cold and dark and I made the decision to
call the lanning to an end and finish the ride by road work. I felt the danger outweighed the fun. Soon we were only a few miles from home and
once again split company as Tony and I needed to head south whilst the others
needed to go north. It was shortly after
this that I had quite a bad off. We were
taking a back road to save some mileage, as I came to a corner I noticed a dark
shadow across the road I knew what it was straight way. I knew not to touch the brakes or turn too
sharp, but still I ended up hitting the floor hard. Tony saw what had happened and in trying to
avoid both me and the black ice he ended up nearly in the hedge. My left arm and shoulder had taken the brunt
of the impact and although a little stiff I really just wanted to get home. I check the bike over, Tony was ok so we
saddled up for the last time and finished the ride.
It had been a long
but very enjoyable day the new lanes we had explored where definitely worth it,
on arriving home my fingers were so numb with the cold that I had to ring the
doorbell as I couldn’t open the zips on my coat to be able to use the keys. But I had timed it well because my Sunday roast
was just being dished up. There can’t be
a better way to end the day, I was really looking forward to it and ate so fast
it was more like inhaling my dinner than eating it.
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