Writings page

Photos from the day

I (VFR) knew I was getting close to Carnells and thought it would be behind the big building. Turns out that it is the big building.

Spotted a couple of likely, lost looking souls standing beside a ‘bird and wandered to meet Paul R (‘bird) and Stuart, Tanya’s friend (VFR). Tanya wandered out of the shop, all hair and smile. John turned up on his VFR closely followed by Nige (Blade) and Barney (pink ‘bird). We thought that their bikes were rather too clean till they informed us that they had just stopped at a jet wash before getting there. Darren had been with them earlier and rolled in a few minutes later on a CBR6.
A bit of milling about ensued involving coffee, burgers and petrol station visits while others drifted in.
Allen arrived on a rather tasty looking (and fast) VFR400 NC30,  Paul N. on a VTR with distinctive pipes and Andy on a Kaw&£%^*i thing. They had been travelling with Derek but had lost him at some traffic lights. He turned up a few minutes later on the big trailie to thunderous applause (OK – that’s a lie. We just said hello and shook hands).

I count 12 people here. Who have I missed ? Oh yes - Darren (Eyeabusa) [1]

After a brief wander round the shop we started gearing up for the open road.
I mentioned to Tanya that her rear tyre had looked a little soft when she had gone off for fuel. John produced a pressure gauge & discovered it was down to about 5 PSI and not terribly safe. After a quick investigate we spotted the head of a nail embedded in the centre of the tyre. If you’re going to discover a flat tyre there are worse places than outside a bike shop – except that Carnells don’t plug tyres and their new tyres prices are far from the cheapest. Being the Good Samaritan types, we decided to abandon Tanya there and go on the run anyway.

OK - so that’s not quite true either. Tanya and Stuart decided to get her bike AA relayed home and they waved us off to the madness of the run. It was probably quite fortuitous that Tanya wasn’t on the run as she had expressed some reservations about high speeds and high speeds were what we got. (Tanya's tale of the AA bike recovery is at the bottom of this page)

It started reasonably calmly, probably due to the fact that it started in a 30-mph limit. Once we were on the open road, Allen ‘Bullett’ Beale [2] upped the pace considerably.

Dual carriageway, single carriageway, twisty single carriageway; the speed picked up until we were ‘making progress’ like nutters. The group was almost split a couple of times and people hung about at roundabouts till the following bikes came into view. They then had to give it large with the right hand to catch up and spot the next turn. This fun continued till we came across “the volvo from hell”.
Why is it always a volvo ?
I didn’t see the first few bikes go past him but when John (who was in front of me) went to pass, the volvo accelerated as hard as he could, forcing John to nail it to the stop to get past and almost taking John’s rear wheel off as he pulled back in. The volvo was all over the road in front of me and I was not going to attempt a pass until I was sure I could do it cleanly. As it turned out, we came up behind a few slow cars and I took the opportunity to nip past. volvo still tried to close the door and he almost went into the back of John while trying to stop me.

The rest of the run seemed quite tame after that though it was still pretty rapid.

‘Bullett’ Beale lead us into the car park of a rather grand hotel in Tring where we instantly lowered the tone of the place and proceeded to the run post mortem.

Personal :-
I was ok with cornering at those kinds of speeds but not everyone was.
I would rather not have made some of the overtaking manoeuvres I had to make to keep up. [3]
I ended up going faster than I would have chosen to in 30 & 40 limits where I tend to try to stick close to the limit.
The bastard in the volvo should be shot.

As people started wandering off on their various ways home, John and I wandered off, cross-country, towards High Wycombe (where they have done something strange to the roads and I ended up leading John a rather circuitous route round a town he probably knows quite well).
Last I saw of John he took the slip road towards Marlow and I ended up getting home at around 5 pm in the rain.

The bike has been washed down and chained up for the night.
I’m knackered and looking forward to the next one.
[1] Thanks Derek.
[2] Stolen from John – thanks.
[3] OK – I didn’t have to.

Doubts about my riding skills had been bothering me earlier in the day. Roundabouts and corners had seemed especially awkward to negotiate, but I had put it down to lack of concentration on my part, maybe even the onset of senile dementure. But after leaving the group in Carnells car park to fill up the tank, MAC and J6P commented that my rear tyre looked a bit flat. They gave it a few gentle squeezes and decided that my baby had to get up onto it's centre stand for a proper examination. And there it was - a NAIL!! Stuck right in the middle and hissing quietly through the muddy rain water on the tyres surface.
Sadly Carnells will not repair tyres, only sell you an expensive new one and fit it (from what I have read) badly. (Spell Check is suggesting Careless as a replacement for Carnells. Hmmm.) I wasn't going to release my baby into the hands of Carnells mechanics, and decided to make use of my free AA cover and get it taken home to safety, where I could call out a specialist tyre repair/fitter type person.

So, after much kind help and good advice, the guys departed on their assorted machines for the afternoon ride out as planned. I called the AA to request a ride home, which was arranged quickly and without a fuss.

But ten minutes later the girl on the AA switchboard rang back to ask: "Do you have a spare tyre?"
"No!" I replied, "It's a bike. I have two tyres, one at the front and one at the back. I don't carry a spare." "Oh," she said in a surprised and disappointed voice. My friend and another friendly and interested biker were now collapsing with giggles around me. "Alright, thank you. The AA van will be with you within an hour."

It was, but it was a transit van, with no sign of a bike trailer. The perplexed-looking driver asked me what I wanted him to do. "Well, I would really like to have the bike taken back home please." I explained.
"Oh, I thought I was driving over here to take your rear tyre off so that Carnell could repair it."
(WHAATTT????? Are you completely bonkers?? I thought.)
"No. Carnells could take the tyre off themselves if I wanted it taken off, but they do not repair tyres, only replace them. I need my bike taken the 15 miles to my home."
"I'll go and get the bike trailer then."
"Good idea."
"I'll only be 10 minutes" he reassured me.

Half an hour later my friends mobile rang: It's the AA recovery driver bloke: "Hi. Er, you know I have driven back to the depot to get the bike trailer?"
"Yeeees . . . "
"Well it's been knicked."
"You're winding me up, aren't you? This IS a wind up, right?"
"No, honest, it's really been knicked. I'm so sorry about this. I will have to pass you over to a local garage who will be able to come over and pick you up. They won't be very long"

An hour later another bloke arrives in a Spire tow truck, WITH a bike trailer. Things are looking up.
To cap it all: while resting on the bonnet of the recovery van to fill in the form, I noticed that its road tax was a month overdue. I had been illegally recovered!!

What a day!

Tanya would like to point out that her intention is not to denigrate the AA. In fact their service is really very good and that she would not hesitate to recommend them to other bikers.