Big Mick started out at 05:30 in the morning to come on the run.
That's keen.
Or mad.
Maybe we'd find out when he turned up.
I got to the Little Chef early. Time for breakfast before the queues started. As I was finishing the most taste free food it has been my displeasure to consume, David arrived. He said that he had enjoyed his visit to Brands a fortnight earlier but now that he knew what I looked like I wasn't going to be able to get rid of him that easily this time.
More and more bikes turned up with almost all the pilots hanging about outside. A few old faces and a sea of new ones. A number of people who have been vocal on the group, some lurkers. Some friends and, to my consternation, a bloke called Chris.
The fact the there was someone there called Chris shouldn't have come as much of a surprise but this one was someone I used to work with about six years ago and had lost touch with when I left Portsmouth. A very pleasant surprise, and not the last surprise of the day.
Big Mick had made it. Not looking his best. He looked like a man who had had too little sleep then ridden 300 miles. Probably because that was exactly what he had just done. (Mad or keen ? I'll go with both).
James and myself cast nervous glances over the ever increasing array of machinery wondering quite we had let ourselves in for. After some advice from people who had lead big groups, James and myself bit the bullet. (Note – Only one ‘t’)
We had to split the 30 something bikes into two groups, James leading the first group, myself leading the second. After a quick riders briefing and introduction to the 'drop off' system, James announced that he would take the ‘fast’ group, much to my relief.
The first group lined up on the road opposite the little chef and James, looking nervous, lead them off.
I quite understood how James was feeling as a few minutes later I wobbled
up to the edge of the car park. As I'm so short, I always have to be careful
of the bike's balance at low speed. Not that I drop the bike often. Honest.
I haven't dropped the bike since ... Well, yesterday actually.
With this level of confidence ...
Nervous, a little overwhelmed, biggest group I have lead and I knew
so few of them. With a group you know, you have some idea what to expect,
like 'C' will always leave his indicators on and ride too close behind
you, or 'D' can't mark a turning to save his life ...
One comfort was having J6P at the back. I'd done most of the January
run behind him and know that he's fast but sensible.
Onto the road.
(I can only do half the write up from this point. Well - from here to the pub. Someone who was with James group will have to supply the rest.)
As we had left from the car park, we were immediately strung out with cars slotted into the group. I held the speed down so that we could regroup before the first set of junctions. As we approached the first roundabout I though 'someone will mark this exit'. I suddenly realized that the drop off system is wonderfully easy to run if you know how it works and have seen people get it wrong the first time out. I also realized that I had no idea who was behind me and whether they knew the system so as I exited the roundabout I pointed to the side of the road and said inside my helmet 'If someone could stop there please'. I was happily surprised when the bike following me stopped. It did wonders for my confidence.
The next roundabout, point, 'If someone could stop there please'.
Then next ...
Knowing Basingstoke reasonably well I knew that there were five more roundabouts and a turn off before we were on the open roads, and there was only one bike in my mirrors. (Damnit Mac, stop being so serious ...but this was what I was noticing at the time ...)
Through Basingstoke, point, 'please', point, 'please' ...
The open road.
I'd warned people that this section was dirty. James had said that my
back tyre was kicking up a lot of dirt at him when we had test ridden it
a couple of weeks earlier and later people said the same thing about that
run. I've never followed anyone down that road so what do I know.
I know that I had to drop an anchor when a herd of deer ran across
the road in front of me ...
Whoever was on the 'Blade behind me, thanks for being on the ball.
I ended up coming to a complete halt as I could see some more deer in the field to the right where the first lot had come from and sure enough, across they came. (John's suggestion for coping with deer is 'aim for the middle and keep your head down'. Thanks John, I'll know what to do next time).
Point, 'please', point, 'please' (and still very grateful every time someone stopped, and they always did).
At one of these junctions, I pointed and Brian stopped. The bike bike behind him stopped as well. Brian waved the bike past and the guy came up beside him and said 'but can't I join your group and ride with you?'. We were picking up waifs and strays.
Onto the A272 which was the 'main drag' for the day. The local constabulary are quite aware that the local biking population enjoy this section of the road and, as they had passed over this section of the road earlier that day, the boys from the south coast had warned us that there was a speed trap in the first few miles. I crested the hill at an indicated sixty mph. The two bike policemen walked into the middle of the road at the bottom of the hill and, a few moments later, walked back to the sides of the road. I almost felt sorry for them as we sailed sedately past.
OK - I didn't feel sorry for them at all.
I upped the pace. A long way from 'making progress like a nutter'. The group were the ones who were not in the 'fast group' so I reckoned that 'civilized' was the order of the day.
Before we'd left the Little Chef, James had said to me 'The petrol station
at the traffic lights, we'll stop there and all meet up'.
I pulled into the petrol station.
Empty.
Thanks James.
Surely we weren't that far behind ...
Oh well, we'd catch them up at lunch, that I was sure of.
The guy on the Aprilia 250 said he had to go back to Basingstoke and what was the quickest way. As he was pulling out of the petrol station I realized that there wasn't an Aprilia 250 with us ... Well, there hadn't been when we started ... Oh well.
The Bat and Ball at Newpound, Wisborough Green was the next target. The A272 twists and rolls through some lovely countryside, it does, however, suffer badly from double white lines and the group got strung out a number of times. The dilemma, leading on roads like this is 'If I overtake the three cars and a bus in front of me it could be miles before the next bike can overtake and we'll get more strung out ...'
Sod it. I overtook them. If you don't overtake you end up following the bus and in that case you might as well be in a car.
I stopped a couple of times till a bunch of riders appeared over the previous hill to join the two or three at the front. What I was blissfully unaware of, at this time, was the police presence that had attached it's self to the back of the group, forcing them to be very careful of the speed limits ...
Winding my way through Petworth I started to wonder "Exactly why are you saying 'If someone could stop there please'. It's not as if anyone can hear you." I cut it back to just 'please' after that.
The Bat and Ball car park.
No other bikes.
I found Linda (The landlady) and checked. The others hadn't been there.
Where the hell were they.
It's not as if you can get lost - straight down the A272.
While we were wondering where they might have got to, someone mentioned 'There were a bunch of bikes in the Little Chef car park beside the petrol station that we stopped at'.
Oh well - we'd find out when they turned up. At least we got first shout at the food order.
They rolled up as we were ordering the food. Sure enough, it had been them next to the petrol station - and they'd seen the police following us and had decided that a route without police is always better than one with. They had invented a few detours.
After some good food (and Linda saying 'any time you want to come back' - It's nice to be made welcome - I think that we can safely give them the FOHUKRCEG#1 [1] so if you're in the area, 01403 700313) the south coast boys headed off and the rest of us decided 'let's not go to box hill, for box hill is a silly place' and headed to Newlands Corner instead. James lead the group off.
At the second turning I realized that no-one at the front was marking the junctions so I stopped.
A couple of junctions later I came up behind the main body of the group stopped at a roundabout, pointing right and left and shrugging their shoulders. The drop off system wasn't working. A couple of interlopers had inserted themselves into the group behind James and, with so many new faces and bikes, James had assumed that the two bikes were part of our group, when he realized that they hadn't been marking the junctions, he pulled over to ask them why they hadn't been stopping they said that they hadn't been marking junctions because they 'weren't part of our group'.
If they weren't part of our group, why did they stop when James pulled over ??
Anyway. We were stopped at a roundabout with no idea of the direction that the leaders had gone.
Someone had to take the lead. I used to live in that area, and I had a map on the tank and ... and people were looking at me.
It took a second to click.
I had to lead the group.
Just when I had started to relax.
I took the straightest line towards Newlands Corner. Thirty mph limit
almost the whole way. This wasn't good enough.
About a mile from Newlands Corner we hit the A25. I couldn't just lead
people up the hill without a bit of a blast so we took a detour.
We arrived at Newlands Corner in at least four groups.
- James and whoever else was with him at the front.
- Paul R who had been stranded between the front and the main group. When he had asked the two interlopers which way to go they had pointed and said 'go that way till you reach Birmingham'. Nice, helpful guys, huh. Heading that way he spotted me turning into Newlands Corner and U-turned.
- The main group.
- J6P and some others who had recognized where they were and had ignored
the detour.
After some standing round, shaking of hands and 'we must do this again' we headed our separate directions.
Verdict.
Not the best run I have been on.
This is almost entirely because I lead a lot of it.
I don't like hosting parties either.
If you have read the other write ups then you'll realize that this
one is a lot less frivolous.
Being, in some way, responsible for other people's enjoyment is something
I take seriously and so it wasn't the most relaxed run for me.
Would I do it again.
Yes.
I think we all should lead a run.
If I'm not prepared to lead a run for other folks, I don't see why
they should be prepared to lead one for me.
I'm guessing that the person who might have enjoyed it most was the
MAC instructor who was with us. I wonder how often he gets to not
lead a run.
If other folks enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed the first two runs
then that makes it worth while.
I have a better appreciation of what leading a run entails, and what
roads to choose.
The most valuable lesson is probably that, when I asked people to stop
& mark the route, they did. Whether they had used the system before
or not. I knew that, as long as they waited for John at the back, noone
would be lost.
Did I enjoy it.
Yes
I'm more tired tonight than I was after the last one ...
My thanks to James for setting it up.
My admiration to Big Mick for a 700 mile day.
My thanks to everyone who dropped off when I asked you to.
And my thanks to (insert name of person from James's group that supplies the write of that run)
[1] Friends of HUKRC email group.