fantastic day out!!! i had sod all sleep before going( excitement!..nerves!) but i really enjoyed it, i havent been that far on my bike since passing DAS last year, never really done any motorway riding either…:w00t: twas an experience!
was hard work on some of the roads, lots of gravel( yes i did nearly bin it), manure etc but very enjoyable, being two up was hard riding, but it was fun and my pillion danie(#1sr fan on here) really enjoyed herself. at times people overtook a bit too close, at times peps didnt give much room but hey ho there was alot of bikes, and after all no one made me go… my choice so i dealt with it!
learnt alot today, thanks guys! oh…
and a funny thing happended today…i met my SV 's previous owner!:w00t: yep, bennyboy! dont worry mate i wi look after her;)
smiled, hope steve is ok, has he contacted you yet, infact i hope you al got home safely as teh ride back in blighty was awful!:w00t: wet…wet…and a bit more wet…
Got home not long after 21:00 after stopping at Maidstone services for a bite to eat and a cuppa. I was fairly exhausted then but not as much as I was after ploughing through the rain that then descended! Got flashed by a Gatso on the A217 - couldn’t read the clocks so was guessing.
But what a lovely day! A couple of ****-ups, no harm done thank goodness. Lessons learnt for next time by several folk I imagine.
The view in my mirrors was at some times completely mesmerising, I had to force myself not to check every two seconds as I tended to stayed glued to that vision of horizon to horizon headlight snake. :w00t:
Thanks to everyone for their whole-hearted participation, but in particular to Fran for driving the good-luck van; Stem, Lustfish and Ron for tail-gunning; Ginger for having a productive finger in every pie (and especially for giving me a wake-up call!); and to all those who did corner-man duty.
There were the two obligatory U-turns and two other unintended diversions from the published route (though only one may have been noticable) - this didn’t seem to matter too much. :hehe:
120 miles in France may not sound like much, but it proved to be quite an exhausting experience even for the guy at the front who could ride his own ride.
Great day, thanks to all. Even the weather played ball in France. Should have put wet gear on in Maidstone, didn’t so we were quite well soaked by the time we got home just after 9 - was really piddling down by then.
No mean feat organising a ride-out with so many bikes, sentiments already expressed. My first ‘other side of the road’ experience, went better than expected – so my expectations were more than met.
Good meeting and talking with folk.
Will work on the pics, too tired now.
just to let you know, will remember this day not only because of fun had in france but because of the stuff happened later…
got to England and was it started to heavy raining on the way home… got soaked but maanged to stop and put my waterproof… on the way home just after saying godbuy to others passing Ace Cafe bike started to handle wierd… stopped… wtf ? flat tyre… ok **** happens… got Breakdown Assitance with RAC… aited for 2 f*cking hours since 10pm and they didn’t come regardless my constant calls… they were explaing their delay because of traffic… no comment…
some random bloke stopped about 1h after I got bike broken and asked If I need any help. I refused and just in joke asked for spare socks as my shoes were totally wet… heh his girlfriend had one fresh pair and gave it to me…
I kept waiting for recovery, around 12pm same bloke came and said he will drop my bike in his van to my home… We managed to drive it in and I put side stand on and relesed the bike. As tyre was flat bike wasn’t stable and went side just after. Result… Broken front fairing just next to the mirror… OMFG!
Heh and what’s more just before this post wanted to grab my lpatop from the shelve… It went on the floor! Result ? Broken screeen mount.
I’m so cold now and feeling sick. Tyre fucked up. Fairing broken. Latop same… What else can happen to my today ? I can only break my legs on the way upstairs?!..
That’s my tyre. Punsture looks quite big, some plastic thing, tried to get it out but can’t make it… Is it safe to rapir it? I would rather get new one if there is any risk…
Bike…
and laptop…
felling very unlucky…
ehh and so tired… 23h on legs now and had 3h sleep yesterday only…
hope to wake up tomorrow and realize all this stuff was just a baddream…
EDIT
just realized posted same think twice sorry for that
thought it would be a good idea to reg myself on you forum to say a big thank you to you all for the great trip out to france. thank you for your invite out to other forums to join you. great day had by all. still cant get over how the french acted toward us all (coming out of there homes waving and takin picture of half mile long precession of bikes thundering through there towns).:w00t:
A BIG THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN TO ALL WHO ORGANIZED AND MADE THE DAY ONE TO REMMEMBER.
P.S on the train home i got dressed up in a piece NBC suit because i heard it was raining in the uk. when the train pulled in we all looked out the window to see that it was dry. how over dressed did i feel. but within 10 miles i was so pleased with myself, i got home about 9 and i was bone dry.
Had a wicked day, weather was great and it was such an amazing sight when we were going up a windy road and all you can see up ahead is bikes, bikes, bikes :w00t: well done to everyone that played part in organising, not easy keeping 80 bikers together!!!
The ride home once we got back to the uk was horrible, worse weather I have ever riden in, one of our lot got a puncture on the way home.
Well, I am off to go out in the rain again, got my bike safe at 9
Your welcome buddy, That was a nice ride back, few spots of rain, but managed to get home before the heavens opened.
Was a great day out, Thanks to Jim for his leadership, and the guys doing tailgunner/corner personing, and to everyone else for coming along, and making it such a brilliant trip
Mierzwin ,sorry to hear bout your bit of bad luck last night mate, but considering the number of bikes/miles covered and the crap weather later on im just relieved there doesnt appear to have been any offs.
You didnt come off, you were nearly home, and the bike will get fixed.I know
its shitty when it happens but be thankful it didnt happen on the M20 .
If bikin only consisted of the good bits every knobhead would do it.
…The summer will be here soon…could do a france 2/3 dayer?
as zeph said it could have happned elsewhere or been worse!!
from what i know everyone got back ok, only steve wright was missing, me danie and smiled waited around for quite a while at teh petrol station in sidcup, no sign hope hes ok.
What a top day out! Managed to get back home by about 9.30pm. Walked in the door and was greeted by a bunch of my friends all ready to go out on the raz… A quick shower and oil change later, and we were off in to central London:w00t: Managed to sneak away from them at about 3am, got home and a combination of exhaustion and Guinness managed to knock me out until this afternoon.
Appologies to Paul and the girls, was sat at Maidstone services with Tugs, drinking coffee etc… Waited around for half an hour, then decided to get going before the weather got worse. Went to the petrol station to get fuel, only to find out that we’d missed you by 5 minutes!:w00t: Glad you all got home ok, if a little wet and tired…
Awsome day I enjoyed every min! Except the thorough soaking on the way home. Me and miggy got seperated from the pack just after the Blackwall tunnel cos I followed the lead gunner instead of seeing his direction to take the left lane and miggy followed me. Although to be fair I couldnt see shiiiiit through all the rain and as we both didnt have clue were we were going we inevitably added half an hour or so to our drenching :crazy:
So im truely gutted for you adrian as I was cold, wet, frustrated and lost but you obviously had the worst luck. If you need a hand fixing anything on the bike let me know??? I’m reasonably handy with cosmetics. Hope it didnt dampen your birthday too much.
James (Gixxer 1000) you know who you are! I dont have your mobile number mate so message me it on here. I owe you a huge apology and Adrian as well It was my fault you too missed your last fuel stop cos I followed to two rizla gixers and the R6 wheely kings for a bit and didnt realise you two probably needed fuel. Anyway all is well as everyone is home safe and dry now
at times people overtook a bit too close, at times peps didnt give much room but hey ho there was alot of bikes, and after all no one made me go… my choice so i dealt with it!
That was a nice ride back, few spots of rain, but managed to get home before the heavens opened.
