i will… 
I was coughing up solid pea green chewy chunks that weekend. I’ve only just got back on the bike yesterday… didn’t take a single day off sick either. Sometimes having a car is good.
Wish I could come out to play too,
No riding for me till I get the recall work done AGAIN on my bike. The gearbox could seize up and cause the back wheel to lock up too.
Ian
Okay Dannyboy, looks like we have a number of interested parties…
Dannyboy
SheWoolf
Lustfish
Nuts (Maybe)
MaxRevs
Salee (if Dry - and warm!!)
Trisckie (On L’s)
Chillednsorted (Maybe)
Jaymbe (Maybe)
Little Miss T (If Bike sorted)
ADZ
Kwaked-Up
AbbeyJ (Can do 125 if Trisckie out)
Danno (if not too cold)
So what day, what time and where are we gonna be meeting.
AbbeyJ and myself can only do Sunday - if nothing is set yet!!
Right guys and girls. Plan so far:
The day is Sunday. Meet at 10, have a cup of tea and leave at 10:30 (Meeting place to be decided depending on route)
Destination is somewhere in or around the New Forest-I have somewhere in mind but as Lustfish knows the area well, I am happy to go with whatever she recommends. Again, more details to follow.
The aim is to get back to the meeting place at around 4pm after a pub lunch and a few breaks.
If everybody can post their Mobile no’s (or PM if you prefer) I will make a list and print a pile of them to hand out to all who attend, might include a copy of the route too. Hopefully we wont need it, but better safe than sorry.
As mentioned in earlier posts, I will confirm on Friday/Sat if the ride is on depending on the weather.
Any questions, let me know.
Dan.
stick my name down as long as the weather’s not to cold!!!
This is what the weather says for Sunday-lets hope we miss these showers.
14 degrees, I can leave my winter jacket at home 
Attachments
i’m up for this!! i’ll have gina with me aswell as otherwise i wouldnt be aloud to play!!!
PM sent with number.
I thought long and hard about whether to post this or not. I don’t want to upset or marginalise anyone and I’m really grateful to dannyboy for putting himself forward to organise this. In the end, I decided I would post it, because experience [even a bad experience] is most valuable when it is shared, particularly when shared with those joined by a common bond - a love of biking.
I went on a rideout with the Suzuki Owners Club during the summer. 12 bikes, 18 people. There was quite a mixture of bikes there: GSXR1000s, Hayabusas, 1200 Bandits, TL1000 and a couple of GSX1400s … and a learner on a 125. Do you see where I’m going with this?
Everyone was grumbling about the slow pace at the first pit stop. On one part of the route, cars were making suicide overtakes to get past our 2-wheeled funeral procession. At the second pit stop, the poor girl on the 125 was getting upset - she was aware of the growing impatience of most of the others and felt she was having to ride too fast for herself to feel safe. At the final stop there was a slanging match when one of the Busa riders finally blew his top.
The group fragmented - the frustrated ones left to go for a “proper ride”; others went to a cafe before going home; and some went to a nearby pub and made their own way home. It was not a happy day.
The row continued on the forum with the organiser getting flak from all sides and vowing never to organise another rideout.
You know the old saying about pleasing all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time? Well, clearly, on that day, none of the people were pleased any of the time. All the dissatisfaction about the slow pace, the route, excess time in the saddle, getting home late, etc, was sparked-off by the huge spread of engine sizes. This mismatch eroded all the natural goodwill and mateyness that a group of bikers would normally enjoy.
I’d hate to go through the same thing again with another group of riders. I’m not saying we WILL, I’m asking, given the above experience, is it a POSSIBILITY?
If anyone else agrees it’s a possibility, then to ensure everyone enjoys their rideout would a dual-route system be worth considering?
I seem to remember an LB rideout earlier this year that employed just such a system. Part way along the route, the faster riders would take a couple of detours of a more circuitous nature so they could extend their machines a little; rejoining the slower riders at a convenient pit stop, then all arrive at destination together.
Any thoughts peeps?
thats a tough one to answer!!
with the slower riders in tow we normally use the cornerman system, which normally means the faster ones of us doing all the corners, which for me is not a problem it gives the less experienced/slower riders a chance to just ride through the route and concentrate more on their riding, it then gives the faster ones the chance to ride how they wish back to the front of the pack!! weve had slow riders on pretty much every ride out ive been on and the only time i can remember an argument was the ride back from the st georges run!!
the time when we split into groups was also an excellent ride and went very well!!
i’m guessing it would depend on the numbers on the ride??
Yea I’m with Adam, for a general rideout that’s open to evryone, the corner man system is excellent. If people want just a fast ride, or just a slow ride, other rideouts can be arranged. As long as people know what is happening on a ride before the date, there should be no problem.
I’ve actually been really impressed with all the LB ride outs… everyone gets to get a good ride at the speed they want - we even managed to get 20 odd people of varying degrees around France one weekend without losing anyone… so this shouldn’t be a problem! Long live the corner man system.
Can’t do this run though unfortunately 
m
That is a fair comment and thanks for posting it, having not arranged one of these before I am open to suggestions.
What I noticed (and it could be coincidence) is that when I posted the ride out, I had 1 or 2 reply’s. When I said “no rush, L’s welcome” a lot more people agreed to come along. I would read into it that people are happier to have a more relaxed pace where they don’t feel like they will be the person holding everybody back.
Lustfish is working on a route at the moment and I was going to ask shewoolf or somebody who has been on a few of these to help with a corner man system etc. I am happy to hang around at the back to make sure we don’t leave anybody behind.
I must admit it did cross my mind about the L’s-not because of speed, but if we have to do a short spell on the motorway to make up time or get somewhere, then we wouldn’t be able to do it. Before you panic, I don’t plan on using the motorway but sometimes 1 or 2 junctions can save a bit of time or get you to somewhere more scenic.
Once I have the route, I will post it here and we can decide what to do. There are a few options: We can either split into two groups and meet at the pub for lunch or we can stick together and hope for the best?
Any comments/suggestions welcome. Lets hope for a dry day and we can go from there.
Its a real shame, Dannyboy obviously wanted to organise a fun rideout for all concerned regardless of rider level - whether it be full licence holders or learners. We all started somewhere, and 10 years ago I would have enjoyed a bit more company whilst trying to gain experience.
I joined LB to enjoy my bike in the company of what appeared to be likeminded individuals who just wanted to get out and ride. Yet recently its turned more in to a kindagarten - I wont play cos he upset me; and I not coming if he’s coming etc etc etc.
If you want to ride at your own pace, or with quicker riders howsabout organising some runs yer self and stating what type of ride its gonna be. That way only those who feel they have the right experience or are interested in that sort of ride will come out.
But by posting up yer thoughts about L’s, don’t ya think yer gonna make em feel like they should stay at home!!
I spoke to AbbeyJ and she offered to bring out her 125 (instead of her Hornet) and I would bring out my CB (instead of the Ninja) in order to establish a more balanced ride and keep any 125/ L riders company as we are not in a rush as its cold and bound to be wet. We will switch bikes and probably do something else if these are no longer gonna be accomodated - we were coming along because of the riders involved and the area being visited not cos it was gonna be a blast - we can do that by ourselves and with other likeminded individuals!
I have not been on the site for a while for two reasons
-
i am tired of what’s been seen on here now and the whole us vs them themes.
-
cos i am too busy at work.
But the whole idea of the biking community is that its a community. I did my first ride out (the St Georges Day Rideout) with LB on L plates and I recall what a great day that was. Especially when Flat on a R1 rode home with me at 55 mph. Should we start excluding people now because they belong to a different forum (i belong to about six others), they do not form part of whatever idea it is that people have about bikers (i am an accountant and a foreigner) or because we dont agree with what they have to say (asked Kwaked up - no one agrees with anything i say)?
For the record, I have been riding with Trisckie, and so have a few others and she can ride!! In fact, I recall that the last rideout she went on - I was told to move my but cos I was keeping her up, and she easily overtook a Duke. 
Dannyboy thanks for organising this - I for one appreciate it, as I dont often get to take Baby (my 125) on the road. Trisckie I really hope you can make it, so the twins can get together. Especially cos you can then see some of the changes I have made to Baby.
I am sure that speaking to Lustfish and a couple of other people on the forum, you will organise a day which will be fun for all - even those of us on 125s!
All of this should be simple people - we have enough enemies out there cos we ride - why in God’s name do you want to keep fighting amongst yourselves. Where has the old spirit gone - the one where we had our disagreement and five minutes later we were laughing amongst ourselves again???
sorry little bit of a rant and now i gotta get back to work.
PS Max not a rant at you more a rant at the whole us vs them theme!
I was on the rideout MaxRevs posted about (was not the Busa rider that lost his temper though) whilst it was not the best of rideouts there were a few factors that made it poor. However the fact that we were all trying to stick together and ride as a pack was what caused the problem. Had the cornerman system been used that I experienced on the Flatout Portsmouth run all would have been well and the result - a great day out!!
I have expressed this system be used in the SOC since that day and have been out on one ride with them since with a 125 and it was great !! The learner rider kept commenting about how he had kept up, thoroughly enjoyed the day and gained a lot of experience. Since then he has passed
I think this is an important factor because without these rides how do you gain experience and encourage new blood to continue with biking.
Also I must add that the 125 rider was very new to riding, had never gone a long distance, tried hard but her other half was very unsupportive!
Rideouts dont always go to plan - thats part of the adventure but LB are the best rideouts I have done in 17 years of riding. Finding you guys has encouraged Debz to get off the back of mine and onto her own bike. Yes she will be coming with us next year
Some interesting points of view.
As I’ve posted before, I’m no fan of ‘organised rideouts’ for the reasons stated in MaxRevs post. I think that a large group with different machinery and prowess is inherently dangerous. I do my road riding with just a couple of others of comparable skill/speed that I’ve known for years and trust implicitly.
However its also true that everyone has to learn somewhere and to garner a community spirit, learners and smaller bikes should be encouraged to join in and develop their skills. Hence I agree that perhaps the best approach is for more people to organise rideouts amongst ‘sub groups’ of riders (balls out SB nutters, cruiser riders, L’s or 125’s)
None of this would preclude these groups meeting up afterwards or at waypoints on route to chat and share experiences.
At the end of the day a rider who is frustrated, riding above their abilities or worried about getting lost is not giving 100% attention to the ride which is often dangerous.
As LB is such a diverse community, perhaps large group gatherings should be consigned to things like Cubana, Brazen Head or charity rideouts (often slower affairs) leaving Sunday or fun blats out of town organised amongst peers.
That said, whilst I use the site for info or a bit of workday amusement…having ridden for years I have my own offsite biking and bezza mates and will continue just riding with them - its a choice thing
An ‘Organised rideout’ uses a system like cornerman - dont use a system then you have ‘disorganised rideout’ which is what MaxRevs described. The system allows for mixed ability and machinery and is therefore safer than trying to ride in a pack. Noone then feels segregated, we all arrive at the same destination albeit at different times - result
I don’t think MaxRevs’ post was a whinge, so some may have been a bit harsh in their replies. In fact MR’s post just accentuates that the corner man system used on LB rideouts really does seem to work. And it’s good that he posted it, just to get the concerns out in the open so that they can be addressed and put to bed, which has now been done. I can appreciate an L rider feeling a bit pressured, but if everyone knows the route more or less and understands the cornerman system it sounds like a really fun thing to do.
I’d love to go but again it depends on my teenager babysitting for me (can’t fit 2 kids on the back!) so please put me down as a possible rather than a definite. I’d probably pick you up along the route as it’s a bit daft me going North if we’re then going to just turn round and go South again!
I agree with CM, I don’t think MaxRevs was having a go, just pointing out that these things need to be considered, which they do!
The cornerman system is indeed a great system and works as already described.