l a i c so r e summ
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dawn til dusk rally
s ' s a p p u c e e th r
www.thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
July 2019
Ed Quarters As this magazine is going in for production, we have just hit the heat wave in UK with temperatures in high twenties and I am sat in my garden doing this issue… what a life ! This issue brings you coverage from Mike’s famous weekend of riding where he led ride outs on both Saturday and Sunday – dedication! I hear that riding through the tunnel was thunderous! A group of our members went on the dawn till dusk ride covering in excess of 600 miles starting before 4 AM and riding well past 6 PM. Our summer social last month was very popular at the Elephant and castle while at the club night we signed up new members and Malcolm and Don received their Iron Hog badges from Malcolm Bradley. Kuddos to both along with the dawn to dusk riders! Valley Rally!!! Amazing organization by the committee and well attended by many of our members along with members from Blackwater, Fenlanders, Rolling Hills, Hogstock and Jersey chapters! I spoke to a couple who had come down from Nottingham and were enjoying the weather and the hospitality of our members! The two rides were very popular and the band was great fun on Saturday night! I am sure we will continue this success year after year! In this issue I have also inserted an image of the signs that bikers ought to know as useful gestures that we may have to deal with at times! I am not sure how many of us know them all but now perhaps most of us will. With weather picking up, there are plenty of rides planned for this month by our Road captains to great places through fantastic routes, so do plan to join us for these and safe riding! Mohit 2
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Inside this issue Front cover-Valley Rally
Look out for our Facebook and instagram tweets
Ride Page 2 Ed Quarters Page 4 - 5 Westie Writes Page 6 - 7 June Summer Social Page 8 Club Night Page 9 Pocket Full of Rye Page 10-13 3 Cuppas Page 14-15 Dawn to Dusk Page 16 TV Times
Huge thanks to all who have sent copy in for this month's magazine:
Page 17 The Committee Page 18-21 Dawn to Dusk contd..
Nick W, Mike, Allan Moss, Linda F, Payal, Mac Your contributions are appreciated.
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Valley Rally Coverage
Biker's Signs Page 22-31 Valley Rally Back cover-Valley Rally Committee
Note: We have many more photos of the Valley Rally on our Face book site, only a few are printed here and do not suggest any preferences!
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Hi All, Fresh from the 2019 Valley Rally and basking in daily sunshine, it is almost like being on a tropical holiday ! The “talk of the town” and hot topic in the Chapter at the moment is the roaring success of our very own rally. The Rally team did a fantastic job of rebuilding the rally from the ground up. With the rally site being the only real constant, the team took lessons learned from our first rally there last year and redesigned the project to make the most of successes and to fix the things that did not work so well first time around. The rally was well supported by New Forest and Fenlanders Chapters, both sending large numbers to the rally. This year we attracted members from Netherlands, Jersey, Rolling Hills, Hogsback, and surrey Chapter among others. Numbers were around the same as last year and many who came in 2018 returned this year which is a great sign that we are doing things right. Congratulation to Jamie and the Rally Team for delivering such a fabulous rally and wider thanks to Chapter members who stepped up and helped to make the rally a great success. Valley Rally T-Shirts are still available (to order) and patches / poker chips will be on sale at chapter night and online for the next few months. We are working on plans for a 2020 rally and will let you know when we have more information. At the time of writing, I am preparing to join the Lads on their weekend trip to France. Once again this trip is well supported by over 30 riders this year. We are returning to the Ballastieres, which has hosted our group before. It’s a great venue and I am sure you will be hearing about some of antics at the July Clubnight. Our July Clubnight is another special one (OK, they are all special !) where we will be celebrating our Chapter’s 21st year with a HOG Charter. A Barbeque reception will compliment the 4
gathering and hopefully the weather will be kind to us. Next month, I hope we will be able to report on how we faired with our support of the National Road Rally which is coming through the Reading Dealership between now and the July clubnight. Likewise we should be able to give you information about our Chapter’s participation in this year’s Woodcote Rally which is happening between my report here and the July Clubnght. Coming up soon, we have our second visit to Oxfordshires Wet n Wild, near Berinsfield. The first was well supported but not many ventured into the water. Let’s hope that we can have some good weather for that. We also have the rideout to Stratford Upon Avon on the 21st July followed by an epic FIVE counties ride on the 28th. In August we will be running a Summer Surprise Ride on the 4th, a visit to Yeovil Fleet Air Arm Museum on the 17th with the Convergence Rally sandwiched in the middle over the weekend of 9/10/11 August. I am personally looking forward to the Cheese and Chilli Festival (Winchester) on the 18th and just before the August Clubnight. And finally … I would like to offer my congratulations to Lesley Skinner on the successful Pass with the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorcycling). Not only a pass, but a F1RST, which is the highest pass level in their scheme. Lesley started her journey as a result of one of our “Be a Better Biker” days at Marlow Fire Station and when we spoke last,she said that she had really enjoyed her journey to her improved riding skills. I have heard that TVAM (the local arm of IAM) have even approached her about becoming an observer in their scheme … high accolade indeed. Well done Lesley. If you are interested in improving your riding skills please contact Mike Connolly our Chapter Safety Officer for more details. If you are already in the IAM program or have recently passed the IAM advanced rider training please let me know, I would like to share your success with our Group. Until next month … fairwell and ride safe ! Nick 5
June Summer Social The Elephant and Castle just outside Twyford was very good. The food was excellent as was the ambience, and the company. I think this pub could become a favourite.
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Club Night Our ever so popular club night saw 61 members attending and we signed up three new members Jordan Craythron, Julia Roberts & Mike Green. Don Wibberley and Malcolm Poulter received their iron hog badges from Malcolm Bradley
Pocket Full of Hogstock 2019 Participants
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Pocket full of Rye Early start & small group for one of our longer rides. Discovered Club Night ride clashed with Welsh trip. Alan & Bobby rode 80 miles to get to Esso start point so nicely warmed up & ready for more. Decided to ride using Buddy system with occasional drop which worked really well, group rode tight & flowed. First stop ‘Orchard Café’ at Cowfold were we stopped on ‘The Pioneer Run’ (good bacon rolls). Good ride missing out Chertsey via Newlands Corner through the Surrey Hills to Dorking then a Blatt on A24 left onto A272 Cowfold. Quick Pit Stop then for next part of ride A272 which is a great road with sweeping bends (unless misfortune of slow car/van & ‘B-Cyclists in pairs!!) Noticeably warmer as we headed towards coast onto the A265 then A268 on again scenic & nice roads into Rye. Rye is a Medieval Town with cobbled lanes and Medieval halftimbered houses, the Norman church of St Mary’s tower overlooks the town. The 14th Century Ypres Tower which formed part of Ryes defences is now Rye Castle Museum. But sadly we didn’t have time to wander, if on next year’s Calendar then will definitely find time to wander around. After Lunch and an Ice Cream went our separate ways. Mike, Tony & I had a good ride back via ‘Rykas’ via A21, A25 for a quick Cuppa (Prelude to next days ride). Sadly I made the mistake of “I need to get back quick so just hit the Motorway”. Wrong move --- M25 car park and it rained! Such a shame as had been a good dry flowing ride day. Oh well 2 moros “3 Cuppas” to look forward to let’s hope dry. Thanks to those that came & to Mike for a good route and ride... 9
3 Cuppas Ride Second ride out for the weekend, so now to a ‘Tradition’ in the TV Ride Calendar “3 Cuppas”.. Woke to not a good forecast & set off in the Rain! Normally a very well attended ride, But ‘Fathers Day’ Welsh trip oh & Forecast diminished attendance. A hardy bunch turned up which meant no early home, but ride on… and what a great ride we had! Used the same format as on Rye Ride Buddy & Drop off, worked well. Missing out the normal view Windsor Castle route due to a Triathalon event on. Luckily Mike did an early recce on way to Esso Garage and spied notice boards up. So quick re-route planned to ‘Runnymede’ “1st Cuppa”. Did the usual walk to the customary sit on the ‘Magna Carta’ chairs, Mike holding Court as leading the ride. There was a Jousting event on later but “2nd Cuppa” beckoned. New route to ‘Newlands Corner’ a really picturesque and good ride with variety. Rode through Virginia Water near Wentworth Golf Club past some very nice houses and then through the ‘Surrey Hills’. Some roads were wet/damp but our ‘Leader’ managed to turn left & right at appropriate times missing the rain. Arrived at Newlands, lack of usual mass of bikers, forecast prob deterred people. Great view over ‘Surrey Hills’ from here. “2nd Cuppa” got & think Mike was getting used to ‘Holding Court’ seemed to have a very intense audience. Due to wet roads another change of route a quicker ride to ‘Rykas’ and “3rd Cuppa” again good route arrived again to lack of usual madness of bikes.. Right Official ride over Hi Viz vests off, the now ‘Optional’ “4th Cuppa” Mike has added, ‘Hindhead Tunnel’ blast just to hear Pipes in Tunnel. Again a good varied route onto the A3 and hit the Tunnel. At BP stop, plan made on return trip for Gary to ride at 10
the rear and capture on Video. Richard would ‘Ease’ himself into the outside lane to ‘Slow’ the cars down so that we could ride pass allowing Gary to catch us all riding in formation in 2 lanes and a with a Lotta noise. Not seen the Video but seemed to work well. We all headed back after a great & dry ride. Thanks to All for turning up, Richard & Gary for help, hope Adam's son Daniel got some good shots for his Gran. To Mike for a great weekend of riding 450+ miles covered towards Mileage Challenge Programmes Oh & for avoiding the damp stuff from above! Cheers Mike (M1) J …
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Dawn till Dusk Ride Each year I do this ride there’s always something different, a la the participants, the check points, the weather, where you stay and for me in particular a different bike and so on… The trip up to Lowestoft on the Friday I met up with a few of the guys for a midday bite to eat near Newmarket HD, nice day and nice ride only 51 miles from home so engine just getting warm, decided to put on whoopie cushion (Air Hawk 2) just to make the weekends miles seem a lot less, it worked too but more about that later, well if I remember. Anyway back to the food, nice bit of grub just around the corner from the dealership, Oh the dealership, vibrant as ever, well pleased to see us all, really up beat and even better, managed to get my mileage updated, only had the bike like three months and already clocked up over 6000 miles where does the time go, still less than the norm, mainly due to work commitments, work does get in the way occasionally... Anyway back to the ride, set off to Lowestoft it was fairly quiet for a Friday and significantly less bikes at the hotel, few more turned up later in the day mind, was later informed that although down on previous years there were more attendee’s this year which was pleasing for the organisers. Having checked into the hotel (Travel Lodge) it seemed the best thing we could do was to make our way over to the pub opposite and have a few beers and a bite to eat, whilst waiting for the rest of the gang to turn up. Evening there went quiet quickly, all fed and suitably watered (hic), we paid a visit to the Premier Inn down the road where the “posh” people stay, only to find that most had retired early, light weights. Did bump in to a few riders however, Hilary and Graham the original organisers with their usual smiles and stories to tell, not sure they get what planet I’m on sometimes.. Also met up with core, what was his name? the guy with the blue trike who bought it last year from Reading HD, joined 14
Thames Valley but lives in Leicestershire, nice guy who got his better half to attend this year for the first time, not just on the ride but first time she’d been on the bike, what a maiden voyage... We all had a couple of sherbets and headed back to Travel lodge which enabled us to throw pine cones at each other on the way back, why I don’t know just seemed cool. Dropped into the pub for a couple of night caps, seemed the thing to do, remember telling everyone that the dew don’t come up in Lowestoft until at least 4am so no need to put on bike covers… so easy sometimes to sound convincing, lol.. 03.15 soon arrived on the Saturday and time to wake the poor souls who happened to be staying at the hotel, amazing but every year you always get someone that wants to warm up his/her bike 10 minutes before leaving, it’s great watching different reactions and quiet moans… so on the bike and a quick couple of minutes ride to Ness Point, on arrival seemed the ride was going to be popular after all. Managed to get a few pics of the chapter participants and everyone else as we waited patiently for the sun to finally show itself and off we set, nine in our group, eight usual and Twig he called himself, several of the gang new so happy days.. Ride to Newmarket, pretty uneventful nice roads and managed to avoid the A14, result, smiling faces so early, always good to see. We all decided to have a quick stop here so just enough time to thank all involved, a coffee, comfort break and back on the road, time to blitz this next leg to give us more time at Reading Duel carriage way and motorways so not much to tell other than making sure there’s a noisy bike at the front in case of filtering. Arrived at the dealership ahead of schedule having fuelled up first, WOW what a reception, TV members, Shop personal and then some, all with smiley faces, great to see. Here we all took a little time to feast, interact and order those rockers. Talking to a few of the locals and having seen on the web, M4 J13 Newbury exit closed so detour down towards Basingstoke seemed best option to pick up A303 & our next check point. Off we 15
RIDE OUTS
SUMMER SOCIAL
Saturdauy, 20 July Wet n Wild
August 14th September 11th October 9th
Sunday, 21 July Stratford on Avon
CLUB NIGHTS
Sunday, 28 July 5 Counties Ride
July 17th August 21st September 18th October 16th November 20th
Sunday, 4 August Summer Surprise Ride Sunday, 11 August Cotswold Bimble
MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTION DEADLINES
Saturday, 17 August Yeovil Fleet Arm Museum
July 4th Aug 7th Sep 5th Oct 3rd Nov 7th
Sunday, 18 August Chilli n Cheese Winchester Sunday, 1 September Borde Garden
Friday, 9 - Sunday, 11 August 2019 Convergence Rally
Saturday, 7 September White Waltham Members
Friday, 13 - Sunday, 15 September 2019 Sparkle Tour
Saturday, 7 September Petrol heads ride Sunday, 8 September American Diner Sunday, 15 September Ride to meet Sparle Tour Please check the website for the latest on all rides.
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2019 Officers & Committee https://www.facebook.com/ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
PRIMARY OFFICERS
Nick West Director
Andy Tunley Lesley Lederer Secretary & Ass.Director Treasurer
John Green Assistant Director
COMMITTEE & SUPPORTING OFFICERS
Mohit Khanna Editor
Fred Cotsford Membership
Robin Sasson Webmaster
Mike Wilson Dealer Principal
Mike Connolly Safety Officer
Jamie McLaughlin Rally Manager
Gary Watts Activities
Nick Ekendahl Activities
Hayley West Social Media & Charities Officer
Linda Friend Photographer
Alex MacDonald Photographer
Payal Khanna Photographer
CLUB VENUE Burnham Cricket Club Memorial Ground, Taplow Common Road, Burnham, Slough, Berks, SL1 8LP Third Wednesday of every month 7:00pm
Email any committee member at (position held)@thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
set having thanked all there involved (Oh afore I forget, got several texts and messages re a large pool of liquid left from under one of the bikes, bit of a concern hopefully not a panic as it was an hour or so before we stopped again and was able to explain, basically one of the guys always fills up at fuel station upright an if he parks straight afterwards it expands and pees all over the tarmac) Filtering around those stones is always fun, but noisy bikes at the front help and honestly what is so fascinating about a lot of stones.. finally arrived at Route 303 diner, now here’s a thing, was bloody warm by then and decided to lose a few layers to make the rest of the journey more comfortable, boy was that a mistake, hung my cut on the handle bars and the bike decided to lay down, don’t panic was able to rest it nicely on the engine bars and the guys helped lifted it back up, I told the bike that it’s not time to sleep yet and all was sorted.. Coffee, ice cream for some and for a few a well needed comfort break, did I mention the one with hamster bladder, oh ok then I won’t… Set off from here and headed to Route 38 diner, this part of the journey seemed to take an age, I guess due to the amount of filtering on the roads especially the short bit of the M5, somebody decided to close the A30 junction and everyone as usual slows to look, that aside some pretty cool views along the way, what’s funny about the Route 38 diner is that as you approach the roundabout it’s on all the sat nav’s indicate to turn left, when in fact you need to turn right, happened last year as well.. One of the guys had arranged to meet up with his son, which was pretty cool as he was shortly shipping out on a tour of duty, his son that is. Given his happy nature, couldn’t help but carefully place a chip or two on his shoulder, just couldn’t help myself (shared a room with said person later and there were chips everywhere lol). Oh told a few of how big the meals were here and may be they might want to get one between two, fell on deaf ears, one guy ordered a salad, Gordon bennet you could have had a bath in the bowl it arrived in, still a nice bit of grub never the less. Heading out of the diner and the final leg of the trip, forgot to text 18
Michael and Linda, what was I thinking, for the next 20 miles or so I was saying to myself, she’s gonna be mad, she’s gonna hit me, oh an then the usual thoughts, what if she dresses up and does it slowly… Any way back to the trip, roads fairly quiet, we’d shared the lead quite a few times however our American buddy had pretty much ridden tale all the way, he kind of likes that so not a problem normally however our guest Twig now had acquired a new name, the name was “driftwood” which to be honest is a pretty cool name, however, driftwood by nature don’t really know where it’s going, kind of gets stuck behind all sorts of shit but does go with the flow and I guess eventually lands in the right place looking cool, I know, kind of harsh but true get over it, besides tale guy, he was managing the rear of the ride bloody good. Approaching Penzance, the group had gotten split so we pulled into a layby to reform, a few of the other groups passed us by giving us a great grin as they did so, the last 10 miles from Penzance for me always seems to take so long, however with the wind in our sails it soon passed and we all got caught on camera, thankfully it was Linda and not the law, parked up at Lands’ End, checked in and got our patches, so much better that last year, am I allowed to say that, whatever.. All in all a really great ride, company was fantastic, hopefully next year even more of the chapter participate and with a bit of luck those buggers that booked up Lands’ End hotel are still happily married and go somewhere else to celebrate. For us as a group we took a while to take a few pics, then headed off to Hayle Premier Inn for a well-earned beer or two or three… Oh the Whoopie cushion or Air Hawk was bloody good, well worth the money and a must on a softail with a standard seat.. hopefully catch a few more on the trip next year, which has already changed, T shirts are out and polo shirts are in (well posh) also Plymouth HD is back as a check point, think Route38 diner will still be a none official stopping point if only for the grub. Ride safe y’all… Alan Moss 19
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Valley Rally 2019