The Weekly Ride - Week 2
So the second weekly ride, again we were blessed with great weather, sunny, a tiny bit chilly, but ideal for a ride out. We meet at the Bike Shed at 2:30, after a fair amount of interest from the event posted on London Cafe & Custom group on Facebook there were 11 of us that turned up.
There was no one - apart from me - that was there for the first week. I could of taken that in one of two ways - people didn't like the first one - or the fact that it was Easter weekend and that people were busy. For my own mental state I took the second option.
As last week, I found myself a bit nervous. I arrived early and bought my (beginning to be) customary lemonade and sat outside and waited. It's strange not knowing anyone, looking around trying to make eye contact and pluck up enough courage to ask people if they were there for the ride out. The Bike Shed was busy, so it was hard to work out who was enjoying a leisurely coffee or who was waiting to go out on the ride. I saw a guy who had messaged me during the week, he had asked whether it would be ok to turn up on a Club 90, never a bike snob, I said fine by me. He had decided to change his mind and come on a different bike (one of many it turns out). We had a chat and he turned out to be a really cool guy and the conversation seemed to flow. Next to us was a lady and a guy, we plucked up enough courage to ask the lady if she was here for the ride out. It turns out she was and was quite excited about it, she liked the idea of meeting people and trying to have ride outs regularly, which was exactly the idea of the Weekly Ride. We chatted a bit about what she was riding, were she came from and about her passion for motorcycles, she kindly said she would help round up the troops.
So as I mentioned there were 11 of us looking to head out, the conversation soon turned to our route. Last week, as it was the first one, I suggested the route and as you can see in the previous post we headed to the Epping Forest area. This week I had encouraged people to come up with a new different route. As no one was there from last week I explained what we had done and there was a general feeling of people being happy to do that, I mentioned we had stopped at the Tea Hut for a break and a chat at that idea went down well also. So I said I would be happy to lead.
Although nervous about leading out, I thought all I have to do is programme the Tea Hut into my phones Google Maps and we would get there, so I felt pretty comfy. I know riding in big groups is hard, so I stuck to sensible speeds and was cautious on approaching traffic lights to make sure we would all get through as one group. It did feel different to last week, being at the front meant it did feel a bit like you were on your own and I missed the imagery of last week being in the middle of the group as you got to see, hear and smell all these bike around you.
Anyway we headed off in the direction my phone was telling me, I was purposely avoiding larger roads and tried to choose alternative routes options where I could, trying to find what I thought might be more country type roads. You can see from the route image further down I went some crazy route round the houses, going through small residential areas before ending on the A112 which was the road we took last week to head home. However it meant I knew that we would get to the Tea Hut fairly soon.
As we pulled in, I thought people would comment on that being a crazy route and a bit dull (the pressure of being the lead rider!) but people seemed happy enough. We sat, had a cup of tea and chatted about all various different things, from one of the guys being a bike builder, another guy saying him and his wife are expecting and the lady I spoke about earlier, explaining how her bike test was coming up and she had her second bike already bought and waiting for her to tear those L plates up. We also spoke about 'Loud pipes saves lives', it seems a lot of the group thought that there bike being loud definitely made them more 'hearable' on the road and therefore made them feel a lot safer. It is something I had not thought about, but it made me think I will look into how I can make mine have bit more of a loud bark. Unfortunately it turns out one of the guys left their bag at the bike shed so they had to break off and head back for it, but as they knew we were heading to the tea hut they had headed there.
So after a while and a bit more chat and one of the guys finally getting his sausage roll, we decided to head back to the bike shed. One of the group said he was happy to lead out a bit of a burn around epping forest, he was the guy building bikes professionally, obviously an experienced rider as he was popping wheelies on his Ducati whilst still leading the group at a sensible pace. Our route back to London then took us on the way we had come out last week, so a bit more greenery and then heading onto the A12. As me and one of the Harley riders headed onto the A12 we realised that the others had not made it through the lights. We pulled over onto the hard shoulder and waited 10 minutes or so, between muffled exchanges through helmets and on a busy road, we figured maybe at the last minute they had gone a different way and as we had agreed to meet at the bike shed we would just head back there. So that is what we did.
When we got back we parked up and I got another lemonade, chatted a bit and checked Facebook for any messages from the other riders, it turns the guy I was with, one of his friends was with the other group but didn't have a phone with him so he couldn't even get it contact. We stayed for a while chatting, it turns out he is a designer as well and we were talking about past and future ideas. We parted company and headed home, when I got home I checked in on the Facebook group again. It turns out someone's clutch cable had broken just before going on the A12! Thankfully the man with the Club 90 (today riding a BMW), had a tool kit on the bike he brought with him and the bike builder managed to get her going again. As messages filtered in later, everyone had made it home and enjoyed their little adventure.
So after two rides, we have had someone break down, get lost, run out of petrol, forget their bag and a broken clutch cable. Maybe it's just cursed or maybe it's just part and parcel of owning a motorcycle. Anyway good fun had by all I think. Onwards and upwards to week 3, I can not make it I am afraid, but I will set up an event and hopefully people will go and I may even ask someone to do a guest blog post. Until next time.
There was no one - apart from me - that was there for the first week. I could of taken that in one of two ways - people didn't like the first one - or the fact that it was Easter weekend and that people were busy. For my own mental state I took the second option.
As last week, I found myself a bit nervous. I arrived early and bought my (beginning to be) customary lemonade and sat outside and waited. It's strange not knowing anyone, looking around trying to make eye contact and pluck up enough courage to ask people if they were there for the ride out. The Bike Shed was busy, so it was hard to work out who was enjoying a leisurely coffee or who was waiting to go out on the ride. I saw a guy who had messaged me during the week, he had asked whether it would be ok to turn up on a Club 90, never a bike snob, I said fine by me. He had decided to change his mind and come on a different bike (one of many it turns out). We had a chat and he turned out to be a really cool guy and the conversation seemed to flow. Next to us was a lady and a guy, we plucked up enough courage to ask the lady if she was here for the ride out. It turns out she was and was quite excited about it, she liked the idea of meeting people and trying to have ride outs regularly, which was exactly the idea of the Weekly Ride. We chatted a bit about what she was riding, were she came from and about her passion for motorcycles, she kindly said she would help round up the troops.
So as I mentioned there were 11 of us looking to head out, the conversation soon turned to our route. Last week, as it was the first one, I suggested the route and as you can see in the previous post we headed to the Epping Forest area. This week I had encouraged people to come up with a new different route. As no one was there from last week I explained what we had done and there was a general feeling of people being happy to do that, I mentioned we had stopped at the Tea Hut for a break and a chat at that idea went down well also. So I said I would be happy to lead.
Although nervous about leading out, I thought all I have to do is programme the Tea Hut into my phones Google Maps and we would get there, so I felt pretty comfy. I know riding in big groups is hard, so I stuck to sensible speeds and was cautious on approaching traffic lights to make sure we would all get through as one group. It did feel different to last week, being at the front meant it did feel a bit like you were on your own and I missed the imagery of last week being in the middle of the group as you got to see, hear and smell all these bike around you.
Anyway we headed off in the direction my phone was telling me, I was purposely avoiding larger roads and tried to choose alternative routes options where I could, trying to find what I thought might be more country type roads. You can see from the route image further down I went some crazy route round the houses, going through small residential areas before ending on the A112 which was the road we took last week to head home. However it meant I knew that we would get to the Tea Hut fairly soon.
As we pulled in, I thought people would comment on that being a crazy route and a bit dull (the pressure of being the lead rider!) but people seemed happy enough. We sat, had a cup of tea and chatted about all various different things, from one of the guys being a bike builder, another guy saying him and his wife are expecting and the lady I spoke about earlier, explaining how her bike test was coming up and she had her second bike already bought and waiting for her to tear those L plates up. We also spoke about 'Loud pipes saves lives', it seems a lot of the group thought that there bike being loud definitely made them more 'hearable' on the road and therefore made them feel a lot safer. It is something I had not thought about, but it made me think I will look into how I can make mine have bit more of a loud bark. Unfortunately it turns out one of the guys left their bag at the bike shed so they had to break off and head back for it, but as they knew we were heading to the tea hut they had headed there.
So after a while and a bit more chat and one of the guys finally getting his sausage roll, we decided to head back to the bike shed. One of the group said he was happy to lead out a bit of a burn around epping forest, he was the guy building bikes professionally, obviously an experienced rider as he was popping wheelies on his Ducati whilst still leading the group at a sensible pace. Our route back to London then took us on the way we had come out last week, so a bit more greenery and then heading onto the A12. As me and one of the Harley riders headed onto the A12 we realised that the others had not made it through the lights. We pulled over onto the hard shoulder and waited 10 minutes or so, between muffled exchanges through helmets and on a busy road, we figured maybe at the last minute they had gone a different way and as we had agreed to meet at the bike shed we would just head back there. So that is what we did.
So after two rides, we have had someone break down, get lost, run out of petrol, forget their bag and a broken clutch cable. Maybe it's just cursed or maybe it's just part and parcel of owning a motorcycle. Anyway good fun had by all I think. Onwards and upwards to week 3, I can not make it I am afraid, but I will set up an event and hopefully people will go and I may even ask someone to do a guest blog post. Until next time.
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