Five gallant Busy Bee-ers gathered at Otterspool Way to set off for far off Duxford and two more joined us at the Silver Ball.
We took the scenic route to the A10 via Hatfield Tunnel, where the hooligans amongst us reveled in the sound of their Harleys echoing off the walls of the tunnel, on to Hertford, the back road to Bengeo and Wadesmill to the A10.
A straight run to the Silver Ball at Reed, near Royston. Disaster struck! The Silver Ball cafe was shut for two days. No number two breakfast or even a cup of tea! We stood around trying to think of somewhere to go but could not come up with any suggestions. We pressed on thinking we may see somewhere in Royston but no luck. We stopped at a lay-by and decided to carry on to Duxford.
The traffic was unusually light and we were directed around the M11 roundabout into the top end of the museum. We stopped at the ticket booths where one member on a Triumph Sprint, who shall be nameless, gave the poor woman in the booth such a sob story that she let him pay just the disabled persons rate! We parked on a large area of hard standing and went off having made some arrangements to possibly get together for the flying display. The weather forecast had been for rain later in the day and I think that affected the numbers. Perhaps people had chosen to go on the Saturday. There certainly was not the atmosphere of previous shows. We had some light rain but the flying display started on time. There were some aircraft not seen before including some replica WW 1 bi-planes which were slow and sedate in complete contrast with what was to follow. The Bristol Blenheim was another plane making its debut.
The clouds were getting lower and by four p.m. the two planes doing close formation aerobatics were disappearing into the clouds at the tops of their loops. We agreed we had probably seen the best of the display and decided to make for home. We rode through some light rain on our way to the A1M but otherwise the journey home was uneventful
A beautiful morning for a ride out, set off early to meet Big Dave and Sam at Mc Donald’s in Uxbridge for a coffee.
Brian Watts turned up in his car to see us off. Unfortunately, he had hurt his ankle and as a result he is unable to ride.
After a good old gossip before leaving him to meet the rest of the gang at Denham. Steve, Bob, Len, Ray and Bill we’re wait for us. Not so many of us this year as lot of our gang had opted to go to Duxford VE-Day Air show instead which is very poplar and happened to be on the same day.
We had a very leisurely run to Windsor, the only person to go wrong was Brian (luckily) no one followed and we soon caught up with the rest of the gang.
Max turned up just after us so first stop was to the Pub for refreshments. There was no Barbecue this year but had plenty of choice on the menu. The weather was very kind to us as we had no rain. The Cellar run was not as big as it has been in the past, but there were still plenty of bikes and old faces to see and lots to talk about. About 2:30 few dark clouds appeared so a few of us decide to go down to the river and have photos taken outside the cellar where the bikers use to go in the 60’s. Before going to our favourite café for a coffee (in my case an ice cream). It was lovely just to sit and watch the world go by. Suddenly a few drops of rain made us decide it was time to go home.
I managed to get couple of hours in checking the T110 over on Saturday afternoon and finished it off late Sunday. Did the Mag points and the plugs. Gave her a nice polish as a result she looked good.
Just remembered the last time I took her out was last September with that in mind on the third kick she started. Still not sure whether to go on her or the sprint. See what the weather is like on Monday morning.
Cloudy and dry dawned so off on the Ton Ten to meet the gang at Denham in the layby. It was nice to see Dave Taylor and Alys on his 750 Bonnie also Roger on his Triton that he had just rebuilt, Vinnie, Sam, Laurie, Steve, George, Pat and Brian.
Set off on time and had a steady run down through Windsor. Steve rode at the back on his Honda, me then Laurie in front, pulled up at the light next to Laurie. He said that the new short twin exhaust pipe was loose and that it was making noise. I could see the pipe flapping and said to Laurie that it should be ok till we get to Fleet but I was wrong.
Few turns later as I came of the roundabout to Ascot saw what looked suspiciously like the pipe coming to a halt in a gateway. Laurie was going like a train as we had dropped back a little in the traffic and had not noticed the extra noise. I had to wind the Ton Ten up to catch him and got alongside and after lots of arm waving he stopped. I asked him if the pipe was still on the bike and so looked down and said it’s gone.
I told him that it was about a mile back in the gateway. I set off back to try and get it and not gone very far when Steve came flying down the road holding it in the air like he had won a prize.
Laurie was pleased to get his undamaged pipe back. He told us to carry on while he would try to fix it or call the AA. Mobile phones are great to have, how did we managed without them? The rest had kept going unaware of our problems.
Pat was flapping when we arrived as she thought we had an accident. Laurie turned up soon after with his bodged up fixing. We were soon riding again to the Lunci pub about 40 miles away. Had left Brian and Pat casually drinking a cup of tea watching the bikes depart. It was a lovely ride through the lanes with the noise of all the different classics. Great to be alive. There is a sudden whoosh and Brian appears and disappears in the distance. It’s like he has pressed a button that enabled him to travel at warp speed through English country lanes. George and I had a paint and a burger. I noticed that the chef put chips in George’s box as George mentioned that he only paid for a burger. The bloke said next and I said same as him and gave him my ticket. I too received chips with my order, lucky me!
We set off to ride back to Fleet and few miles down the road Laurie was in a gateway broken down again. He was not having a lot of luck today, the rocket had gone one cylinder did all the checks and plug changing still. On one cylinder decided to ride back as a single 125cc slow but it got there. George and I following behind. Arrived back to find Roger’s Triton in bits. The clutch cage had come loose which had damaged the chain case, it was like a motorcycle repair depot and Roger was the mechanic. Apparently he too suffered from a breakdown by the side of the lane earlier when his throttle cable broke and someone had soldering iron to solder it back on.
Meanwhile Laurie who was scratching his head trying to diagnose his problem. He checked and double checked everything and still puzzled standing there looking at his bike. I noticed that Laurie had acquired a tank bag recently and wondered if it was the cause.
As it happens the tank bag was blocking the tank vent and after removing it Laurie had a trouble free journey home. Classic Run would not be the same without such problems I guess!
What a day and as usual nobody won any prizes so, we set off home with all the bikes running perfectly. I rode with Laurie to Hemel turn off and then carried on up M1 to Luton. Total distance covered was 154 miles. A very interesting classic bike day out. Still a lovely day!
One of the points of focus for me last year, when I had my stroke was to do the Ace Toy Run and Southend Shakedown. Well second outing attained! Here I am bowling down the M1 with Barry not far behind on his Fire blade. Feeling great and thinking what a lucky bugger I am and what power motorcycling gives to me. It keeps you alert and switched on. Just to ride a bike never mind the other side of it with all the many friends you make along the way. Turning into Otterspool Way there was a good many of the gang waiting. A great feeling we set off quickly and found a position to ride. I ended up just behind Rogers Pan European, our combined exhaust note made a very potent noise especially riding through the M25 tunnels. A good ride down and found parking not too bad as it had not filled up yet.
The amount of bikes was eventually greater then I have seen for many years. We all trooped down to Pebbles One and had a coffee. Steve and I retired to the jellied eel stall. I got a bit carried away and had two bowls. I am afraid that being only one and half hours away from fish ‘n’ chips time I got a bit greedy. After stuffing it all down us we did our wander about bit. I usually meet a lot of my original mates at this time. But none were there not many riders in the old rockers gear. I suppose we have all got old! It was almost 3 O’clock and was quite cold by now. I was glad to get back on the bike for home. The ride up to the M25 was quite manic considering most of A127 was congested. I don’t know how these bikes were under passing me at very high speeds. Cutting in and out of the cars, filtering between me and the two cars. I was already filtering. Bloody madmen. I was pleased to get on the M25. Little wonder that motorbikes have such a bad press. Anyway nice ride home put the bike away and Barry came round for a beer. Another great day!
Here we go again! Start of the riding session and the very first club run of the year. Only the bravest of the brave turned up as it was very cold.
Last year this particular run was three weeks later and as a result the weather was so warm that we striped down to our T-Shirts and I remember Bob falling asleep on the beach.
This ride was special to me for two reasons. # 1. Because it was the first club run of the year and # 2. My last ride was to Canvey Island back in November 2014. Since Christmas my bike had been parked in Danny’s garage for following reasons, as I will explain below. (Thank you Danny! For letting me store my bike whilst the works was being carried out).
I had problems with my battery which got swapped two weeks before the warranty ran out. Over Christmas we had our hedge removed from the side of the house and replaced with panel & post fencing. This also involved extending the side of my garage where the hedge used to be and installing roller shutters. Leaky roof had to be replaced at the same time. The only works left outstanding now was to replace aluminum windows and French doors as well as insulate and plaster the insides.
Last Saturday I drove up to Danny’s to pick up my bike. I plugged the new battery to my trickle charger night before. Installed the battery and to my surprise she started up almost straight away even though she had been standing still for three months. Drove her back to my garage ready for the morning jaunt to the coast.
Got up Sunday morning and the sun was shining. Went to fuel-up and quick check on the tire pressure then onwards to join Steve E, Sam and Johnny at the bottom of Long Lane. Now there were four of us and so made our way to Denham to meet the rest of the gang. Pat, Brian, Steve V and Big Dave were waiting.
As there was no sign of others we set off towards Ryka’s for our usual quick stop for hot drinks. We lost Big Dave along the way between Denham and Ryka’s. He was undecided and so we did not wait for him. We then set off to Brighton. The weather was getting quite cold and it was turning overcast. For a change there was no road works along the way and we made good time to Brighton. However, as we approached the town Centre there was light traffic and small amount of road works. This year we parked up at the top and walked down to Madeira Drive. We looked at all the classic bikes parked and couldn’t help to notice that there were fewer vehicles then last year. As we were walking towards our usual spot for fish ‘n’ chips we bumped into Bob. We couldn’t believe that he made this journey by himself especially when it was so cold. Well done Bobby!!!
As we got up to walk towards the pier Johnny noticed bright blue paint marks on the back legs of my leather trousers. They must have painted the benches and did not warn us. I did not make a fuss as I knew it would come off with a bit of white spirit. As we were walking along the pier Steve E decided to indulge in fresh doughnuts which he was kind enough to share with us and Pat bought Humbug Rocks. Johnny, Sam and Steve E then decided to go and look for jellied eels. Alas it was time to head back and Johnny, Steve E and Sam rode home whilst we made our way back to Ryka’s for a quick stop. As we walked over to get our hot drinks we bumped into good old Bob again. After a quick drink we headed back home. Safe riding and catch you on the next one!
