Ride for red nose day, my adventure.

[frazer1981]

Hi,

On the 8/3/09 i took part in a ride out to raise money for comic relief. The ride out was from Sainsbury's in Banbury to bewts-y-coed in north wales and return. Total expected milage was 350 miles for the actual ride, and at the end of the day i had covered 466 miles incl my travelling milage to and from the start at Banbury.

So que me getting up and leaving home at 5am on the day of the ride out, and after filling up with petrol and breakfast in the services at M1 junction 15A i arrived at Banbury around 06:45, for a start of 07:30. Two free bacon buties at the store and a few cups of coffe we had a quick briefing from the guy who had put the day togther and some info regarding north wales police (speed camera in the horse box ) it was time to leave. As i was doing the ride out on my Varadero 125 i was put into the 1st group to leave which consisted of my 125, a CBR125, goldwing, CBR600, thundercat 600 and 2 ZX12R's. Mike brewer from the tv show The workshop/ wheeler dealers was there to get us rolling so with a handshake and a wave of the flag we where off !

Now the plan was for me to ride with two lads from work (simon and staurt). They where on a CBR 600 and a goldwing in my group but as soon as we where out of banbury they flew away and left me standing so it was me and the other 125 and the 600. I took a wrong turn at redditch and never saw a single rider from the ride out untill i got to Quatford cafe. Time taken 2hrs 30 minutes, right on time according to the route sheet given to us at the start.

So quick look around and i could not see simon or stuart about so after a quick phone conversation i discovered they had spanked it all the way to the services near dobbie's garden center at Shrewsbury and where planning on waiting for me there! B*****ds! Phoned them back said something like if i dont see you at betws-y-coed or the finish i will see you at work during the week as i was going to do the rest of the ride with the lad on CBR 125. At this point it was a really sunny day but that was soon to change

After leaving Quatford and navigatig our way on to the A5 the heavens opened. At 1st it was rain and then hail abit of snow and just to make things intresting some sidewinds which blew me around like god knows what. At 1 point i swear i was riding down the A5 with me leaning off the side of the bike in the wind just to keep it going stright. A quick somke break in a laybay and a check of the maps put us about 30 miles from betws-y-coed. This part of the trip was proberbly the worst part of the day as it snowed/ hail all the way to betws-y-coed and everytime we passed a raod sign it was like betws-y 15 miles, 12 miles, 10 miles and after what seemed hours we arrrived in betws-y-coed at around 13:30.


There was about 30 riders from the ride out still in bewts-y-coed when we got there but most where getting ready to leave when we parked up. We went into the fish and chip shop at the railway station for some warmth and food The staff there must have wondered what the hell was going on as there was 25+ riders from our ride out in there taking off soaking jackets and ride nose t'shirts and placing on the many raditors near our tables lol. even with a thermal vest, jumper, flece jacket, thermal lining in my riding jacket i was sooooooooo cold. After we paid the lad on the CBR 125 asked for a black bag which we put on under his leathers! I thought i was cold he must have been freezing his nuts off

Through out the ride a AA van was taking the same route incase of any breakdowns so was at the back of the group and for some reason in front of us?? Keeping things short the ride home was the best ride i have ever had. The roads where the best i have been on and the view's were stunning. The weather held off and it never rained/ hailed again for the rest of the day! result The return route took as down though wales and across to newtown back into england and back to banbury. At some point we made a wrong turn and found our selves in welshpool and then back in shrewsbury! We pulled over and talked about heading to newtown and back on the return route or as it was about 4pm heading on to the outward bound route back to the finish. The AA man had been following us, as we where well and truely the last riders by then

At this point the AA man's phone rang to say that the 1st bike was back in banbury and it was none other than my mate stuart on his tank... sorry i mean goldwing and i was still in bloody wales!!
Now it was'nt only about finishing the rideout but getting back as quick as poss. So we hauled ass down the A5 to telford and across to kidderminster and back to banbury. The only exciting thing that happened on this part of the journey was me hitting a rabbit and the lad on the 125 who was behind me thought i was coming off as it must have been a big un he said from the way my bike bounced as i hit it. At 21:30 we arrived back in banbury so i had done it 350 miles on a 125 in 13 and a half hours. Had a quick smoke and then headed home whcih was about another 54 miles! Got home at around 11pm, but would have got home quicker but got stuck behind a lorry from my work going down the A43 towards kettering. The next day god was i feeling it my back and neck where killing me and i had to go to work as well

Anyway i raised £150.00 for comic relief and in total there was 7k rasied by all the bikers who went, around 90 of us. So if any other BCF'ers where in wales that day and saw alot of riders with red nose shirts on and wondered why, well now you know. All i can say is the baby Varadero performed perfectly no problems at all, and the whole day cost me £21 in petrol as when we stopped i just topped up my tank just incase as i know i can get 220 miles from a full tank.

I have posted some pictures in the phot forum

link https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=169387

Thanks for reading

















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1st bike - chunlan starway 50QF4 (SOLD) 2nd bike - 92 Honda mtx125RW-L ( In my garage awaiting some TLC)
05 Honda xl125v Varadero stolen and recovered but now a write off!
07 Hyosung GTR125R

[hectashouse]

may i say that was a really good read thank you

hecta..
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98" Honda xr125 (sold), 56" Peugeot Jetforce 50

CBT = done 24/01/09

[Feasty]

Excellent read there and well done mate!

However it just depresses me that if I'd decided to take part in anything like this and had to do the 460 odd miles in a day - I'd have to fill my SLR up no less than 6 times!!!!
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).