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[guest7]

I was pondering the other day about when I got my first XBR and how I found myself using more and more flimsy excuses to get away for a ride.

One memorable occasion was when I finished work (in a Cardiff nightclub) at 1.30am and set off for a backroads ride to Stratford on Avon. I have no idea why I chose Stratford, but the ride was great, on deserted A and B roads in the middle of the night.

I arrived in Stratford around dawn and watch the sun come up behind Anne Hathaways cottage. After a little bimble through town I set off South to Bath (still using minor roads) with the aim of getting to the hotel that a friend ran in time for fried breakfast.

With breakfast inside me I headed back to Cardiff. Back in the city, I called in on my girlfriend and we then set off back to Bristol (2-up on the XBR) for the classic bike show. When we got to Bristol I remember she admitted that she had put her name down for a new Harris Bonneville, we had a great wander around the show after that.

Late in the afternoon I rode us back to Cardiff and we retired for a well-earned... rest.

Did we all do things like that when we were still fairly new to biking? I can't imagine jumping on a bike now and riding all that way for no reason whatsoever and with no pre-planning.

The other thing is that I rarely do long rides these days without other riders in tow.

Any other stories of the days when we just rode for the hell of it?
GC

[andy0405]

I'm the other round, only had a bike for a short while when I was a young lad (Honda CB100N) and since I went straight into the army from school didn't find much time for unplanned or long trips.

However since getting back on a bike at the ripe old age of 41 and passing my test I can't stop myself. Once last summer finished shift at 2 a.m. and rode from Harrogate to Scarborough had a cuppa and a bacon butty, saw sunrise and rode back. Sometimes on my days off I just get on and head off somewhere, find out where it was I wanted to go when I get there !!

[guest7]

Sounds grand.

There's something special about being the first customer of the day at a seaside café eh?

GC

[andy0405]

yeah but best of all its the empty roads that appeal to this kind of madness, Oh and burning past the milkman at 40mph whilst he does the morning round 

[Bill Rutter]

All my mates were into cars. They all thought bikes were a bit odd, pah! So I mainly spent my early days blasting round the lanes that surround Brands Hatch on my beloved KH250 on my ownsome. Ah, the sights and smells....wonderful summer days. And all in short sleeves, jeans and trainers. My only concession to safety, apart from a lid, was leather riggers' gloves. Wouldn't dream of doing that now. The cafe at the bottom of Wrotham Hill did the greatest breakfast in Kent. Still does by all accounts.

[002]

Yes !   Still nip out for that "Going For A Ride" !

Dont know where I'm going till I get there !

Used to have a few with my mate Helen....I'd call up to hers or she to me.
Great days......sadly missed since last May.


Jethro

[guest27]

Hi All

When I have a bike working - ride for fun...

Memories of impromptu rides. 

First long ride on the RD500, Milton Keynes to Gunnislake (Cornwall)  Usual distance 230, 235 miles, 660 miles.  Remember going through Malmsbury a number of times as with Frome.  Finally got to Gunnislake (Well St Ann's Chapel) from the South having done Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor along the way.  Sore arse but big grin - oh and very empty wallet from all the petrol.

Plymouth Poly Bike CLub used to have impromptu "P155 Runs".  We would set off from the pub after the club had met and ride somewhere to have a pee and then ride back.  Common destination was Lands End but one one memorable occasion we headed up to one of the lads Girlfriend's place just south of London - oooh it was a long and pretty chilly ride - fun mind.  She was not too impressed being woken by about 10 of us somewhere around 2 in the morning, raided her fridge and coffee pot had a pee and headed back to Plymouth.  Lectures the next day were a bit of a trial.

Used to work for a metal bashing company in Newport Pagnell my last roundaboput of the ride in offered options - left to a boring day at work, straight on to Northamptonshire and beyond or left to South Bucks and a cup of tea with my gran.  Too many times I would be sat having tea with Nan Brookman - being told off for skiving off work, but having a good time.  Ear bashing from Boss the next day but he knew that I would really get all the lathes humming for a few days to catch back up.

Mmmmm miss it - still 2008 is the year I get well, get some income and get somme bikes working and ridden..

R

[xbruby]

About 4 years ago I left the house at 0730 in the morning on my trusty BM telling SWMBO that i was going for a blast round the beautiful Derbyshire Dales (I live in south Derbyshire). Needless to say when I rang her at 1630 from Fort William she was less than pleased 

Still, had a great ride back and never lost sight of the fast boys on sports bikes across Ranoch Moor. The guy on the Blade at the back of the group spent most of his time looking back at me, probably in disbelief 

Last year told long suffering wife that I was popping down the road for a news paper, again she was most unhappy when I called her two and a half hours later to tell her I had the paper but I had bought it in North Wales 

Bloody lucky to still be married to be honest 

Andy

[Steffan]

Excluding an early infatuation with a small honda - on my return to biking in OZ saw me riding a 250 virago. Anyway I was out and about all the time, up the east coast of Tasmania and back throught he midlands, down to Hobart, stay with a mate and back the following day. Family commitments tend to hem you in but I still get out from time to time

Steffan

[bullet350]

Living in North London the obvious place for a cup of tea is the ace cafe.

I ended up stopping at a little tea hut in monmouth.

Roll on summer, out at 6am in the crisp air and the empty roads.

Evening rides returning at dusk, then walk to the pub for a few pints of IPA.



Just remember that without all this cold and wet weather, you wouldn't appreciate the summer days with baking sun and lovely sticky tarmac!

bullet350

[squirrelciv]

Sadly I can't remember the last time I went out for a ride just for the hell of it Too much happening in the squirrel house over the past few years have lead to a marked reduction in selfish liesure time and I can't see that changing for a year or two.
Heyho, they call it progress but I'm not so sure

[pigafetta]

Occasionally, when I'm doing the Sainsbury's run on the weekend (about 5 miles away), I get moving and I just feel too comfortable on my bike to go shopping straight away. So I head inland into the North Wales hills for a couple of hours and try to get myself lost for a bit. Given my dismal sense of direction this isn't too much of a challenge and generally ends being a nice little run. I never get very far, just sort of wander about.

The only time I've been frowned upon was when I made a little detour after going shopping and the oven chips defrosted in my panniers.

Dave B

[guest24]

I am just like Pat - no more fun rides for the sake of it 

Did lots of them when I was young, free and single. Box Hill was a regular Friday night (and often Wednesday) event. Now its all work, children, wife, work, bed, work, bills. etc ad naseum.     

However, I am determined to get my SRX working fully this Spring so I can give SWMBO her CBR back and then I will ride for the fun of it again. I must, before I lose all sense of biking fun     I only seem to ride to work and back so I even know how many trips I can do before I need to fill up at the same petrol station each week... How sad is that!

[guest40]

So Steffan, where are you living now? Are you back in Tassie? Has the 2nd nodule started growing yet, and is it clockwise this week or next? 

[Steffan]

After six years in Tas I got out before any growths started. After over 10 years here in the UK I think I am in the clear. Of course the what is really funny about Tas is that all the jokes are true. Curiously it never seemed to be properly part of Australia, Growing up a banana bender must have provided some protection I reckon. My folks came over the other day for a six week stay and they bought me the complete set of Alby Mangels, so that is a trip, albeit a slightly uncomfortable one at times, down memory lane.