October UK North West Meet

[SkinnE]

Right,

so I'm back from Italy and no other bugger has bothered to put together this weekend's meet. So, who's in? The weather forecast says it'll be dry either day, and about the same temp. I'm leaning towards Saturday, but am somewhat flexible. Are we to meet in the same car parks? Al, you coming over on short notice? You can stay with me if you do. Foghorn, get that thing together, quick!

Come on out, it's not that cold yet.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Thought I'd not seen you posting on the boards for a while

This weekend's completely out for me, no way I'll have her back together and checked out in time. Need to sort out where to mount the remote res, get some new fuel hose to reroute the from the tank to the pump. Lots of other bits and pieces too

Fog

[DefTrap]

Re: October UK North West Meet

Al, you coming over on short notice? You can stay with me if you do.

Oh bollocks - got stuff to do this weekend. Arse cakes.

[Swipe]

This weekend isn't great for me either to be honest. Next weekend or the following is fine for me.

[SkinnE]

I'm working 12 hour shifts the next two weekends, so count me out for those. But feel free to swing by the office to taunt me if it's in two weeks time. I'm just off the A41/A534 junction. Free tea and coffee, and I'll even let you use the toilet!

[Swipe]

Bummer Eric, you heard anything from Rob?

[SkinnE]

Yeah, he's up for a Sunday ride. Can you be persuaded?

[SkinnE]

Re: October UK North West Meet

Oh bollocks - got stuff to do this weekend. Arse cakes.

Put it off! We're not riding until Sunday afternoon now, plenty of time to make it up here Saturday evening, crash at mine for two nights and come riding. You know the weather's not going to hold out for long...

[Swipe]

Yeah, he's up for a Sunday ride. Can you be persuaded?

Unfortunately I can't make Sunday as I have to spend the day over at my parents house. I have to help them out with some jobs before they go on holiday next week.

[DefTrap]

Re: October UK North West Meet

Put it off! We're not riding until Sunday afternoon now, plenty of time to make it up here Saturday evening, crash at mine for two nights and come riding. You know the weather's not going to hold out for long...

Harumph - it's the missuses birthday.

[rob61280]

Sorry guys i've not checked the forum for ages,

i'm up for this sundays ride we'll think about you poor buggers when were riding the twisties

Rob

[Foghorn Leghorn]

How was the ride out gents? weather was good, I thoroughly enjoyed myself tiling my mum's kitchen....

Alarm and rear shock are fitted, forks are coming off tomorrow, should be back together for the end of the month.

Fog

[rob61280]

It was another excellent ride, the pass between llanberis and betsy-co-ed was amazing, i'll post some camera phone pics later in the week.

There were plenty of bikes about, and the weather was decent.

Fingers crossed the weather will hold out for a few more rides this year.

Good luck with the bike fog, see you all at the next ride
Rob

[SkinnE]

Ride was outstanding!

Would have been better if I hadn't dragged us all the way to Caernarfon and Bangor, but can't complain. We found another stellar road (A543/544/548 Denbigh -Llanrwst), and Rob returned to a stunning route after 7 years, which I hadn't seen before. Could barely keep my eyes on the windy road for the spectacular scenery. Also would have helped if I'd brought a clear visor; we left around 1 and got back after 7, d'oh (that's after dark here this time of year, heh). See http://www.hawkgtforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=27857#27857 for pics.

Here's the route, more or less (the yellow icons are just a by-product of drawing the map, ignore them):


So that was from near my house to Mold on back roads. Then the A541 to Denbigh, where I foolishly picked the B5382 to Llansannan. There we were able to pick up the A544/548 to Llanrwst, which was much better riding. The first half was tight sweepers, constantly rising or falling, second half was tight and twisty, flicking back and forth and sometimes rising or falling. Perfect roads for our bikes, there were even petrol stations along the way!

Then it was down to outdoor sports paradise Bets-Y-Coed and out to Capel Curig on the A470/A5. It was here we turned to the A4086 which was fast and flowing and brought us up the valley towards Snowdon, then over Pen-y-Pass where I had trouble not watching the scenery, but no trouble enjoying the Hawk in it's element; tight mountain roads. This took us down to Llanberis where I made the ill-fated decision to continue out to Caernarfon and Bangor.

We found every kitchen in town closed in Bangor so turned tail, met the same reception in Llanberis, but found sustenance (and I disturbed a geriatric biker couple on a first date ) at a chippy above the river in Bets-Y-Coed. Suitably refreshed, we returned to the A548/544 (where I just managed to keep the bike on the road, but sampled some of the wrong side of it ), and stayed on the A543 to Denbigh which was a much better option than the B5382 we had tried earlier. It was more tight sweepers rising and falling with the contours again.

This is about the time I was wishing for a clear visor as every time we passed underneath trees, I was having trouble seeing the surface through my black visor. It's road legal, honest officer! Luckily I was wearing glasses, so I had some eye protection when I ended up lifting the visor to see the rest of the way home.

If I'm free the last weekend in October, we'll have to do that again, minus the crap roads I took out to Caernarfon/Bangor.

E

[rob61280]

I will probably be up for that ride, hopefully I will be back from Paris by then, I've uploaded some more photos (there not great quality) and put them in the same thread as Eric's http://www.hawkgtforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=27857#27857

R