Stevenage and District Motorcycle Club
Club Runs
On most Sundays, weather permitting, and All Bank Holiday Mondays, members of the club enjoy a run out to bike spots around the country.
Bank Holiday run information will be found on the updates page, click on link below, Sunday runs are here:
To ensure that we all enjoy these runs a set of riding rules will be adopted;
see Club Run Rules for full details.
Please turn up remembering the club ride motto "Full tanks and empty Bladders"
British Summer Time has allegedly begun so we revert to our Summer routine, in anticipation of the gloriously hot days to come.
| Date: | Proposed Destination: | Meeting Place: | Time: |
|
All Sundays
|
T.B.A |
Outside Bikestop |
09:00 |
All are welcome!
The runs are organised and led by individual members of the club on a voluntary basis; they are not officially sanctioned or endorsed by any authority of the club.
Club members ride at their own risk, on their own insurance and at their own pace and skill level, they should of course comply with all road traffic regulations.
The club, its officers and committee as well as the ride leader are not responsible for the safety and security of individuals, their navigation or organisation of individual activities before, during or after any rides.
Any members seen riding in a foolish, aggressive or dangerous manner will be asked to leave the group and not be welcomed on any future rides.
If you have any suggestions for places to visit, good routes for bikes to follow or good stop off points, i.e. Cafe's or Pub's; then let a member of the committee know or e-mail the web site by clicking below.
If you don't we wont have any run outs to go to.
Some typical Sunday Runs are shown below:
Sunday 12th August
Southend On Sea
Here are some pictures, Taken by new member Richard and Roger, of the fun and games at southend, not only on the rides but trying to undo a disc lock without the key!!!
Well done Wayne:
A No Fireworks Run
Sunday 5th November
A small group enjoyed a ride to a nice cafe at Stradishall for our customary breakfast, followed by a ride through Bury St Edmonds to another cafe at Barton Mills, we don't only visit cafes on our Sunday rides although it does seem like that!!
The New Forest
Sunday 24th Sept 2006
After what was a very, very wet start we finally managed to make our breakfast stop at a very nice, clean and cheap cafe in Slough, its the first time we have been and it was a very lucky find, ask me if you want to know where it is.
We meandered through Hampshire to stop at Lyndhurst, the capital of the New Forest, after a stop for tea, what else, we enjoyed a scenic ride through the New Forest to Sammy Millers Museum, there was a Harley Davidson rally meeting here so we enjoyed looking at the vast array of chrome, leather tassels and custom paint jobs.
The ride home was less enjoyable along the motorways, without the filtering abilities of the bikes we would still be on the M25.
Here we are at Sammy Millers
The Mystery Run
Sunday 23rd July 2006
Seven bikes braved the uncertainty of the annual mystery run; so where did we go;
Well a lovely ride across the Chilton's through Aylesbury to Bicester for breakfast followed by a ride through some back roads, complete with gravel on many bends, to the Cotswolds and the Royal Enfield Open Day
We had a look around the
factory and displays as
well as the usual tea and food.
A ride back through Stow on the Wold, Burford and Whitney to Fox's Diner just south of Oxford, they do the biggest chip butties I have seen. we returned again over the Chilton's to finish a great day out.
Wayne trying his new bike for size.
The Glorious Peak District-Sunday 23rd Oct
long days ride, with cafe stops, to the delightful Peak District National Park. taking in the towns of: Ashbourne, Matlock and Bakewell.
As usual we had chaos and upsets throughout the day, riders getting lost, bikes running off the road and bikes rolling gently to the ground when their stands gave way.
It was one of our longest rides, over 12 hours and 320 miles.
This from Sean:
Hello Dave,
Sorry about going missing but I was following the A38 sign as designated on the plan. I thought you were lost and went right only to see you go straight on in my mirror. Did not have much chance to turn around and saw that there was another road out of town to the a38 so headed there to meet you. You guessed it, you went elsewhere. I then shot up to Matlock Bath where I had fish & chips (your dinners looked much nicer!) and waited until 2pm. I then shot off to Brassington but could not see hide or hair of you. I did not come all this way to turn around, so shot off and went to Buxton across to Glossop and back across Snake pass to Sheffield before heading home via Dronfield, Chesterfield and Ashbourne and the reverse of the route up to the peak.
I was going to give you a call when I got to Matlock, but found out I had not picked it up that morning!
Well, it looks as if you had a good time. See you at the Halloween club night.
Sean Creech
This from Theresa:
Dave led then Roger led, after stopping off at pub for a drink, losing ourselves after diversions, Roger led again lost Sean, dropped our bike, Richard having a near miss we eventually got to Matlock Bath at 3.30, couldn't find Sean all undecided where to eat or what to eat.
On to Bakewell for a pudding, no tart or cherry, set off home at 5.30 stopped off at services Richard had left bag in pudding shop, more diversions heavy traffic, heavy rain, heavy day. 1 to remember.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
Photos by Roger
A Rutland Trip - Sunday 16th October
Bill Davies, Yellow Yamaha Fazer, sent me this delightful report on the day
Sunday morning 7.30am alarm goes off, turn over look at the clock and think do I really want to get out of this lovely warm bed.
Then I remember its Sunday ride-out day with my pals from the Stevenage bike club and I get to play with my favourite toy my motorbike!, up in a flash and look blurry eyed out of the bedroom window, shit!! The roads wet but a 2nd glance and the sky is blue.
That will do nicely I think to myself, a quick wash shave and a shit and I'm getting my leathers on, come on girl I shout to Julie as I'm cleaning my smoked visor confident the sun is going to shine, all leathered up and off we go to meet the guys at the well known meeting place BIKESTOP (old town Stevenage), just for a change we manage to get there early 08.50 instead of the normal 09.10 or worse, when we arrive there is a few guys there already eager and ready for the off!, Shaun walks up to us and after the normal good mornings etc gives us a planned route for the days ride a 200 mile round trip to Grafham water for breakfast then along some twisty roads to a lovely pub near to Rutland Water at Empingham, we then headed back stopping just outside Thrapston at the Wool Pack Pub for afternoon Tea.
There’s a nice few bikes turned up sports bikes include a Ducati, street fighter types include a very nice Tuono that I have a bit of a soft spot for, sports tourers and tourers.
Everyone ready for the off but no Wayne! Late again as per the norm he arrives 20 min's late or was it 22 min's, o.k were off! Up the high street in the old town taking it easy on the wet roads.
Nice brisk ride to Grafham water but as we leave the A1 to take on some twisty B roads we meet some fog and some more and some more in fact we could hardly see in front of ourselves at times, we all managed to arrive at Grafham water were we stopped for breakfast one of my favourite pastimes (eating).
WHAT A LOVELY SPOT!! You can eat your bacon butty right by the large patio type windows over looking Grafham water, superb, tummys full and off we go, by now the roads are drying nicely and the
fog has gone great! Off we go to Empingham and now everyone is feeling a little more confident so to say the pace gets a little quicker would be an under statement, bloody hell this is what biking is all about, fast twisty roads sun beating down and warming the tarmac, good bunch of guys, FAN BLOODY TASTIC!!!!OK there’s never a ride without a couple of mishap's and we had our share this sunny Sunday, 1st Mr Ducati feels the need to lay under his bike whilst waiting for some guys to fuel up.
What actually happened is he put the dreaded sprung loaded side stand down or should I say didn't when next there he was laying with his leg stuck under his bike luckily I think he only scuffed a small bit of paint at the bottom of the fairing, he was o.k which was a good thing, 2nd
yours truly comes out of the pub to find a nice flat rear tyre "bollox", luckily good old Dave (Blue Triumph Trophy) comes to the rescue with some of that tyre inflator gunkie stuff, which did the trick and didn't spoil the days fun, 3rd Mr Ducati again same pub car park notices his rear lights have come away from there mounts, obviously done from the earlier drop, good old Dave to the rescue again to tape up the ducati with some gaffa tape then gave me a plaster for my bleeding finger that I cut trying to get a bloody nail out of my tyre. all in all it was a superb ride-out we all managed to get home in one piece and that's what its all about,I would like to thank Sean on behalf of everyone on the ride and to say cant wait for the next one.
Bill Davies
The ride was led by Sean Creech and this is the route
Here are some photos, taken by Roger and Daniel:
The Cafe at Grafham The Woolpack at Islip
"How many people does it take to change a light bulb (sorry - tape a light bulb!!!)??"
An East Anglian Adventure Sunday31st July
A ride, approx. 270 miles in length, through the delightful Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk countryside, taking in Great Yarmouth and Cromer. This ride was devised by, and led by Sean Creech. Thanks to Him for all the effort, I know what it takes!
Nine bikes turned out on what was a little overcast day, and we hardly lost anyone!
We Breakfasted at the cafe at Stradishall following a delightful ride through Herts. and South Essex, we followed the A143 to great Yarmouth, a lovely road, and after a short break went on up the coast to Cromer, fish and chips at a seaside cafe was followed by a quick ride home.
Bank Holiday Monday 30th May 2005
Whit Monday and the sun is shining, her indoors wants to get rid of me and I know there’s a ride to the New Forest. Off to Bike Stop to meet the others but first I need fuel. As it’s a bank holiday most of the garages don’t open until 8am so I go to Tesco in Stevenage. After waiting for the fuel to flow, a guy comes out and tells me that unless I remove my helmet, no fuel will be delivered, a new security policy. I point out that there are no posters/instruction stickers to this effect and will remove my helmet only because I was running on fumes. I will not be visiting Tesco for fuel anytime in the future!
Moaning aside, we had a good turn out for the ride, 9 bikes including a new member who joined at the BMF. We set off and quite uncharacteristically, did not lose anyone for at least 1 hour. David had supplied us all with route directions before we set off. We headed down the A1, onto the A414, a short burst on the M25 and then A41 towards Aylesbury. The next direction was A 33 towards Amersham. About this time the girls and boys were getting bored and felt a need for speed. We lost three at the next junction as they went past the turning seconds before we came into view indicating to turn off.
Amersham has a typical small town centre, which we saw quite a lot of circling around and around until David finally remembered (or luckily stumbled upon) the way ahead. We then arrived in Slough and again rode up and down the high street before pulling in and finding the breakfast stop was closed. This was a fortuitous stop as it allowed the three speedsters to catch up. Next stop, a tour of a industrial estate on the outskirts of Reading. We lost our at this point. David went down the road to turn around and Squeaky told us he knew the way (after asking a bus driver) and when David got back, we had moved on. Squeaky now became leader as we followed like the proverbial sheep up and down Lime Kiln Road. We eventually found a leisure park and a KFC for breakfast. I then took up the lead and went the wrong way immediately, corrected the mistake and got onto the A33 to Winchester.
We followed the signs for Winchester and had a lovely tour of the centre and surrounding roads. Eventually we headed off for Romsey using the M3 as we could not find the A3090. Squeaky had said David was waiting in Romsey. We pulled over, rang David and found he was now in Lyndhurst. This was one place I could find from Romsey and off we went. Traffic was tailed back for about two miles from Lyndhurst but we made short work of it and finally pulled up alongside David’s Triumph. Most of us went for a cup of Tea whilst others went to have a beer. It was decided that the next stop would be Sammy Millers Motorcycle Museum outside New Milton. Amazingly we found it and all managed to stay together.
The museum was full of old classic bikes, Triumph, Ariel, Matchless and Vincent’s. At £4.50, it was a bit pricey if you did not like old bikes. Fortunately, it gave me a chance to see the type of machines my dad used to ride and his brother used to race. Compared to our modern bikes, these were real bone shakers but they could go nearly as fast. Most of the bikes were race models with a few trials bikes off to the side.
We headed off home keeping together and stopped just off the M3 at a pub for a swift pint. It was at this point Richard decided he would not be able to keep up the pace as he had a problem with is bike vibrating and giving him a headache when he went above 80mph. Victor volunteered to ride back with him. With David back in lead position we set off once again. Marc was the next one to go, deciding he needed to get home quicker, he shot off down the M4. We had no tours of city centres on the return journey and when finally we got to the A414, most of us let rip and sped off. David caught us up as we slowed down on the A1 and then I shot off finally arriving home after completing 300 miles. Thank god I’ve got a fairly comfortable seat.
My thanks to David for organising the ride and the other members for turning out for what turned into an epic journey.
Article by Sean Creech, photos by him and Roger:
Bank Holiday Monday 2nd May 2005
the group changed its destination from our usual Bank Holiday trip to Hastings and instead went on a tour of Essex, taking in Clacton and Walton on the Naze.
here are a few pictures:
Typical Sunday Runs during 2004
On Sunday 26th September some of us enjoyed a Breakfast run to the World famous comfort cafe, whilst there we decided to visit Trafalgar square, where there was a big arts event hosted by Rolf Harris ( the bearded Australian , artist and Pet hospital Presenter ) we enjoyed a brisk run through the wilder parts of London and managed to park in the Square itself, until moved on by Security; we were about to leave anyway.
We then enjoyed a trip round some of the sights of the capital: Buckingham Palace, Parliament, the tower of London and Tower bridge included.
on the way home We managed to get split up , some going on to the Famous Ace Cafe, some straight home.
A good day was had by all.
Sunday 10th October Howard Park nr Bedford, with a lovely cafe.
Another great run, good weather, although a little windy, and good company to a delightful little cafe, the second time in two weeks, that must be a record.
On the way back we found a wonderful road, which some rode three times, with a biker friendly pub at its end.
Here's a message I received on my mobile whilst enjoying the delights of the cafe:
Message 1 - "Hi David any home made Victoria sandwich or carrot cake; if not chocolate "
Message 2 - " 2 portions please"
Sunday 17th October The M&P catalogue shop outside Oxford.
A lovely run down, and back, although cold, the cafe nice and friendly but the service a bit slow for some.
This will be a better place to go in the summer months, look forward to next year!
This was a members suggestion, the first, lets have some more ideas ready for next years runs.
The Café Run Sunday 31st October ( Halloween )
I arrived at the Bike Stop at 9am to find I was the only one. There are always early arrivals, why not today? Was everybody staying home to watch the last Moto GP. I was thinking about buying the Sunday papers and going home when Bill arrived on his Thundercat. We decided that as we were here we might as well have a ride so decided to go to Epping Forest. When we arrived Bill said there are usually a lot more bikes so we had a cup of tea and looked at a few bikes and decided to have breakfast at the Silver Ball on the A10. As we were eating Bill looked up at the clock and asked me the time as their clock must be wrong, it was then we realised we were still on summer time.
Bill guessed the ones on winter time must be at the Comfort Café so we set off to meet them there. As we got to Duxford Bill noticed some bikes passing in the opposite direction and when he saw Richard we did a 360 at the roundabout and set off after him. Bill caught him and Richard told him they were off the Silver ball. We all met up there and it was then decided to go on to the Ace Café. Bernard and I got detached from the main group and ended up at Rex Judd’s Rex Judd’s Halloween sale. There was a great blues band called the Easy Ryder Band and free roast etc plus the MCN girls. Bernard stayed to watch the Moto GP and I went off the find The Ace. When I got there, there was a burn out going on. Some blokes from Hatfield had brought down 5 Rat Bikes in a van to wreck the rear tyres. Someone else was going up and down doing wheelies and burn outs amongst the traffic only to be stopped by a police motorcyclist. I couldn’t believe he only got a ticking off. At one time there were three of them going round the little roundabout spinning their rear wheels, it looked good but dangerous. Then we all made our way to Rex Judd’s for the music and free food and then home. I think a good day was had by all.
Ron Coombs
Into East Anglia - Sunday 14 November ( Remembrance Sunday )
Well five of us turned up at the Bike Stop, Roger, Sean, Andy, Terry and me. Sean had brought a map of a round trip which looked good. We got off to a great start with me following Sean but the others didn’t see us turn and we lost them, not bad as we were at the bottom end of the Old Town when it happened. We turned round and Sean rightly guessed the way they had taken and we found them waiting for us by the Little Chef on the A10.
It was very cold but a good ride to Haverhill and we soon found the café I had been on about called the Stradishall Café on the A143 at Stradishall where we had breakfast. Next door is a garage which is very useful. Our route took in Bury St. Edmunds, Sudbury, and Braintree. I got left behind and then and found if difficult to catch up especially as there were lot of speed camera signs and we know what the Suffolk and Essex attitude it to speeding so I just kept going straight in the hope I would catch site of them and sure enough they were having a break at the side in the A11. Andy said go straight on and you come to the A10 so we all made our own way home from there. Thanks Sean for the route I really enjoyed it, Andy was happy as he didn’t have to go to The Comfort Café again and I’m sure the others had a good time as well
Article by Ron Coombs
Home Page Calendar About the Club and Chairman's Welcome Membership Features Photo Gallery
Club Committee Club Runs George Brown Run Regalia Contact us Updates For Sale and Wanted Links
Club News Club Events Member Benefits Chairman's Muses Sam's Page BMF Page Rules for Club Runs