View Full Version : West Wales Posse Ride out
Well the sun shone on the righteous(and us lot) today, as five volunteered as guinea pigs for a new route I was itching to try out on some unsuspecting GSers:D
Andy Leett, RCC54, Campbell and myself meet up at Carmarthen for a cup of tea at my place before setting of to join up with Humvee and A.N Other (sorry I just didn't catch the name :mad: ) at Swansea West services, a short run down the old A48 to Morriston hospital and I was lost already.....so much for GPS. If I hadn't been so busy fiddling with it (Oh er Misses!) I might not have missed the left turn just before the hospital to take us across Betws Mountain. Anyway a couple of U turns later, a quick trip around a housing estate and Bitchin' betty sorts herself (and me) out and we are on our way.
Across to Ammanford with a very slippery descent down to the main road, a quick left and a right and we are off across to Gwynfe to join up with the A4065.
From there we dropped down almost to Llangadog before turning right to cut across country to the Usk resevoir and then to Trecastle where Campbells pass expired and he had to turn for home.
The remaining 5 then cut throught the lanes to Upper Chapel and across Eppynt to Garth, stopping for lunch at Beulah. A few mile of smooth dry tarmac put us once again on the back road heading for Elan Village and then up to Claerwen Reservoir for a short but entertaining off road section:D
Shortly after taking that serene looking scene and track deteriorated a little and had us all wishing we were on something just a little lighter(except Humvee of course). Then caqme the water splash..........
Steve (Humvee) show us how it should be done......
Phew! that was close....but it all sorted out OK:D
Shortly after, once back on the tarmac Steve discovered a bit of squirmy feeling as his rear tyre decided it had had enough punishment for one day. Thankfully B*W's puncture repair kit is a little better than it's fiinish:D It actually works.......fully inflated at Lampeter after saying goodbye to Andy and Rob at Tregaron, by Carmarthen it still seemed to be holding up well. Hopefully he made it back to Cardiff in one piece....
Thanks to all for the company. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
Now! where do we find some more RuPPs and BoaTs suitable for GSing.:hapybnce:
Just come on line, the first time for several days. Seems you started on my home turf - Ammanford area!
Great weather for a ride out shame I missed it, perhaps next time.
Stephen
Thank you dennis for a great day out .
I knew that bloody water crossing would come back and haunt me:D
Next time i'll try to go the right way
thanks again
Ryland
Madmountainman
22-02-04, 18:58
Nice trail Dennis, find some more to make a day of it and organise another run, when i'm not working, and i'll be up for it!:cool:
Geriatric Germ
22-02-04, 19:28
A £10,000 lump of Heavy Metal from the Fatherland is NOT the thing to cruise over 2 foot deep Potholes, mud that puts Sideways to shame, 15 foot deep rivers, sheer 500 foot drops inches from yer left testicle, sensible Loonies on Little Enduros in the opposite direction at around 60 mph, and when we stopped for a Debrief at the end (on Tarmac) a dolly bird in a Discovery
(If I'd known I'd have laid down and waited for Mouth to Mouth, my luck I'd have got Andy!:mad: Next time (if ever) it'll be on a little Trail Bike :shoot: Still got to say enjoyed the company and MOST of the ride, thanks Dennis for planning??? (turn left here, oops a car park, GPS my Arse) it and youse guys for your company :) next time on a little one :D
2 wheel humvee
22-02-04, 19:33
Thanks guys great day out:D
Apart from;The ABS wiuldn't re-set all day:confused:
And the howling wind almost blew the bike off the sidestand-Well caught Dennis!
And I forgot to zip up my jacket pocket and lost my smokes:rolleyes:
And I got a Frickin puncture-but as Dennis said BWM's repair kit seems to work,it got me home anyways ;)
Well I tried the off road thing and it's a giggle I admit-but I'm not about to make a habit of it-not on my own bike anyway:D
andy leett
23-02-04, 06:31
Excelent day,good route great company.
The Off-Road was brilliant,sadly the bike suffered a little,dented sump-guard-front mudguard broken.
andy leett
23-02-04, 06:35
Another.
Andy,
Nothing wrong with the sump guard that a lump hammer won't easily fix:D pop over one afternoon around 5.30 - 6 and we'll sort it out for you.
Steve, Glad you made it home on the on the tyre Ok
Ryland, If you think that little problem has co,me back to haunt you, you should have seen my first off road excursion a few weeks back when I ended up dropping my little Suzuki in 3ft of water:D I coiuld hardly find the thing in all that mud.......
Rob: Big Wuz:D
Campbell: Sorry but you missed the best bit - must try harder:D
Seriously tho folks, it really was one the most memorable rides of late. Thanks for the great company and fortitude:beerjug:
Still, respect is due :-). Basically, I reckon anything without muddy bits or enormous rock steps would be sensibly do-able on a GS without knobblies, so that should include Strata Florida in summer, and Claerwen any time. Sarn Helen might be OK, but I think the rock steps might be a bit of a lottery, so perhaps not... if you have TKC80s, the Wye Valley Walk and The Gap Road should also be fun (there's one muddy bit on the Wye Valley Walk that might demand the extra grip), although I'd suggest that before tackling the climb out of the gully at the end of the Gap, you'd probably want to either have proper dirt-biking experience, or done the BMW GS-abuse course, just to prove to yourself that its not as impossible as you might think it is. In fact, I've seen a Suzuki Freewind on trailwings traverse the gully, so a GS on TKC80s should have no trouble whatsoever...
Strata Florida particularly would be fun on a GS, it has lots of river crossings, but it's all rock based so there's very little if any mud. The dodgy bit, as Dennis mentioned to me earlier, is that you can't always see the bottom of the rivers to spot big rocks, but in those cases if somebody gets off and walks the line you intend to ride beforehand (which is more fun in Summer than it is at this time of year), that's not a huge problem.
Bob Jeffries
23-02-04, 16:02
I rode up to the Hafren Forest on Saturday to help out marshalling at the Patrick James Memorial Rally (he was killed in an accident whilst competing in an overseas rally last year) but it looks like you all had much more fun, I'll have to get around to meeting up with you all sometime.
I have ridden Strata Florida on the GS (I always used TKC 80’s) without any problem, but I’ve also ridden it in the Welsh Two Day Enduro on a 400 KTM when the water in one of the crossings was washing up over the headlight as I pushed it through – I’ve got the photo somewhere, I’ll see if I can find it. I’ve also ridden up the hole at the end of The Gap two up on a KTM, that was exciting!
As I ride suitable GS friendly (ish) off-road tracks I intend to make an attempt at grading them and putting them up on my web site as mapsource and memory map waypoints/routes. For example, there is a track through the Crychan Forest (N.E. of Llandovery) called Cefn Llwydlo that runs from (Western end) SN 84107 41487 to SN 85378 42182 before becoming a forest road and exiting the forest at SN 88158 43562. It has a few water holes that can catch the unwary but as long as you ride through them at a steady speed they’re OK, just don’t try and go around them, you’ll never get a GS out! But please note that this is the only ROW through the forest and the Forestry Commission are about to launch all out war on illegal motorcycles in the forests with the help of the police helicopter unit.
If anyone has any suitable GS possible off-road bits they like to contribute please do, either on this site or I’ll put them on mine.
Bob, I'd like to see that photo - just to know how deep it CAN get on SF :-).
Cheers!
Ken Haylock
DENNIS,
ENJOYED THE TRIP & BANTER !! WOULDN'T MIND HAVING A CRACK AT THOSE RIVER CROSSINGS PICTURED ... ONE DAY BUT NOT TODAY. I AM STILL PARANOID ABOUT DENTING MY PRIDE & JOY, BUT NEVER SAY NEVER. :D :D :D
... you can actually buy bikes that are designed for this sort of thing ... they start at about £50 s/h .... not £9k
Bit like taking a Rolls Royce stock-car racing, methinks ...
Deleted account W
24-02-04, 22:13
Originally posted by retroman
..
Bit like taking a Rolls Royce stock-car racing, methinks ...
What, like this..............
you can actually buy bikes that are designed for this sort of thing
Yours dead right Dave it's called an R 1150GS they even do an Adventure version in case you like your off-road a little more challenging:wave
I fear that age may be catching you up, ever though about a nice shiney Harley :hapybnce:
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