Wow, what a great weekend.
Set off from Devon in my trusty new "Wobblybox" (Copyright Proff) after SWMBO had finished work on Friday pm. Had only gone 20 miles when oil light lit up on dash just before petrol station. Pulled into garage and discovered Proff had sold me a wobblybox with a dipstick too short to reach the oil level...
Now the sensible and safe option at this point would be to turn around and go home. The stupid and dangerous option would be to continue to Hograost...
So three hours later we arrived at Hograost in fading light to be met by Proff, Johnny Boxer, Judge, Bakerman etc all taking the p!ss that I had turned up in a very ugly wobblybox. Proff then informed me that I had to reverse my wagon between the BBQ and several drunken tossers to fill up my water tanks. After this was finally managed, we moved over to Hymer corner to set up for the night.
It was great to meet so many people who we had met either at Horizons or Wee-kend during the last month, many good friends.
I wanted an early night to be fresh for riding in the morning but Proff kept forcing me to drink Pussy Rum and a rather fine Calvados apple brandy.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny and we were amazed that Bakerman had organised a fly pass by the Red Arrows display team. We knew he was world famous in Andover but amazed at his influence.
After cooking a full English breakfast at 9.55 am, I rushed to join the ride outs. I initially planned to join the nutter/ hardcore group but then decided to go with Paul's group that included Johnny Boxer and SkyGod. All my previous ride outs on the Plain had been with Paul and Ben so it just seemed right to go with Paul's group again.
Paul had great memories of Ben and the famous picture of Ben's dirty bike was taken during the run with Paul in previous years. It was after Trippy had posted this picture on the posts in tribute to Ben that I originally suggested that we had the "Dirtiest Bike" contest as a fitting tribute to Ben. With that in mind, Paul was keen to get someone from "his" group to be in with a chance of winning Ben's trophy.
Me and SkyGod took every opportunity to get muddy right from the start. All mud on my bike was 100% my own effort in genuine mud pit efforts which Ben would have totally approved of.
At the end of the day it was extremely muddy, with mud baked on to engine casings leaving a nice egg shell effect as it dried:
I had the great honour of speaking briefly to Ben's parents before they began the judging but I have to add that I made no mention of my bike whatsoever. At this point, everyone thought that Gary's HP2 was the front runner.
About an hour later, after I had showered and changed into clean clothes, I passed by the bikes again and noticed thre trophy was on my bike.
I politely asked Ben's mum if they had come to a decision and she replied "Yes, that orange bike over there is the winner".
At the risk of sounding like a total prat, I have to admit that I was nearly reduced to tears because it meant so much to me to win Ben's trophy. Ben's parents were fantastic people and I felt humble discussing him in their presence and telling them how much we all admired the guy and enjoyed ridng with him and getting our bikes dirty with him. We all agreed that his spirit was definitely there with us and that he will be remembered for years to come through this trophy. Ben's father told me it was the wet mud still dripping from the swing arm that finally swung it in my favour.
I'm obviously sorry that the other guys weren't able to get back in time for the judging but we have to respect Ben's parents decision. If I'm totally honest, I'm a bit disappointed at all of Horse's posts that he would have won if only he had got back in time, and equally at the suggestions that it should have only been for boxer bikes...
Anyway on to other memorable incidents.
It was hilarious to hear that Steptoe had managed to show the easy off-road group how to crash.
If that was embarrassing to Steptoe, then that was nothing compared to my incident with the female showers...
Mr ACF50 offered me and SkyGod a special deal to clean our bikes and show the full "Before" and "After" effect of his process. I felt very guilt as every other bike took 30 minutes to clean but our bikes took over two hours each!
You've seen the "before" photos above, well here are some of the "After":
Bike is now protected for 12 months and should be easier to clean in future. Big thanks to ACF 50 man for all his efforts.
Sunday morning and biggest laugh for me was watching Mike with his "3 seconds to erect instant tent". I took photos every 2 minutes of him trying to fold it up to fit back in the bag and after 20 minutes had to let my friend Simon help him:
Everyone loved Austin Vince's talk on Sunday morning. My friend Simon thought it was worth the ticket price in its self and he doesn't even ride a bike.
Thanks Bakerman and family for a great weekend.
Set off from Devon in my trusty new "Wobblybox" (Copyright Proff) after SWMBO had finished work on Friday pm. Had only gone 20 miles when oil light lit up on dash just before petrol station. Pulled into garage and discovered Proff had sold me a wobblybox with a dipstick too short to reach the oil level...
Now the sensible and safe option at this point would be to turn around and go home. The stupid and dangerous option would be to continue to Hograost...
So three hours later we arrived at Hograost in fading light to be met by Proff, Johnny Boxer, Judge, Bakerman etc all taking the p!ss that I had turned up in a very ugly wobblybox. Proff then informed me that I had to reverse my wagon between the BBQ and several drunken tossers to fill up my water tanks. After this was finally managed, we moved over to Hymer corner to set up for the night.
It was great to meet so many people who we had met either at Horizons or Wee-kend during the last month, many good friends.
I wanted an early night to be fresh for riding in the morning but Proff kept forcing me to drink Pussy Rum and a rather fine Calvados apple brandy.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny and we were amazed that Bakerman had organised a fly pass by the Red Arrows display team.
We knew he was world famous in Andover but amazed at his influence.After cooking a full English breakfast at 9.55 am, I rushed to join the ride outs. I initially planned to join the nutter/ hardcore group but then decided to go with Paul's group that included Johnny Boxer and SkyGod. All my previous ride outs on the Plain had been with Paul and Ben so it just seemed right to go with Paul's group again.
Paul had great memories of Ben and the famous picture of Ben's dirty bike was taken during the run with Paul in previous years. It was after Trippy had posted this picture on the posts in tribute to Ben that I originally suggested that we had the "Dirtiest Bike" contest as a fitting tribute to Ben. With that in mind, Paul was keen to get someone from "his" group to be in with a chance of winning Ben's trophy.
Me and SkyGod took every opportunity to get muddy right from the start. All mud on my bike was 100% my own effort in genuine mud pit efforts which Ben would have totally approved of.
At the end of the day it was extremely muddy, with mud baked on to engine casings leaving a nice egg shell effect as it dried:
I had the great honour of speaking briefly to Ben's parents before they began the judging but I have to add that I made no mention of my bike whatsoever. At this point, everyone thought that Gary's HP2 was the front runner.
About an hour later, after I had showered and changed into clean clothes, I passed by the bikes again and noticed thre trophy was on my bike.
I politely asked Ben's mum if they had come to a decision and she replied "Yes, that orange bike over there is the winner".
At the risk of sounding like a total prat, I have to admit that I was nearly reduced to tears because it meant so much to me to win Ben's trophy. Ben's parents were fantastic people and I felt humble discussing him in their presence and telling them how much we all admired the guy and enjoyed ridng with him and getting our bikes dirty with him. We all agreed that his spirit was definitely there with us and that he will be remembered for years to come through this trophy. Ben's father told me it was the wet mud still dripping from the swing arm that finally swung it in my favour.
I'm obviously sorry that the other guys weren't able to get back in time for the judging but we have to respect Ben's parents decision. If I'm totally honest, I'm a bit disappointed at all of Horse's posts that he would have won if only he had got back in time, and equally at the suggestions that it should have only been for boxer bikes...
Anyway on to other memorable incidents.
It was hilarious to hear that Steptoe had managed to show the easy off-road group how to crash.
If that was embarrassing to Steptoe, then that was nothing compared to my incident with the female showers...
Mr ACF50 offered me and SkyGod a special deal to clean our bikes and show the full "Before" and "After" effect of his process. I felt very guilt as every other bike took 30 minutes to clean but our bikes took over two hours each!
You've seen the "before" photos above, well here are some of the "After":
Bike is now protected for 12 months and should be easier to clean in future. Big thanks to ACF 50 man for all his efforts.
Sunday morning and biggest laugh for me was watching Mike with his "3 seconds to erect instant tent". I took photos every 2 minutes of him trying to fold it up to fit back in the bag and after 20 minutes had to let my friend Simon help him:
Everyone loved Austin Vince's talk on Sunday morning. My friend Simon thought it was worth the ticket price in its self and he doesn't even ride a bike.
Thanks Bakerman and family for a great weekend.
Normal bikes only sink halfway up the wheels whereas your's sinks up to it's armpits 
