zerocool
Registered user
Only to see I've been pipped to the line by Tarka.... never mind.
49th Dragon Rally 2010 Ride Report
It was a great weekend with 3 bikes and 4 people leaving SMC to meet some more at our destination.
Popping through to Cat and Fiddle and arriving 10 mins before they opened was a task due to icy fog landing on visors and causing poor ol' Stevo some problems. He could barely see for the last 5 or so miles and you could see this in the speed he was riding.
Some sardine and chicken salad later Emma was still winging..... and we were back on the road after Stevo sharked us at pool.
Ste was keen to try out his bike in the snow but it just wasnt happening as his tyre cut into it like hot knives through butter.
We arrived at the meeting point only to come across Spot who had arrived after leaving a BMW Rally (Rhino Rally) the night before.
3.5 miles later were in the secret location which turns out to be some privately owned woods with a mucky path up the middle, needless to say even with the path winding up the hill like a alpine pass, IT WAS STEEP AND SLIPPY!!!
At this point my brain locked on the task of getting up the hill in one peice, bikes were slipping, getting stuck, some rolling backwards but im pleased to say didnt see any fall over. Comradery from strangers at rallys like this is quite special and strangers were getting filthy behind the wheel of many a motorcycle about due to be condemned to a museum. A good old push and the scream of the pusher saying "keep on going" or "dont stop" meant nearly all got to the top of the hill with only a small few giving up. With all the crazed activity I totally forgot what planet on and made the task in hand 500% harder by attempting the climb the whole hill 2 up, with full lugguage....... and in second gear....... doh!
I got to the top, as did the smell of clutch and a small ploom of smoke following me, and for the smell not just then, but also for the day to follow.
We were too late to camp at the bottom of the hill as all the spaces were taken and we literally got put in the far top corner of the woods beyond where most were happy to go.
Half way back down the hill there was the marquee, some loos, A burger van and inside the marquee everything a respectful February camper needs: a sticker to show their plight, a coaster for their soup, a badge for later bragging rights, a mars for short term energy, a snickers for long term energy and of course..... a dram of Bells.
After having a vending machine free soup dispensed by the hands of a bikers wife, a stale old bap we returned to our tents for some al'a'carte food. I have to say how impressed I was with Seth's organisation, in his oxford panniers was a collection even Gorden Ramsay couldn't raise a "F" word towards. He had eggs, spices, condiments, everything! Anybody who claims to have a better packed SV650 is just lying.
This is where the night becomes a bit of a blur, a few tins of beer and the complimentary whiskey helped with that but I do remember meeting some new and amazing people in the woods that night. Most of them struggled to tell us their names so you can forgive me if I only remember one, Matt. Never before have I been so pleased to meet somebody so paralytic. The video to follow will explain more im sure but I can say in the meantime that he managed to possibly get more wine over his hands than in his mount and still ended up pissed as a fart.
The band was good, a nice selection of classic rock and blues with a added spice of...... Jalepinos.
Toward the end of the night it started raining.... beer so it came to my bed time. There was strange noises intermittantly from Peacocks that obviously took exception to us using their land. They were climbing the trees and making what I can only presume were Alpha Male Peacock cries out towards the fireworks that were being let off intermittantly.
Needless to say I was please to be greeted by a hot water bottle and a new sleeping bag which bragged a maximum negative temperature of -17c. I opted for the sleep-in-your-clothes approach just in case and im glad I did. As with last year on the Anglesea race track, this year at the Dragon it reached -4 with high humidity, we were greeted to thick ice on and inside the tents, on the sleeping bags, on the bikes and most annoyingly of all, over every surface on the floor.
Turning on the stoves to cook out breakfast in a bag soon warmed the tent up again and event with the risk of the whole tent popping up in flames im thinking it was a risk worth taking so to bring out body temperature back above critical.
Seth had helped out the farmer and owner of the land find his dog at stupid AM and had asked about alternative ways out, there was a nice shortcut but we were told to keep it quiet. A little offroading through some more fields and we were back on our way on a road and avoiding the suicidal and traffic congested hill.
I was pleased to find that my clutch responded well despite the 2nd gear hammering it took coming up the infamous slippery hill but the smell followed up throughout the day as a reminder to treat it nicely.
On the way home Garmin decided to take us a pretty wierd route due to us confusing it with asking not to go onto the motorways so I took the lead back through to the cat and fiddle again for dinner, the roads were slippy thanks to the icy fog but this only effected us on the high ground.
I would recommend anybody stays away from the Cat and Fiddle's Liver meals as they were badly cooked but their soup and pies are bloody brilliant.
All in all the weekend was great and I hope this little writeup would promote the thought of some neigh sayers joining in in future years, considering there is a viscious roumer that the 50th Dragon could be the last, 2011 could be your only chance to ever join in, lets just hope its not the last and that it is precisely that, a roumer.
49th Dragon Rally 2010 Ride Report
It was a great weekend with 3 bikes and 4 people leaving SMC to meet some more at our destination.
Popping through to Cat and Fiddle and arriving 10 mins before they opened was a task due to icy fog landing on visors and causing poor ol' Stevo some problems. He could barely see for the last 5 or so miles and you could see this in the speed he was riding.
Some sardine and chicken salad later Emma was still winging..... and we were back on the road after Stevo sharked us at pool.
Ste was keen to try out his bike in the snow but it just wasnt happening as his tyre cut into it like hot knives through butter.
We arrived at the meeting point only to come across Spot who had arrived after leaving a BMW Rally (Rhino Rally) the night before.
3.5 miles later were in the secret location which turns out to be some privately owned woods with a mucky path up the middle, needless to say even with the path winding up the hill like a alpine pass, IT WAS STEEP AND SLIPPY!!!
At this point my brain locked on the task of getting up the hill in one peice, bikes were slipping, getting stuck, some rolling backwards but im pleased to say didnt see any fall over. Comradery from strangers at rallys like this is quite special and strangers were getting filthy behind the wheel of many a motorcycle about due to be condemned to a museum. A good old push and the scream of the pusher saying "keep on going" or "dont stop" meant nearly all got to the top of the hill with only a small few giving up. With all the crazed activity I totally forgot what planet on and made the task in hand 500% harder by attempting the climb the whole hill 2 up, with full lugguage....... and in second gear....... doh!
I got to the top, as did the smell of clutch and a small ploom of smoke following me, and for the smell not just then, but also for the day to follow.
We were too late to camp at the bottom of the hill as all the spaces were taken and we literally got put in the far top corner of the woods beyond where most were happy to go.
Half way back down the hill there was the marquee, some loos, A burger van and inside the marquee everything a respectful February camper needs: a sticker to show their plight, a coaster for their soup, a badge for later bragging rights, a mars for short term energy, a snickers for long term energy and of course..... a dram of Bells.
After having a vending machine free soup dispensed by the hands of a bikers wife, a stale old bap we returned to our tents for some al'a'carte food. I have to say how impressed I was with Seth's organisation, in his oxford panniers was a collection even Gorden Ramsay couldn't raise a "F" word towards. He had eggs, spices, condiments, everything! Anybody who claims to have a better packed SV650 is just lying.
This is where the night becomes a bit of a blur, a few tins of beer and the complimentary whiskey helped with that but I do remember meeting some new and amazing people in the woods that night. Most of them struggled to tell us their names so you can forgive me if I only remember one, Matt. Never before have I been so pleased to meet somebody so paralytic. The video to follow will explain more im sure but I can say in the meantime that he managed to possibly get more wine over his hands than in his mount and still ended up pissed as a fart.
The band was good, a nice selection of classic rock and blues with a added spice of...... Jalepinos.
Toward the end of the night it started raining.... beer so it came to my bed time. There was strange noises intermittantly from Peacocks that obviously took exception to us using their land. They were climbing the trees and making what I can only presume were Alpha Male Peacock cries out towards the fireworks that were being let off intermittantly.
Needless to say I was please to be greeted by a hot water bottle and a new sleeping bag which bragged a maximum negative temperature of -17c. I opted for the sleep-in-your-clothes approach just in case and im glad I did. As with last year on the Anglesea race track, this year at the Dragon it reached -4 with high humidity, we were greeted to thick ice on and inside the tents, on the sleeping bags, on the bikes and most annoyingly of all, over every surface on the floor.
Turning on the stoves to cook out breakfast in a bag soon warmed the tent up again and event with the risk of the whole tent popping up in flames im thinking it was a risk worth taking so to bring out body temperature back above critical.
Seth had helped out the farmer and owner of the land find his dog at stupid AM and had asked about alternative ways out, there was a nice shortcut but we were told to keep it quiet. A little offroading through some more fields and we were back on our way on a road and avoiding the suicidal and traffic congested hill.
I was pleased to find that my clutch responded well despite the 2nd gear hammering it took coming up the infamous slippery hill but the smell followed up throughout the day as a reminder to treat it nicely.
On the way home Garmin decided to take us a pretty wierd route due to us confusing it with asking not to go onto the motorways so I took the lead back through to the cat and fiddle again for dinner, the roads were slippy thanks to the icy fog but this only effected us on the high ground.
I would recommend anybody stays away from the Cat and Fiddle's Liver meals as they were badly cooked but their soup and pies are bloody brilliant.
All in all the weekend was great and I hope this little writeup would promote the thought of some neigh sayers joining in in future years, considering there is a viscious roumer that the 50th Dragon could be the last, 2011 could be your only chance to ever join in, lets just hope its not the last and that it is precisely that, a roumer.
