Timpo's North Wales trail ride

[earthmover]

It was a tad chilly at 8.15 when I left the house, and the wispy remains of last night's fog were still hanging around. It did look a lot more promising than yesterday, and sure enough, as I rode along the A55 the sun was beginning to put in an appearance. By the time we left the RV, the fog had all cleared leaving us with a crisp, bright morning. The five of us, Timpo, Loz, Paul XC, Basil and myself had an excellent days riding, thanks again to Timpo's legendary navigation skills.
Things didn't go entirely to plan though. I had a few more fag breaks than I normally get on one of Timpo's rides!

Paul safely across.

Timpo.

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Basil not so lucky.

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Ho hum. With a bit of team effort Basil's 640 was up and running again within 20 minutes, and ran perfectly for the rest of the day, despite having had a complete immersion.

Cross rutted

The ice was that thick it stopped Basil in his tracks, so here he is breaking it for the rest of us.

Timpo and I waiting for the ice breaker.

Bow wave

Dive! Dive! Dive!

Top days riding.
Thanks again to Timpo for sorting out the route, and the weather.
Great to ride with you chaps.
Mark

 

[Rushy]

Been waiting all night for that

Was thinking about you guys out there playing in the sunshine whilst I was painting a load of skirting in my garage ready to be fitted upstairs. Lovely day for it unlike yesterday.

 

[knobby]

Cracking report and pictures there, well done chaps, I bet those water/river crossings were bloody cold

 

[tinatrim]

Made me shiver watching those vids! Hope you had wet suits on (Bazil..... Did you have your rubber ducky?). Great pics and looks a great day. Well done.

 

[Pipster]

Looks like you had a perfect day blue skys and a sharp frost

Great photo's and vids Sorry I missed this one

 

[Phil W]

Certainly not the best day to go for a dunk, but good stuff

 

[PaulXC]

That was a cracking day out. Cheers again to Timpo for another fine one. It was actually as cold as it looked though the sheet ice on the minor roads was entertaining.

Paul

 

[KTMmartin]

That looked like great fun!

Ho hum. With a bit of team effort Basil's 640 was up and running again within 20 minutes, and ran perfectly for the rest of the day, despite having had a complete immersion.

Aside from mild panic, what's the procedure?

 

[Flipfly]

Really peaved I missed this

I see Skygod and John got lost in Chester then. Probably still in a gay embrace

 

[Timpo]

Aside from mild panic, what's the procedure?

If it is inevitable that the bike is going under kill the engine.
Bike is submersed........
Don't delay, right the machine asap. Under no circumstances try to start it. If it has a key, turn it off so accidental cranking won't occur during the stricken machines recover to shore.
Depending on the enviroment, you may need assistance to handball the the bike to the shore.
Open airbox to release water and remove filter element.
Stand bike up on rear wheel to release water from exhaust system. If your alone, lie bike down on exhaust side. and lift front wheel up by the rim.
Standing bike back on it's wheels.
Turn fuel off and drain carb. Flush through with a little petrol.
If the spark plug is accessible, take it out.
If it has a decompressor lever, give it a few kicks with lever pulled in. If it electric start only, put bike in top gear and push bike backwards. Any hydraulically locked water in the cylinder/s will be forced out of the inlet valve towards the airbox. This may need mopping out/draining from the drain grommet or stand the bike up on the rear wheel again.
Turn fuel on, put choke on and try to fire it up.
When/if it starts leave it ticking over for a few minutes, the warm exhaust gases can be used to dry filter element.

You may find that the oil has turned milky, this should be change at the first possible opportunity. Obviously if the engine oil is totally water logged then running the engine is not recommended, get your bike towed.

How does all that sound?

Timpo.

 

[RickA]

If it is inevitable that the bike is going under kill the engine.
Bike is submersed........

etc......

How does all that sound?

Timpo.

All very familiar!

Sorry I missed this one - looked like a cracker!

Hope to see you all out on the trails soon,

Cheers, Gimpy Rick.

 

[Grimmy]

Looked like a great ride out bit cold for paddling tough .Timpo your an evil man leading those inocent victims across the car wash
Well Im off to suck up some more oil from the seabed for you lads to burn so hope there is a ride out when I get Back
Grimmy

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

God that looked cold!

Brilliant piccies, looks like you hade real fun there

Andres

 

[louisdut]

"Cool Pic's"

Well done all

 

[Timpo]

I best put an account in just to be polite........

Well, the day was a full 24 hours of entertainment starting on Saturday evening.......
Sarah Teach had prepared a beautiful roast beef dinner with all the trimmings, readyfor Loz and myself to knock a hole in, that would be setting us up for the early start the next day. A few beers and a bottle of red wine later it was off to bed.
Sunday morning I woke and quickly checked that the weathermen's prediction was right, and they were bang-on, the fog had gone and the sky was blue, theough there was a heavy frost. I knew that this was to make the day's ride very interesting.
Loz and myself set off to the RV in good time.

Not wanting to be the last bloke ready, Loz set to donning his gear, luckily enough I found a stunt double on an unburnt bonfire that the kids must of built earlier this month.

So I threw Loz back in the van and put Numpty Fawkes on the SE. He set off like a rocket.....

The air temperature was well below zero and the valeys were full of a heavy freezing fog. The ends of my fingers and toes were in pain as the blood refused to flow there.
I was determined to give the riders some of the best trails in the Mold loop, and just because it was a 600cc+ ride, I wasn't missing any of the trick trails out.
Llanarmon Yn Ial ford was the first crossing of the day, and cloaked in thick fog it looked menacing. PaulXC looked worried...... but he cleared it.

There others soon followed without incident....

The heat from the engines soon dried the water off adding to the localised fog.
A short climb on tarmac had us on The Piggories, the vally below was a carpet of fog, but I knew there was an oasis in there ready to serve up a hearty breakfast.... Numpty Fawkes and Basil couldn't wait, they were starving.

Pwllglas was next up, a tricky little route that starts of on a 40 degree gradient of shale and rock with a small stream running down it. The fresh breakfast was about to be burnt. I started of well but a knock to my leg had me of balance and I stuggled to regain grip. The part worn MT21 was working hard and I hope nobody was too close behind as there was plenty of stone being roosted out the back.
After a quick chat with the farmer at the end of the trail, it was a short road section down towards Wern Ddu. Another little gem of a trail, looks easy but a sting in it's tail if you get the ruts crossed.
Numpty Fawkes was loving it, the bark from his bike's LVs echoed between the hedgerows. His smile was to be short lived though, as I knew what was coming...... The Carwash at Corwen!
There was Heron Lane to do before the Carwash, but I nearly overshot the route as I was thinking about how 'bad' the Carwash would be today....
Well, the water looked freezing, NF had lost his smirk, and he shock his head saying 'you must be fecking mad.....'.
I opened the gate and tried to give PaulXC a few notes to help get him across. He was a good student, his technique was bang-on, and being a tall bloke, a dab or two was easily found.
all but me and Basil had crossed, no incidents at all, so I gave my camera to Basil and asked him to take my pic as I came over last. He set off....... I turned my back to close the gate and by the time I'd turned to remount, his bike was under..... all but one grip!
The others scrambled to assist and the bike was hauled ashore. I set off with all eyes watching, the Tenere already proven as one of the best fording bikes I have ever owned, a mistake could only be my making so I gave it 110% concentration..... and it worked.

As shown and described earlier in the thread, Basil's KTM was running again in about 20 minutes, and we were on our way.

Next up was Glan Yr Afon, and trails that not many people know about, and I mean very few. They were fantastic, and NF made sure I knew of his joy. Boggy quagmires between stone walled trails had the machines weaving and bouncing fron onw side to the other. I was now glad that the 1200 hadn't came as they may of struggled.
The going was that good that I decided to change direction and keep the trail ride in this area, riding parallel with the A5 trunk road.
The tarmac lanes were covered in large patches of sheet ice, usually on switchbacks, making changing direction treacherous.

The Cowsheds was next, a 45degree climb, very slippery with patches of boggy lane at the top.

I let the group go ahead, and I knew a roostering could easily be caught if you rode too close to your frontman.

This five grand 'adventure' bike was doing exactly what it said on-the-tin, a true bargain it has been......

Next up was a stick climb up on to the moors, a single gate prevents the 4x4s from using this route, it had the bikes requiring a rope tow, the worn tyres now failed.
A short regroup period and I took some pics....

Another short road section had us in to Clocaenog Forest, and Bryn Ocyn Byway was next up. Heavily rutted and deep frozen puddles had steam belching from the bikes. The ice was over an inch thick. Basil hads to break it by foot as the bike was stopped solid.

From Bryn Ocyn we linked the warren of trails together a started the return section of the loop, it was mid-afternoon and light would soon be failing. The shaddows now were freezing.
Cyffylliog Bridge next, a true favourite of mine. 40 degrees of loaf sized boulders, mud and running water. Definately not boxer friendly, though Wreford has been up it on the airhead, RickA too on the HP2 come to think of it.
PaulXC struggled, he looked knackered. I gave him some encouragement and he set off again. Funily enough he cleared the technical section and then binned it on the exit....

I called another regroup, and we let the steam out of our helmets..... the bikes had just had a right pounding!

Pillau Clai next and fatigue started to show, the sun was disappearing below the hills and we still had some slippery trails to cover before van-time.....

Two of the bike fuel lights came on and that was about time we needed to head back.
I had two more trails to include in the ride, Moel Arthur and Clifford Byway, both were like riding on ice, because it was exactly that.
The top of Clifford byway was like being on the moon, solid and grey, that was it, the end.
We had missed the last section of the planned route, it was too late....... They'll still be there next time.........

Timpo.

 

[Loz]

great day,thank's everyone
timpo you are numpty


loz

 

[ONYERBIKE]

Great pictures and report
Looked bloody cold in the morning to me.

 

[Loz]

every time we got warm some numpty took us through a ford



loz

 

[Timpo]

every time we got warm some numpty took us through a ford

The look on your face at the Carwash was a picture..........

Timpo.

 

[earthmover]

Seal skins.
Do exactly what it says on the tin, my toes were fine for 95% of the day. The other 5% was immediately after a dab in the car wash that went over the top of my boots!
If Loz wasn't so big, I'd seriously have considered mugging him for his muffs for the ride home though. My fingers were chuffin' freezing by the time I pulled up.
Nice pics Timpo, are you going to add them to the ADV thread, so the 'merkins can drool over what they haven't got yet?
Mark