SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum

OK, as I suggested to petevtwin, a new thread on this, to re-cap thinking so far. Everything below is what has been proposed before, by me & others, all in one nice post :)

Meeting place: Ponderosa, HorseShoe Pass. 26th May, time TBC (whatever is suitable to all), at the moment I'm thinking leave Ponderosa around 10:30am.
Day 1 (26th May): Route proposed by Luckypants, map here. Then a couple of drinks & evening meal. I expect the route illustrated to take a good couple of hours at a steady pace. I've done it in under 2hours, I expect the group to take a little longer.
Day 2 (27th May): Ad-hoc. Possibly a walk, possibly a ride around some of Wales' more Westerly sights. Possibly cut short & jump to Day 3 cutting out Day 2. Possibly time spent around Lleyn Peninsula or Anglesey. TBC. Remember, bank holiday weekend, North Wales sees a lot of tourists, it wouldn't supprise me if most of the time we were busy filtering & avoiding Operation Focus (plod helicopter).
Day 3 (28th May): Ride homeward for foreigners. Route proposed by me :D map here.
People attending (so far): Me, Luckypants, Lissa/Pete, K(possibly/last min/bump into), VB(possibly - last min, one day only), glsuk1970(sat only), neio79(sat only), Kwak zzr(sun only TBC), 2mths(possibly - depends on family event), Tomcat (possibly, sat only). If all attend, I make that 10 bikes. Possibly add cuz/Ed et al for a day or so out. Should be a good group. I'll give everyone my mobile number just before hand so we know who will/wont be there & don't have to hang around for someone that's not coming.
Accomodation: You have responsibility for booking your own accomodation. Be warned, it fills up fast. Yellow pages & let your fingers do the walkin'. Camp sites can be had for £4/night & up. Some B&Bs are upwards of £100/person/night. A lot of B&B's are taken already, and Pen-y-pass YHA is full. There are other YHA sites in the area. If anyone books into anywhere random, I'll happily guide you there on day 1 & meet you there day 2 if needed. Some camp sites I've called at could potentially turn away groups of 8 bikes on noise grounds. One has openly said we'd be turned away if found to have beer on site! I wont name & shame though.
Arrive Alive Details: We don't want any accidents or speeding tickets, so for that reason, Arrive Alive details for each day will be posted here in the run up to the ride. At the moment, the Arrive Alive website does not show any information for the weekend!! Operation Focus in full effect!! Expect the police helicopter to be out!!
Weather forecast: Friday, cloudy. Saturday, fine but cloudy. Sunday, wet & windy (bring your weatherproof gear!!). Monday, cooler & showery.
Caution: This weekend is also the bike show at Buith Wells. Add to that the fact that it's a bank holiday weekend, and there will be a LOT of traffic on the roads. Expect to be filtering pretty much constantly, and look out for bikers who don't really know where they're going. We want everyone (and their bikes) to get home in one piece ;)

Some data gathered over the last 3 years on some of the routes we'll be using:
HorseShoe Pass: 21 KSIs, 2 of which bikes.
B4501: 4 KSIs, all bikes.
A543 from A5 to Denbigh: 25 KSIs, 5 were bikes.
B5105: 26 KSIs, 41% of which, bikes.
A470 (not sure if we're using this one): 86 KSIs, 10 bikes.
A4086: 14 KSIs.
A5: 196 KSIs, 64% bikers!!!
A494: 36 KSIs, 9 bikes.

Please bare these stats in mind, I personally don't want anyone (in our group or otherwise) adding to them!

We will use the marker system, as some of the group have raised concerns of being novice riders. Marker system as follows:

The leader - is familiar with the route, and follows it. He should carry a mobile in case of problems on route. He should point out to the first person behind him where to sit to be best positioned to mark each junction.
The tailender - is idealy familiar with the route also, but doesnt have to be. They will stay at the back for the entire ride and will be pointed out at the beginning of the ride. (They may wear a fluro vest to make them obvious). The tailender is exactly that, everyone else stays in front of them, so they should move the junction marker on once they arrive, this also ensures there is no confusion as to who is the rear bike. They should carry a mobile with the leaders number in case of problems on route. If anyone drops out of the group the tailender should stop with them and find out what is going on. If there is a problem they should get in touch with the leader, or if they are just stopping for a pee wait with them so the marker stays in place at the next junction.
The riders - at any point the route deviates from the strip of tarmac in front, the first of the riders behind the leader will stop to mark the way at the junction in a place prominent to the rest of the following group. THEY MUST NOT MOVE UNTIL THE TAILENDER ARRIVES. If it seems like you have waited ages, wait some more. If they still havent arrived, phone the leader as he may have heard from them. Once the tailender has arrived, the junction marker can then work their way carefully back towards the front.
Overtaking is ecouraged http://www.lsumcc.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif , but please be courteous! (I'll also add ONLY overtake on the right whilst in the group!!! - Baph)
If anyone sees someone making dangerous overtakes (repeateadly - we all make mistakes sometimes) point it out to the leader/tailender, who will have a quiet word. If they carry on they will be asked to leave. (I doubt this will happen though - Baph)
If riders are going to drop off the back of the group (behind the tail ender), they must inform the tailender what's going on.

I'm quite happy to run tailender all weekend. I can run off & have a blast on the roads proposed any time I like, I live here :)

I look forward to meeting everyone that attends, except Luckypants, as I've met him a few times now. :p Sorry Mike, couldn't resist :)