North Wales Ride Out #3 29th & 30th March

[Luckypants]

The third North Wales rideout will be held on 29th & 30th March 2008. If you want to come on the ride, please book on using this booking thread. The overnight accommodation in LLanberis is now fully booked, but you can arrange your own place to sleep and then spend the evening with the gang in Pete's Eats.

We will meet at the Ponderosa Cafe at the top of the Horseshoe Pass near LLangollen on the A542 (map). Everyone NEEDS to be there by 10 am, no later. The briefing will begin at 10, photo call and leave by 10.30.

Saturday's ride will be approx 210 miles, make sure your tank is full as possible prior to arriving at Ponderosa. It will be long day.

Sunday's ride will be about 160 miles, with several early exit points built in for folks who need to leave early. We aim to be back at the Ponderosa for farewells about 3pm.

This thread is locked and is for information only. To chat about the ride, see this thread. Extra information will posted in here as it becomes available. The route will be posted here after I do a recce ride the week before the actual rideout.

[Luckypants]

Shamelessly nicked from Pete and Lissa

Rideout tips and ideas

Introduce yourself to the ride organiser and swap mobile numbers with him and at least 1 other participant

Full tank of gas or as near as is practically possible.

Tyre pressures checked and in good condition.

Breakdown cover. Check if your bike is covered in the event of an accident or breakdown. Full recovery is best. And make sure you have contact numbers for them.

ICE (In case of emergency numbers) These should be in your phone under that heading. Should someone need to be contacted on your behalf.

Map. If you haven't got proper ones then rip out the page(s) of an old map book, or get a photocopy, or print one off the internet. It is NOT the responsibility of the organiser to get you home.

Waterproofs. Just because it's sunny doesn't mean it's gonna stay so.

If you're using a dark visor, bring your clear one as well.

DO Keep an eye on your mirrors.

DO Ride responsibly.

DO Stagger your position on the road so as to maximise forward observation and braking distances.

DO ENJOY YOURSELF


DON'T Do anything you're not comfortable with. It's not a race .

DON'T Follow too close to the bike in front and don't fixate on them.

DON'T Assume the rider in front knows what he's doing.

DON'T Stop if one of the group get pulled over by the Police.

DON'T Worry about keeping up and what the others might think.

DON'T CRASH!

[Luckypants]

For all those coming on the NW3 rideout next weekend, I want to be sure that everyone is conversant with the system we will use to mark junctions where we need to make a turn. The point of marking junctions may seem obvious, but with 30 odd bikes it is a big group and it will be easy to lose one or two. We can go over this before setting off but I would like get it clear before hand.

Therefore EVERYONE please read this and ask questions about what is not clear. (There is a thread for this)


We will use the drop-off system to mark junctions. This means that the bike behind the leader should stop at every junction to mark the way. The next bike in line then becomes the 2nd bike and will mark the next junction and so on. For everyone NOT marking the junction, continue on the ride in the direction indicated, do not stop to chat etc as this can lead to a pile up of bikes as everyone stops thinking there is a problem.

The marking bike waits at the junction until the Tail End Charlie (TEC for short) comes into view and signals the bike to move off. Park you bike safely and in view of the riders coming along behind. If necessary park your bike out of harms way and stand to show the way. BE SENSIBLE!! If you feel like you have been sat for an age waiting for TEC, wait another age! If you cannot see TEC after 2 ages have past, stay where you are and phone either the leader or TEC and wait for an answer (we may be out of signal). Whatever happens do not unilaterally decide to head off as this is how folks get lost. Once you have been signalled to move off you can catch up to the rest of the group at your own pace, be sensible overtaking both other vehicles and members of the group.

We will be having re-group points and fuel stops to help keep the group together, but the emphasis is to ride at your own pace. If you feel that you do not want to play 'catch-up' after making the junction, indicate another bike to come through to the number 2 spot. However we need folks to take responsibility and mark a junction or two.

[Luckypants]

Maps of the route sent to those booked on the ride by PM. If you did not get one, PM me ASAP.