This Wednesday, 6th May, would have been our clubnight at the Alma. Spare a thought for the Landlord who had not had an easy time of it before all this happened. I have managed to resist taking a bike or a car for a ride, despite the almost continuous traffic past our house. We have managed to avoid going anywhere except for walks across the near by fields. I hope you have all be doing the same. It's not clear what the next few weeks will hold, but as a former scientist, I won't be going anywhere until there is a proven vaccine available. The idea that it will suddenly become safe to return to anything like normality in the short term is way off the mark.
This week we should have been going to the Isle of Man, albeit with the Porsche Club, and I was looking forward to the two scheduled early dawn drives around the circuit. So far I've only seen 120 mph on trackdays, and was looking forward to seeing if it would reach 146 mph, the top speed recorded in 1977. I've never been to the Isle of Man and it looks like next year now. I know one or two of you are also going to miss the TT as well. Who could have known? I shall also be missing the Le Mans 24hrs in June, and it's not likely that we will all be able to get together for the rescheduled event. I had got the Moto GP on my wish list as well. George and I had an interesting weekend last year.
My old BMW will come under the MOT amnesty this month, the BSA doesn't need one, although I usually have it done, and one of the cars falls in June. We would have been well into our riding programme by now, especially with all the lovely weather, not to mention the price of petrol. George has suggested that we use my air raid shelter for club nights, but social distancing would prove a bit difficult, especially on the stairs! Not to mention the beer consumption. I've avoided any more disasters with the paddock stand by riding the Varadero round in circles on my drive. When my children were younger they each had a 50cc motorcycle and we had a circuit around the garden, which was very popular with them and with visitors. They all learned about brakes, helmets, and how to avoid bushes! some visiting children had a steep learning curve. And it didnt do much for the lawn!
I'm pleased to see you are all making the effort to deliver some drivel to Colin for his daily reports. I have to say that some of the stories and photos are worthy of a better title than drivel. Some will im sure generate a degree of flack when we do meet up again. Keep sending them in, otherwise he will start making stuff up, and we dont want that. Gordon
Clearly there have been no bike runs or social gatherings since the last update, but I have to say that Colin is doing a grand job coordinating the drivel correspondence. The quality of the content is now getting to a standard that makes me feel a bit inadequate making these reports! Im pleased to see that there has been such a good response, and that everyone has joined in with the spirit of it all. I did think I might qualify for the most stupid bike related event. I managed to let my Varadero fall over while trying to use a paddock stand, something I have used sucessfully many times. It wouldnt have been so bad, had it not been beside my car, which now has a nice dent in the wing! It only smashed the Honda screen, which was easily replaced in a few days. It annoys me so much, I have parked the car the other way round so I dont have to see it every day! If you have done anything more foolish, do let us know! Gordon
It's been such lovely weather and with petrol heading downwards in price, the temptation to get a bike out and go for a ride has been enormous. But we of the baby boomer generation were brought up to do as we were told, something thats gone out of the window in the last few decades. So it's down to running them up in the garage, if only to remind the neighbours that you are still about! I've only got one that makes a bit of a noise so Im not too worried. I've still got the goldie silencers in the garage roof that were sawn in half, the entire contents removed, brazed together and rechromed! I had to run a bigger main jet in the amal TT in the day, but the noise was fantastic.
Living where we do there is a lot of traffic including lots of bikes. Its 30mph in all directions, and yet the number of bikes winding it through the gears as they leave the junction, nice to listen to, is a bit dangerous, as lots of them must be approaching the national speed limit in second or third gear. I feel a bit of a hypocrite as I was a bit of a hooligan as a youth! And any of you who have tried to do the grocery shopping on a bike will know, that even with proper luggage, its not all that practical, even if, like George, you have a tank bag! Most of the bikes I have seen have no luggage, and no haversacks, and you cant get much in your pockets. Of course the car boy racers do their bit as well as they make huge ammounts of noise, including all the popping and banging, even if their performance is in the large part, unimpressive. If you want to see how a real car goes try 1977 Carrera 3 at Nurburgring on YouTube. I did hear that some of the popular routes for bikes around the country were being exploited by a few as they were more or less deserted of other traffic. I'm sure none of us would condone that sort of thing, but I do understand the reasoning! Those of us of a certain age will be sad to hear about Sir Stirling Moss. As a lad, I remember having a green Vanwall race car by Corgi. I can remember seeing the results of his Goodwood accident on TV. He was a a truly great sportsman and driver, and an example to us all.
Finally, I would remind you all to keep sending in your contributions to Colin, so he can keep up the standard of the drivel over the next few weeks. Otherwise you might be getting more from me and George! Keep safe Gordon.
Just when we thought things would start to get going with the riding, we all are confined to barracks. This week would have seen our first pre meeting ride. As it is all we can offer is more of Colins E mails. Please do all you can to improve the content of the drivel by sending in your stories. Keep safe. Gordon
For those of you who recieve the Jampot Magazine, clearly the events mentioned in the section notes have had to be cancelled. Bare in mind the notes were written at the beginning of March. How much has happened in three weeks! Colin will keep you amused (hopefully) with his e mails. Just remember if you want the quality of these e mails to improve, send your stories to Colin. Im having a bit of trouble with the front discs on my BMW . If you do have bikes with discs, its worthwhile moving the bike about and pulling the brake lever a few times to keep things moving.Those of you with dual membership, keep an eye on the hadleigh club site as well. Keep safe. Gordon
Because of the current crisis with the Corona Virus we have decided to cancel all club events until further notice. Keep an eye on this website to keep up to date. If you have any questions, or need some help, please contact Colin or myself by e-mail. Gordon
Peter Roberts has suggested that we have a Motorcycle Parts for Sale listing for members on our website,as we have all probably got stuff hidden away that we will never get to use. He has also volunteered to organise it so if any of you have anything to sell please let him know. You can cotact him using the e mail address. 161@LEHOVEL12.PLUS.COM. It goes without saying that we dont want to list a lot of old rubbish! Gordon
It was good to see you all at another good turnout at the club night yesterday evening. We also had a special guest, Tony, of the Merlin Special! I hope some of you had a chat with him. You must come along when we get the invite to see it running.I can guarantee that you will be impressed by every single aspect of it. Colin kept you all up to date with whats going on. There are still some WW2 air force books up for sale, as well as club clothing. We agreed the next ride out will be on March 19th, leaving the Alma at 10-30 with Lunch at Andrewsfield. You can always meet us there. There is a lot going on in April so keep a look out on thge website for details. We will discuss the possibilities at the April 1st Club Night. This will also be the first evening ride out before a clubnight leaving the Alma at 7pm for a short trip around the local backroads. I hope to see you at one or both! Gordon
Just four of us ventured from The Alma on the 19th for a trip into Essex, and once we made it to Maldon, John Walsh took us on a lovely ride around a series of very enjoyable sweeping bends in the depths of the countryside. Unfortunately one of the colchester contingent called it a day in Maldon due to misfire. After lunch we had a swift ride back to colchester in some light rain, but again we were lucky with the weather, it could have been much worse. Dont forget the February lunch meeting at the Wooden Fender, Ardleigh, on Saturday 29th. Next club night on the 4th of March. Gordon
Just a quick note to say that the daytime run on the 19th will be leaving the Alma at 10-30, or if its more convenient, we will be meeting up with John Walsh at Tescos Car Park Maldon at 11-00. Weather Permitting of course! Gordon
The February clubnight was well attended, with some 30 members and one guest. And four on Bikes which is always a good sign. Colin brought us all up to date with the goings on in January. It was agreed to do a daytime run into the depths of Essex on February 19th. We will venture in the Maldon direction, where John Walsh has kindly agreed to meet us,and to give us the benefit of his local knowledge and show us some of the sights,as well as a good venue for lunch. Leaving the Alma at 10-30. It also looks as if we might get to see and hear the merlin project in march if steve can arrange it. If it happens and you havent seen it before its really a must do! WEe also need to arrange a ride for March.We have also had a very generous invite from the Essex Section of the VMCC to their Bluebell Camping weekend at the Museum of Power, Langford,running from Wednesday April 15th until Monday 20th. Camping is not compulsory but there will be a ride every day and we as a club,have been invited to take part in all of them. The only restriction is that they would like the bikes to be more than 25 years old.I will post the details of the runs on the events page. If you do want to take part just let me know and I will forward the details and booking forms. If there is lunch involved, you need to book the food in advance. I hope to have a go at one or two myself, and you can go on your own or with friends if you have any! The thursday run looks interesting as there is both a road run and an off road run ending at the same venue. Gordon
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