SUNDAY RIDE OUT
6th JUNE 2010.
BURY St EDMUNDS BIKE SHOW

There were 3 of us that attended the ride out today. Jim, Alan and myself, Roland.

The weather was overcast at times with the sun breaking through at other times. It was only on the return journey it rained, whilst we were inside the pub.

I went to the NLHOC to see who was going to be there for the 10am departure.
Before I left home I had a phone call from Jim telling me he would meet me at the garage at Chipping Ongar.
Then whilst riding to the club I received a phone call from Alan telling me he was about to leave home for the club. I told Alan where we were going to meet Jim.

I got to the club before 10am. No one else turned up for the ride out. We left the club at 10:20am and rode to Chipping Ongar to meet Jim. We rode through Epping and North Weald and then followed the A414 to Ongar.

After fuelling at Ongar we departed for the ride towards Bury St Edmunds. We decided to stop at Finchingfield for a cuppa. From Ongar we followed the B184 to Great Dunmow then the B1057 to Finchingfield.
After refreshments we then followed the B1057 to Haverhill. We then went along the A143 to Bury St Edmunds.

The only incident we had here was when Jim lost his KTM bag from his rack. Alan spotted it leave the bike, fortunately Alan was at the rear to see this. Alan stopped to pick the bag up.
Jim and I noticed Alan was not with us anymore and pulled over to the side. We started to wonder what had happened to Alan and was about to go back to find out when we saw Alan coming along. We pulled away as Alan drew close only to stop a few minutes later when Jim reached behind him to feel for the bag and felt it missing. Jim indicated for us to pull over. As we stopped Alan pulled up along side Jim and told him he had the bag in his top box. I then though Jim was having a funny turn as he jumped off his bike and gave Alan a big hug. I don’t want to think what Jim would have done if the knob on his suspension adjuster had fallen off?

The ride to the show continued without further incident.
As we parked up at the show so it drizzled for about two minutes, then it stopped.

The Bury St Edmunds show is not a big show, but was well attended.
We took part in the ritual of eating a cheeseburger and having a drink, as you do, before we had a walk around the show.
We then entered the raffle, but alas we did not win anything.

We stayed at the show until it’s close and then set off back along the route we took to get there.
We again stopped at Finchingfield for another drink this time in the pub. It turned black outside and started to rain. Fortunately we were inside the pub at the time. It rained heavy for about five minutes.
Once the rain stopped we set off again on the ride back.
Jim peeled off at Great Dunmow and Alan and I continued on until we reached the M25 where we went in different directions.

The roads on the route are excellent for bikes. We all loved the ride out there and back. Well worth the day out in the saddle.

Cheers.

Roland.