Salisbury Plain 19 March 2006

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Lootch67

Race Dog
Joined
Jan 25, 2006
Messages
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Location
South Ockendon, Essex, UK
Bike
Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin
Maverick and I met another XRV member (Chad) at the Dartford Crossing and set off on the 190km trip to the Plains. Yes I know we're desperate! We were a bit late but any fear of arriving late quickly evaporated when Chad took the lead and settled into a rather brisk pace - for UK roads that is.

We met two more guys about 130km later when we stopped for a coffee and croissants (we okes is posh you knows...). This was a really welcome break as the temperature was still around 4 degrees and my heated grips had long since stopped making a difference. Being dressed like the OROS man helped to keep the cold out but didn't leave you much room to bend your legs.

Coffee break. From left to right Patrick, Chad and Maverick. Glen (another South African arrived a little later)

Coffee.jpg


We continued on to Amesbury where we were pleasantly surprised that everybody who promised to pitch did actually pitch. In total there was about 18 bikes. Most of them were Africa Twins with 3 Trans Alps, a XR650 and some other Yamaha dirt bike. Looked like a 250 or a 400. There was also a KTM950.

Turnout

Turnout.jpg


Some "before" shots.

My bike - and no, this is NOT dirty

Before.jpg


Chad's bike - what a beaut!

ChadsBike.jpg


After getting rid of some of the excess layers of clothing, deflating my tyres and loosening the mirrors (I later took mine off completely) we set off. The pace was rather sedate as this was the first time off-road for some of the guys, including Glen who arrived on a rather worn rear road tyre. On my advice he deflated his tyre as well and I'm sure it saved his bacon as he managed to stay upright the whole day. Congrats dude!

First stop for a smoke/drink break.

SmokeBreak1.jpg


SmokeBreak.jpg


The more experienced guys (I acted like I was one of them :roll: ) played around in the puddles and rougher terrain every time we stopped.

I was quite worried that we won't get much riding done with such a big group but we did OK. It's quite a sight seeing all 18 bikes spread out across the Plains in a 2km line - there was quite a lot of dust so you had to keep you distance. After riding around for another hour or so we stopped for lunch. Maverick and I first thought about bringing a disposable braai to prepare some boerewors rolls, but eventually decided it might take too long, so we pre-prepared the rolls.

Here's two SAFFAS enjoying their lunch (Maverick and Glen)

Boerewors.jpg


LunchBreak.jpg


Look at those hills in the background. Like the last time we were there I was gagging to try them out but they're strictly off limits. Damn army :twisted:

Backdrop.jpg


The 4 wheel drive club was there as well but I'm sure we had more fun.

4Wheelclub.jpg


And so we continued with our illustrious leader taking ever more adventurous roads which obviously led to a couple of spills. I managed to stay upright but I have to admit I was pretty lucky. The problem with puddles is that you have no idea what's in them. We went through a serious of puddles where I was completely blinded because the water came right over and into my helmet which meant I had to stop. I just hoped whoever was behind me kept a proper following distance.

Man down

ManDown.jpg


A friend in need.....

Afriendinneed.jpg


And just before you ask why this guy was not standing on the pegs - it's because he's only got one leg! :salute:

Prostese.jpg


Shortly after Maverick had an unfortunate incident which involved so fair sized puddle which hid some very thick mud. Apparently someone else had come off in the puddle but because we were right at the back this bike had already been salvaged by the time we got there. Fortunately, being the gentleman I am :lol: , I let Maverick go first. Not that it made much of a difference as I was still one of the guys who helped drag him out.

Maverick's out! (interpret that whichever way you wish..)

MaverickOut.jpg


Still smiling though..

Maverick-Stillsmiling.jpg


Ooh, now that's dirty!
MavericksDirtyBike.jpg


At this point one of the wardens arrived and told us the plain is being evacuated because of a fire somewhere on the plain. We were really disappointed because we had just started to tackle the more technical stuff and there was still about 3 hours playtime left. Still, nothing left to do but to make like a leaf.

Lessons learned? 1) Remove your mirrors from the start. One less thing to worry about especially since the right-hand mirror bolts to the master cylinder which makes it hugely expensive if you should drop the bike and the mirror breaks off.
2) Deflate your tyres - Thanks LITO!
3) Practise the tips mentioned in my previous post (https://wilddogtours.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?t=394), especially standing up. I've been practising my 8s and it really helped even though most of the practise was done on tar.


All in all a great day out. Maverick will be along shortly to post more pics and his side of the story... I'll post some more once they've been uploaded on the XRV site.

Looking good!!
LookingGood.jpg
 
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