Friday 24th April night ride

[RED PRED]

Who wants to come out quadding friday night, I am planning a route around Basingstoke area with a stop at my ex-wifes grave in Herriard Woods !!
Meet at Basingstoke Morrisons 8`0` clock .
Should take about 3 hours max .

[Nogbad]

Yep - I'd be for that

[outlander]

Can't do Friday, Late shift.

[caulkett]

Sounds like a plan - woot!

[RED PRED]

Sorted, and to finish a huge kebab and coffee !!
Caulkett, I will show you the Road Angel in action .

[caulkett]

Nice one dude! Looking forward to it!

[RED PRED]

Have you done night off road riding, it is so much better than daytime riding, seems so much faster !!

[RED PRED]

Caulkett, I will let you ride my quad leading the route to get a feel for the Raod Angel if you like .
Friday will be fine if anyone coming wants to pay their Isle of Wight dosh .

[caulkett]

Donea couple of night enduro's in my MX days! Bt not on a quad through tiny british lanes :) Should be interesting! :)

[catmandoes]

Im going to try to come.

[Big Jim]

Im going to try to come.

Nice :) :) :)

[RED PRED]

Saucy Jim lol

[corsasri]

if i can make it i will be there. as i have never had a basingstoke kebab.:cc_rip:

[RED PRED]

The best kebab in Basingstoke is actually not in Basingstoke LOL, its the van in the layby going towards Newbury just outside Basingstoke .

[corsasri]

i might stop there onenight with my bus, tell the passengers its my tea time:rules:

[RED PRED]

Sounds like a good idea mate, might be a bit off your route though LOL

[Raptorman]

I am a maybe will decide on friday

[butch2485]

as you all know I can`t make but if graham gives me a shout then I can meet you 4 a kebab

[Nogbad]

Don't eat that kebab too quickly, Sean, you may need to get airlifted out of there...........

[RED PRED]

Fridays route will have to be from memory, the Road Angel/Memory Map combination has been up to its usual tricks, ie, load of crap !
It has been ok until today when I went to load the route and it came up with some violation nonsense-it is so user un-friendly .

[caulkett]

Cool beans! Getting lost at 10pm in the bush :) NICE! :)

[Nogbad]

Yeah, Caulkett, those were the exact words that Graham's first wife used...............don't go near the woods, you have been warned

[caulkett]

don't go near the woods, you have been warned

dont scare me!

[RED PRED]

We will be fine, I know the lanes-a bit !!

We will ride past the spot where I buried my first wife, dont worry as I am a reformed character after the 17 years in prison .

[Big Jim]

Shame you can't come to Salisbury Plains on Sunday, should be good

[Timo]

IF (please note the size) Is this a route I could do on road baised tyres or would I have to swap to the maxxis? Her birthday on sat so night have to join her night out.:frusty:

[RED PRED]

You will need off road tyres to get round Timo !

[Timo]

:frusty::frusty::frusty: take a wild guess. "are you coming out with us?" "I might". make plans with sitter and mates to go out with potential to slide off elsewhere later. "Why are you coming out":mad:. I give up. Have a good time hope to get out next time.

[RED PRED]

Call me Mr.Thicko if you like, but I did not understand what you just posted LOL

[caulkett]

So, is it going to rain tonight? Do we care?? I personally don't... The wetter the better?

[RED PRED]

See you soon guys

[Big Jim]

Did you have a good ride / kebab?

[RED PRED]

It was good Jim, a nice two hour ride then a kebab with Dave the Spyder who met up with us :D

[Big Jim]

Cool, sounds good!

Heading off to Trowbridge this afternoon, night ride & then B&B, and ride out tomoz, should be good. Shame you can't cum

[secret solo]

Last night was a lovely night, not too wet, raptorman and myself did 80 miles but did notice a distinct lack of wildlife?? Usually there are rabbits every where but did not see one?? the only life we saw was some young female jogger pounding it out along one of the green lanes in the near darkness ???

[RED PRED]

We saw deer, rats, bats, rabbits and heard some owls, it was perfect apart from the dust kicked up .
I have noticed recently that some of the byways are in very bad condition, they seem to be deteriorating very quickly around this area ?

[secret solo]

raptorman saw a deer but i didnt.. the council have done quite a few repairs around here.. the steep climb up the back of butser had its own grand canyon running up the middle of it but now its nice and smooth (shock) and a few other trails have had the holes/ruts filled in...
In contrast, there is one very nice byway that has been closed for 5 years now with substantial metal barriers to stop 4x4,s We got off and walked along it ;) to have a look, wow, I have never seen it in such a bad state in the 10 years i have known it. the forrestry commision vehicles have mutilated it,no doubt giving the ramblers ammunition to moan about the damage caused by off roading...

[RED PRED]

I suppose it will get worse through summer as the traffic increases, we saw a range rover late friday night on the herriard byway .
One byway just outside Basingstoke has got a lot worse in the last few months with one particular section having a big hole open up, I wonder if the dry spell we have had in the last few months has contributed to the soil shift ?
The increase in exposed tree roots is noticeable too, I hate them, they make riding pretty uncomfortable .

[caulkett]

The roots test the suspension and my podgy ass :)

Shot for the ride guys, had a awesome time! Looking forward to the next one!

[RED PRED]

They test my poor old arms, neck and shoulders, bloody things !

[secret solo]

ooh, tree roots, they are bad.
I have taken to running with barely 4 psi in all tyres,such a smoother ride and them smaller tree roots are not felt.
the downside is the quad wallows around like a whale on the road around corners but makes up for it when on the rough stuff.

[RED PRED]

On one byway, the roots must be at least 6" tall and they make the quad judder like mad, they dont seem so bad when there is mud to soften the blow !!
Flints, bloody things, natures razor blades, one byway is like a bed of razors with flints, funnily enough we have never had a puncture there ??

[Timo]

Sounds like a good time was had by all. Yet another one i have missed:mad: 'Supposed to be' (work and dodgy wrist providing) going to Fort William on Fri for a week downhill mtb'ing, only last night did my mate who's van we are using say 'we should have planned to take your quad too late now though:frusty:'