First Rideout of 2014

I'd organised a rideout today for the Yamaha XJR Owners club I'm in. It was to meet at CMC Chesterfield, a Yamaha dealership with a very good showroom, accessory shop and cafe. Here's my write up :-
 
 
 Now then

I set off from home about 07:10, down to Tesco's and filled her up with Premium unleaded. The morning was coming alive and the light started to increase as I made my way onto the A1 at Dishforth. It was dry but there was a fine spray/mist off the vehicles as overnight rain had left it's mark. The sun appeared over the horizon as I made my way south and gently rose as it blinded everyone, it was very big and very bright. I had my winter gloves and inners on but as normal my hands suffered but not bad, I've gotta say, for a February day. I just kept resting my hands on the engine, as I rode along, alternating between left and right, to give them some relief  I met Filo at the Doncaster junction and after a quick chat we were on our way, back on the A1, M18 then onto the M1 and into 50mph road works  bastard things. Still in the roadworks we pulled off into Woodall services where we were to meet Lampy and Ryan. 





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We stood at the top of the steps above the car park near the entrance to the services front door and enjoyed the sunshine. There was a few footy fans around on their way to watch their various teams, alot were full of drink already 08:30 and some were enjoying a 'special smoke' too  Ryan arrived first and Lampy followed soon after. 





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After Lampy had his fag we rode back into the roadworks and then off at junc 29 to Chesterfield. It was 30 and 40 mph all the way to CMC  and after I made one wrong turn  we were soon inside the cafe at CMC and tucking into our breakfasts, toast and hot drinks. A new member who had signed up recently popped in. His site name is dougal1 and he lives 5 miles up the road from Claycross. He'd seen my thread for today and decided to come have a look. He had turned up at the Classic bike show at Donnington recently and joined the site shortly afterwards. He was a nice guy and should be a good addition to the club. Oh, and wait till you see what he has to take camping gear with him on the bike. Unusual to say the least ( eat your heart out Dalton  ) Get a picture put on dougal1 for everyone to see ( or should I say, get your lad to put a picture on  ) MickSP turned up next and we 'chewed the cud' before have a walk round the accessories and bikes in the shop. There was a two stroke display in the middle of the shop and it was great to see some 70's bikes in immaculate condition





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L to R:- dougal1, Ryan1983, Filo, Lampy and MickSP




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None of us bought anything from the extensive range in the shop as far as I could tell and after another drink and some bike related tales were swapped we headed off. Filo went home to give the dog relief and Lampy went to get a new screen on his mobile so Dougal, Mick and Ryan followed me to Matlock Bath. We followed an RG500 for a mile or two and the smell of two stroke was fantastic for those of us of a certain age  

The sun was beating down and doing it's best to make it like a spring day. It was busy but we managed to get a parking space all together, albeit a bit tight  





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We walked along the road a bit and bagged a table outside a fish & chip cafe and had a bite to eat. No jackets were required because it was so warm in the sunshine and we found out all about Ryan's house, which is in a compound, in a bit of a ruff area apparently  
Ryan headed back to Manchester, Mick and dougal headed south and I headed north as we said our goodbyes. The day was a success and the sunshine made it sooo much better  

Thanx for making the effort guy's, for our first bike meet oop north for 2014, it was well worth it  
See you all next time 

De Ja Vu...just read this in the Porsche Forum.....I think!

Now then srad

I thought the name might be the same person when I saw it on both forums but wasn't sure  

Nice write up, nice bikes at the dealers too!

I really wanted to get out today, checked the old girl over. Sadly one thing after another came up and my fun was replaced with DIY, Tip runs and fixing a chuffing car..... Maybe new weekend....hopefully