April 2016
Biker down - The course that could save lives
Under African Skies - Two go wild in SA
J.R. Hospital Run
American Legends
Editor's thoughtsHello! First of all I would like to thank Sue for the excellent work shedid whilst looking after the magazine, every month producing it to thehigh standards we are all familiar with. This, I may add, hasn't mademy job any easier ;-) I know that we all appreciate the work Sue hasput in. Now all I have to do is notfoul it up!
I am really pleased to be able to contribute a little to thisgreat club. But I do need your help. If you have any articlesthat you would like to share, please email them to me([email protected]).
The magazine is a lot less daunting to produce when youhave content and a lot more interesting with a goodvariety. You don't need to be a published wordsmith to dothis, just have something that you think is of interest.
Ann and I recently picked up our new bikes. The ride home greeted us with a very Britishblend of rain, sleet and hail. Luckily we aren't far from the dealership and quickly defrosted.Since then, we have been grabbing any small opportunity to get out and ride. After havinghad "Roxy", my old Iron since 2009 I'd forgotten how long those first thousand miles are.
With the new season starting, like many of you I have been weather watching, looking for anopportunity to get and put a few miles on the clock. Some of our members couldn’t wait andheaded to warmer lands. To be honest I think most of wish we had too.
We do have some great ride-outscoming up this year. I’m off to tryand appease the weather godslooking for a fantastic year'sriding. I hope to be sharing manymiles with you.
Andy
Membership RenewalsAt the start of the season, don’t forget to renew yourmembership.
You can either do this on line athttp://thamesvalleyhog.com/membership-renewal/or you can download a form athttp://thamesvalleyhog.com/join-the-chapter/Any queries, you can [email protected] or talk to Chris.
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Inside this issue April / MayBirthdays
AprilEric Chipping - 23rdGopher - 30th
MayMichael Friend - 9thGeorge Bunby - 10thClive Skinner - 18thIan Tatton - 20thMia Radacovsky - 27th
Happy Birthdayto you all.
Huge thanks to all who have sent copy in for this month's magazine:Michael, Thelma, Ann, Chris, CJ, Linda, Ralph, Sue, Don :-)
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Front cover Mountain Pass(see pg 20). Photo -Michael Walters
Page 2 Editors thoughts
Page 4 - 7 Director's update
Page 8 - 9 Ladies of Harley
Page 9 New members
Page 10 - 11 Biker Down
Page 12 - 13 Ride out Guildford HD
Page 13 Boys Stuff - Caption time
Page 14 - 15 Calendar
Page 16 - 17 John Radcliffe HospitalRun
Page 18 American Legends
Page 19 Poker Run
Page 20 - 23 Under African Skies
Page 24 - 25 Saturday Social
Page 26 Bovington Tank Fest
Page 27 Just for fun
Back cover Meet the committee
HiEverybody,This month, I need to start my piece by thanking all of themembership for their cards and generous gifts for my 60thbirthday. The celebration started on March 12th at ourSaturday social at The Three Frogs in Wokingham, later onthat day Hazel had arranged a surprises gathering of friendsto join in the birthday celebrations at a Hong Kong restaurantin Windsor, a great start to a special birthday. Once againthank you so much for your very kind generosity.Saturday March 19th a large group of Thames Valleymembers met up at Sportsable for a ride over to GuildfordHarley Davidson to celebrate the dealership birthday, thisturned out to be a great day out with beautiful weather a freeHog roast and a great band playing for most of the day.The Jake Spicer memorial ride again attracted over thirtyriders fromThames Valley andmany gifts for thechildren who aresuffering from veryserious illnesses atthe John RadcliffeHospital. As theparade rideentered thehospital groundswe could see manychildren and theirparents had already come down from the wards to greet us.The staff at the hospital collected two large trollies of toys andgifts which will be distributed around the wards of the hospital.
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On behalf of the John Radcliffe can I thank all those who were ableto make the ride and bring a smile to all those poorly children. Ourday finished with a very disappointing lunch at H Cafe.While the rest of the chapter attended the Toy Run, three of ournewly appointed trainee road captains started their journey tobecoming qualified road captains. They have attended a two dayintense training course at HOG headquarters in Oxford, with someclass room work and then out on the road to practice the role of aroad captain. Hope you three had a great couple of days at Oxford.
The chapter visit up to Harpenden to Three Rivers Chapter clubnight was a great night out. Eight members enjoyed the perfectevening's weather which was ideal for riding and with only 26 milesto cover we arrived in Harpenden in around forty minutes. We weregreeted by Martyn, Three Rivers Chapter director and taken into theHarpenden British Legion for a drink, and were made to feel verywelcome by their members.During the evening a member of the Instute of Advance Motoristgave a small presentation to the members gathered. An enjoyableevening.
Two of our members have had to visit hospital this month, ChrisEarley better known as CJ had a smallproblem with a diesel spillage on a road incentral London and after fighting with hisnew Glide to keep it upright and bumpinginto a cab he managed to badly cut his noseopen on the windshield of the fairing andneeded hospital treatment.
After an overnight stop in Northwick Parkhospital surgeons have managed to repairthe damage to CJ's nose and save his goodlooks.
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Paul Major has been taken backinto hospital and has had anoperation to remove a smallbleed from his brain. Paul hashad a bit of a rough time recentlybut is now on the way torecovery. Good luck mate!!I hope you both have a speedyrecovery and are back with ussoon enjoying the summer'sriding.The last of our Saturday socialsheld during the winter seasonwas held at The Shire Horsepublic house and restaurant.Again a great number of members attended for a lunch time bite toeat and a catch up with friends. As the winter season's calendarfinishes, so starts the summer, with the first Poker Run at theCunning Man in Reading.More about this later in thismagazine.Entries for The Chapter ChallengeMileage Program have sloweddown over the last few weeks.We now have 80 members signedup for the challenge. There is stillplenty of time to get your detailsregistered for the challenge.Send them in via e-mail or catch upwith me at the dealership or clubnight.Next club night we have HogsbackChapter visiting for a social evening.
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Thames Valley will be hosting a BBQ on the patio at the GrenadierClub during the evening to welcome our guests.Reading Harley Davidson will be hosting its first bike night of 2016 onApril 28th from 6:30pm. The dealership burger van will be open forbusiness selling a wide range of hot food and soft drinks during theevening.May 14th Reading Harley Davidson will be celebrating its 1stBirthday with a birthday bash to remember.Food and music has been arranged to enhance the party mood. Mikehas some special birthday deals arranged for the weekend.A ride out has been arranged by the road crew so that ThamesValley can arrive on mass to the dealership.The chapter gazebo will be set up in thecarpark again this year, with informationabout the chapter and events for potentialnew members.We are going to be looking for some helpon the day to man the car park and thechapter gazebo. If you are able to helpthen please let us know.
Have a great riding season and let'senjoy the year ahead.
Ride safe and have fun.
DonDirector
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Hi Girls,
Well, the rideouts/weekend rallies are well under way. The JakeSpicer Toy run to the John Radcliffe Hospital was very wellsupported with plenty of toys, games & books generously beingdonated to the children's ward.
The Oxford Chapter road crew did a fantastic job marshalling the ridefrom Oxford dealership too.
Looking ahead, on Thurs 28th April we see the return of the BikeNight at Reading dealership.
The Cider Rally (Bridgwater Chapter) is fast approaching - am solooking forward to all the fun & frolics, lol! It's the rally's 25thanniversary and the optional fancy dress theme this year is silver/chrome, hope you've got your outfits ready girls!!
Saturday 7th May is International Female Ride day, which justhappens to tie in very nicely with a ride I'm leading from Sportsable toOxford's dealership for the LOH Charity coffee & cake morning. Allclub members are very welcome to join the ride. We meet atSportsable at 9.30 for a 9.45 depart : after which, Nick West hasvery kindly offered to take us all on a ride to Bourton-on-the-Water, inthe Cotswolds, leaving Oxford dealership at 12 noon - hope you canmake it :.
This year's theme for the Ladies of Harley rideout at the SoFER Rally(12th/13th/14th August) is Leather & Lace, we have plenty of time toget that sorted ;.
Ladies ofHarley
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Check out the Thames Valley website calendar for more details onrideouts etc..By some miracle I have managedto synchronise the TV calendar with my gmailcalendar so there's no excuse for me missinga ride out !
I am looking forward to hearing from PatAdams re: her recent adventures up northtouring ..on a V Rod.. HUGE respect to yougirl x
Ride safe
Sue DoddsLoH [email protected] WHO BEHAVE SELDOM MAKE HISTORY
New MembersA very warm welcome to the Chapter for new members,Mark Peck and Cilla Pierre
Biker DownCourse
Marlow Fire Station
On a somewhat wet and chilly Saturday morning six hardy TV HOG membersgrabbed their crash helmets and headed out of their houses. They bypassed theirbikes, jumped into their cars and headed off to Marlow fire station for a morning ofbiscuits, coffee and "Very Useful Information".
The "Biker Down"course is run (for free)by the lovely KeithWheeler , Road SafetyOfficer for Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire and Rescueservice. (And the equally lovely Mark. Whose surname I didn'tmanage to grab.)
The course is aimed specifically at dealing with road trafficcollisions that have involved motorcyclists, and explains whatactions you should take when you are the first on the sceneand whilst waiting for the emergency services arrive.
Delivered in three well defined and easy to follow sections the course covered:
How to manage the scene of a motorcycle crash (including your ownsafety) until the emergency services arrive.
Emergency first aid, including specifics such as the "if, when and how" youshould remove a crash helmet from a casualty.
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What actions, as motorcyclists, we can take to make ourselves morevisible to other road users.
I think it is safe to say thatwe all thought the coursewas very useful indeed,and that while a lot of theactions you would take arecommon sense, it'sreassuring to know thatthey are the correct thing to
do.
I haven't attempted to share all the information that wegained in this write up. Not because it's top secret, butbecause I couldn't do it justice. I'm sure any of us (see mugshots included) would be happy to chat about it when yousee us.Whether it is your partner, son, daughter or a total stranger,the actions you take at the scene of a collision can make areal difference to those involved. I know I feel happierknowing that I may have an idea how to help should it evercome to it.So finally, a big thank
you to Keith and Mark of the Bucks & MiltonKeynes fire service for giving up their time andto Nick West for giving us the "heads up"about the "Biker Down."Ann xxCheck out more at https://www.facebook.com/BikerDownBucksMiltonKeynes/
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After meeting at Sportsable, twelve bikes made
their way to the Guildford Dealership, picking up
three more bikes
from the layby near
Bagshot.
On entering the
parking lot we saw
Shirley and Bernie
Churchill. They had come on the trike. Way to go
Shirley! As always the hog roast was plentiful and
yummy. The Ladies of Guildford had a cake
sale on as well, so lunch and afters were
sorted. As the day went on, more members of
Thames Valley arrived.The weather was overcast but we were outand all had a great time.
Linda
The first ride out of the season
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Subm
ityouranswersto:
editor@
tham
esvalleyhog.org.uk
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Sunday, April 24Ride out to SouthamptonDealership
Thursday, April 286:00pmAce cafe Harley Night (openevent)
6:30pmBike Night at Reading HarleyDavidson (Open Event)
Friday, April 2929th to 3rd May Cider RallyBridgewater
Sunday, May 1Ride to Wookie Hole
Tuesday, May 36:00pmCommittee Night
Saturday 7th MayInternational Female Ride Day.
Oxford LoH Coffee & CakemorningLunch - Bourton on the water(See Sue Dodds for details)
Wednesday, May 116:30pmPoker Run
Friday, May 1313th to 16th St Ledgers Rally
Saturday, May 14Ride to the DealershipReading Dealership's Birthday
Thursday, May 19TV Club Night visit fromHogsback Chapter7:30pm
Saturday, May 21Fish 'n' Chips Eastbourne
Thursday, May 266:00pmAce cafe Harley Night (openevent)
6:30pmBike Night at Reading HarleyDavidson (Open Event)
Friday, May 27Chill Out WeekendBridge North27th May to 30th
Monday, May 30Spring Bank Holiday
For all rides, check the websiteor call the hotline to confirm.
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RALLIES 2016
Cider Rally25th anniversary. Theme: Silver
29th April - 2nd May
EurofestivalSt Tropez
28th April - 1st May
Wake the Lakes7th - 10th July
SofER12th - 14th August
Thunder in the Glens26th - 30th August
European Bike WeekFaaker See
6th - 11th September
EVENTS
May Club Night - 19thBBQ with Hogsback Chapter as our
guests
Dawn to Dusk RideCoast to Coast
Charity Ride, June 25th
Dates, events, ride-outs and activities.Details correct at time of going to print.
Please check the website for updates andamendments.
CLUB NIGHTSMay 19th
June 16th
July 21st
August 18th
September 15th
MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTIONDEADLINES
May 12thJune 9thJuly 14thAugust 11th
Check website for details onall events
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John Radcliffe Hospital RunA well led ride by Paul Houghton aka Doughnutleft Sportsable and headed to H Café and thenonwards to The John Radcliffe Childrens Hospitalfor the Annual Toy Run.
The Thames Valley massive with a total of 30Bikes and 3 x Trikes and 41 members had a reallygood turn out for this worthwhile event.
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Thank you for making our little boysday special today and making achange from ward life! Being treatedat 3 years of age for AML he isundergoing intensive chemo and atreat like this brightened him and hissiblings day. Thank you all xXx RichLou Charlie Isabelle George and Henry#fightforgeorge
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We managed a rollingpick-‐up collecting SueKnight on her trike aswe came off the M25.Despite all the Londontraffic could throw at uswe managed to staytogether and arrive onmass albeit a bit cold. Itwas a good run out and
if you haven't done it before Ithoroughly recommend it, it'scertainly not your normal rideout.
Chris S
On Sunday20/03/2016, ahandful of ThamesValley's finestfollowed our leaderMalcolm Poulter toWimbledon oval racecircuit to see theAmerican Legendsrace possibly for thelast time at this trackas it's threatened with closure. We did havea vested interest in so much as RichardPoulter (son of the great man himself) wasentered in the three races that night. He wontwo but following a minor error got knockedback to 7th for the last race.
And they're off...
Pictures courtesy [email protected] if youwant copies of these or others from thenight check them out on the Andy's website
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Aces High
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Out with the old, (haha,) Nick West andin with the new Malcolm Poulter,assisted by the lovely Sue.
The first poker night of 2016 has takenplace at the Cunning man, BurghfieldBridge, and a great success it was too,as you all can see. Choices were madeof cards, drinks& dinners.
Attendance: 31people and 8bikes.
Linda
Under African SkiesAs a South African with a job that takes me to cities around the world atsomeone else's expense, having Johannesburg added to the list gave me achance to add a weekend at either end of a recent trip to my home country forthe chance to take some time out for a catch up with relatives.
My wife, Thelma, had some holiday to be used so decided to tag along and hadthe idea of adding the hire of a couple of Harleys to the agenda as well and aweekend in Cape Town would provide us with a perfect opportunity toexperience the highs and lows of the countryside (quite literally). March, beinglate summer would also be a great timefor the weather.
Arriving in Cape Town on Friday wemade a pre-ride visit to the localdealership for a little retail therapy andwe found out pretty quickly thattravelling from the UK and with theexchange rate as good as it is,shopping was easy; so much so that anew suitcase size Harley duffel bag hadto be purchased!
The Cape Town Harley Davidson dealership staff made us feel very welcome(just like the great folks at Reading HarleyDavidson!). We visited the rental teamwhere we met Trevor and Doreen with theirstock of 50+ bikes who showed us ourbikes; Street Glide for me and HeritageSoftail for Thelma which we would pick upthe next day. Everyone spent time gettingto know what we were planning to do andgiving good advice to help us on our way.
That night we stayed with my cousin in Hout Bay and had, one of many,beautiful meals experienced on the trip. It is fair to say that South Africa is acountry of many things! Great food and excellent wines at very reasonableprices are certainly amongst its finest!
Next morning (Saturday) we arrived at the dealership and within the hour wewere on our way heading for a circular route down around the Cape of GoodHope. It was a perfect day for visiting Cape Point, deep blue azure sky andvery little wind with our first stop in Simon's Town where I spent a number ofyears of my Naval career.
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To get there we would navigate out of Cape Townand over a mountain pass called Ou Kaapseweg(The Old Cape Road), via the Silvermine naturereserve. Although we had actually headed over awhat to most would look like a serious mountain,the roads were smooth and for anyone whoenjoys riding twists and turns, there were lots ofthose as we meandered our way up and downthe other side. The scenery was stunning from abike and having ridden these roads as a youngadult in cars, and on smaller bikes, the feelingwas a little unreal. Had I ever imagined ridingthrough these old haunts on a Harley Davidson?Never in a million years back then!
After a quick lunch break on Simon's Town'sJubilee Square, we rode on past Boulders Beachfamous, for its colony of penguins without
stopping as we were keen to get to Cape Point. With more scenic riding wearrived at the pay point for the National Park, and on to the parking for the walkto the lighthouse, which is up a fairly steep climb. As we were dressed in ourbiking gear this was to be a hot affair. Luckily a 'funicular' was on hand to takeus up most of the way, but there were still a couple of flights of stairs of finalclimb. We emerged to the perfect 360 view from the top lighthouse and achance to see where the two oceans meet. Oh and, of course, the picture thatmost people have when they arrive there!Back on the bikes we headed back towardsSimon's Town and then off back to HoutBay via Chapmans Peak Drive; along anamazing stretch of coastline with the roadliterally "carved" into it (care of ItalianPoWs). A small toll fee to pay for theupkeep of the rock catching nets and wewere on our way as a sea mist headed in.Luckily we were on it before they closedthe road and we parked up about half wayalong to take in the sights, while the roadwas engulfed by the mist powering up themountain side. What a spectacle and anamazing end to an approximately 150kilometre day one.
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For Day two, we were headinginland on another circular routethrough the famous, and quitespectacular wine regions ofStellenbosch and Franschhoek. Thesea mist had left behind a duller andcooler day so with a quick burstalong the motorway, we headedtowards Stellenbosch and into thesun again, past wine farm upon winefarm, through a countryside that islush, green and covered with vines.Then it was over "helshoogte (hell'sheights) pass" and on intoFranschhoek, where we stopped foran early lunch / late breakfast.
Franschhoek is a beautiful and very quaint townrenowned as one of the food and wine heartlands ofthe country.Being at the end of a lovely valley there is only onereal way out, (unless you go back in the way youcame in!) and that is up and over the mountain pass.On your way up, and if you are brave enough to takea look, the scenery is amazing as you look down onthe wine lands for as far as the eye can see.
Heading in the direction of Hermanus, a town on thecoast famous for whale spotting at certain times ofthe year, we wound our way towards Betty's Bay androde along another stretch of beautiful coastlinetowards Gordon's Bay; this being another road that Iwould never have imagined I would ever do on aHarley during my naval officers training days based
there.Nearing the end of day two we headed back to Cape Town and over Kloofnek passbetween Cape Town centre and Camp's Bay, "but wait" I thought… "Thelmaseems to be have handled 4 pretty serious mountain passes in one day pretty well,so why not have one more challenge?" So we took a small detour up Signal Hillfrom where there are breath-taking views across the whole of Cape Town, TableMountain and the surrounding areas before heading back to Hout Bay for the
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evening after a dayriding approximately350 kilometres throughsome amazingcountryside, wishing attimes that we had beenriding in shorts and flip-flops to keep cool,however, better safethan sorry!
So how would Isummarise our trip?
South Africa has a greatdeal to offer and for you
Harley riders out there the roads around the Cape are in better shape and bettermaintained than most I ride on in the UK. Ifyou like wide and winding roads, stunningscenery and don't have a fear of heights thismay be somewhere to try. All that with greataccommodation, food and drink availablewhere ever you stop.
You've probably heard some of the stories ofhow unsafe it is which, as with most places inthe world, can be true. You need to be ascautious as you are in most major cities,however, with some pieces of local informationyou can have a wonderful trip. Thelmatravelled there solo with her mum a couple ofyears ago and is still here to tell the tale :-)
Our two days of riding in the Cape have now inspired us to plan a longer trip thereas soon as we can make it happen. If you fancy planning your own trip or hearingmore about how you would plan yours, then let me know as I would be very willing(and I hope able) to help!
Michael Walters
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Saturday SocialApril the 9th saw the last SaturdaySocial before the riding season kicksinto full flow.
The weather had its moments, most ofwhich were on the wetter side of dry.Although it was a damp day, over 10 bikes made their way to thisparticular old favourite, the Shire Horse at Littlewick Green.Attendance was good with approximately 36 people attending, fillingit up quite nicely.
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Can you guess which of ourmembers is pictured here?
Just
for
fun
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2016
Officers&Com
mittee
PRIMARY OFFICERS
COMMITTEE
Don WibberleyDirector
Pat AdamsAsst. Director
Nick WestAsst. Director
Colin WilkinsTreasurer
Sue MoylerSecretary
Sue DoddsLadies of Harley
Andy TunleyEditor
Lee WhiteWebmaster
Chris SmithMembership
Barry AdamsActivities
Malcolm PoulterActivities
Linda FriendPhotographer
Chris EarleyPhotographer
Email any committee member at (position held)@thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
https://www.facebook.com/thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
CLUB VENUEGrenadier GuardsClub
Maidenhead Rd,Windsor,Berks, SL4 5EY
Third Thursday ofevery month7:30pm
Mandy MussongMerchandise
