Thank you....
Well, first of all before I my 0.02 in, many, many thanks to all of you for making the effort to coming to the run and to Andy, Bart and Martin for helping out in the lead roles in the absence of 2 of our more seasoned leaders, consider yourselves promoted into the leader pool!
Also big thanks must go to Nigel who was able to see to Dave whilst awaiting the Ambulance allowing others to be used as advace warning to motorists as we were all in the group and also to Ben for assisting him with Dave. What was good was that EVERYONE stopped to try and help where possible and again that says something about the riders on these runs in a very unselfish way and for that I thank you very much. Big thanks also goes to Mike and Steve for sorting the bike out and staying there, allowing everyone else to carry on with the day. Hope to see you in April chaps
. What was also very good to see was the level of concern from everybody in Daves welfare and I can only echo my personal best wishes to get well soon.
There is some debate on here and I personally agree with much of what was said. What happened was very unfortunate and it is by the Grace of God it could have been anyone in the group.
First, Nigel has a point about track days, but the first and foremost point of this run is a social meet with a rideout with like minded people so by putting group 1 in a track day spoils the social side of it and that can always be arranged by plenty of very capable people on this site as we have seen. Unfortunately the South West is not blessed with any decent tracks either.
It is difficult as when doing groups one has to take what a new rider says on face value about their ability. Nigel again is correct that in 75% of the riders that attend these meets, I know their style etc and they are easy to place. There is also the difficulty for the same reason that certain riders will not ride in a group different to their mates whom they have ridden down with and so juggling people around to keep groups to a safe number (Ideally no more than 8 or 9) or riders happy is no mean feat.
Like what has been said, ride to your ability and not to anyones agenda. All getting back in one piece just because some mph has been sacrificed if obviously more preferable to what unfortunately happened.
This is not to villify any individual in particular but I have conversed with some of you face to face or through PMs and would like to throw these ideas into the melting pot. Comments are of course always welcome to ensure that all of us have a good time on these runs.
1. The groups are diluted with mixed ability riders and those who are a little more spirited than others can always wait for the others to catch up at a junction/bus stop whatever before carrying on. The risk there is the impatience of those riders stopping so often knowing they have a good few minutes wait on their hands, but really you should be old and bold enough to suppress these feelings and remember that its a social meet, not MotoGP.
2. New faces, which, of course are very welcome, are, as we well know are a unknown quantity and as such do not go in group one until (a) that rider has done the route at least once, maybe twice before to familiarise themselves and have a better knowledge of the roads themselves and also it may well be beneficial for that rider to maybe receive feedback from other members not as a way of getting at them, moreover to help them stay safe too because red mist and "catch up" will always factor in some and people are more brave when rather trying to keep up and putting themselves over the limit thereby increasing the risk to themselves and their fellow riders. As stated there are many whose style I know and would pick to ride behind conversely have ride behind me.
Please comment so we all get the best experience from this and future rides.
Once again, many thanks for the Donations which Spanks has got and will keep this very valuable resource going and a future date for the diary will be 30th April 2011
Finally It was very good to host Peter and i think he is now an honourary adopted uncle now! Thank you very much for everything and Plymouth in the Daytime is only marginally better, trust me!!!!!
Cheers Guys :niceone: