Winter Challenge Rde

[Grim Rider]

For anyone looking for a reason to get out on your bike when (hopefully!) this snow has gone we are running a Winter Challenge on Saturday 6th February - details can be found at http://www.thegrimrider.com/index.php?p=1_94_Winter-Challenge-Ride.. Select your own route and visit five landmarks from any one of our rides during the day.

[Grim Rider]

Well, that's three of us entered, which makes it a goer

[Grim Rider]

Up to ten now, must be all this cold weather, - final details sent out this afternoon

[GS Bloke]

I don't mind the cold, it's the lack of traction that puts me off....

[Grim Rider]

I don't mind the cold, it's the lack of traction that puts me off....

That's the benefit of the 1150GS - more weight over the back wheel than those flighty 1200s

[Grim Rider]

Well seven people completed the Winter Challenge Ride in the end, with one other rider ending in the dark and missing the finish time by 20 minutes and two other riders pulling out, one with illness and one with family problem. Most impressive ride was Clint Smith's Mountain Passes Ride - still lot sof snow in those hils!

[dave.winter]

I always enjoy reading peoples accounts of thier rides, so here goes.
Having decided to do the pillar box bronze for the winter challenge i thought this would be an ideal opportunity to try out my new tom tom.
As usual setting off didn’t go exactly as planned but managed to leave home for 7:20 this allowed me to arrive at Charnock Richard services for 7:50 waited for a few minutes then proceeded to top the bike up with fuel, no fuel came out of the nozzle, but a woman came out of the kiosk waving her finger intently and insisted I take my helmet of. Going with the flow seemed the best option so I obliged and stood there in my balaclava this seemed to satisfy her but made no difference. After obtaining my first receipt and recording the mileage I managed to drop my glasses where upon the lens flew out from one side , I was now grovelling on my hands and knees searching for the offending lens when I should have been half way down the M6.
Eventually I recovered said lens and extracted myself from the services and made my way to the first control at Rochdale Tom Tom work a treat and took me straight to a lidyl car park no sign of a pillar box anywhere a bit of research indicated it was on the other side of the main road, of I went now behind schedule but soon found the pillar box and started taking photos. When I came to take a picture of my GPS screen I could not make it appear and I spent a considerable amount of time with this as it had worked at home so I must be doing something wrong tried everything I could think of but was not getting anywhere fortunately I had an old sat nav in the top box so took a photo of that alongside my very expensive useless Tom Tom.
Now well behind on time but was on my way to Albert dock and the sun was shining things began to look better. Mrs Tom Tom stoped talking to me on the way there but I went straight to the control despite her silence , please note the cobbles surrounding the pillar box are a world heritage site and I was reprimanded for parking on them and threaten with the law.
I took a few layers of as it was rather warm now and managed to patch things up with my sat nav and she was again giving out instructions. So of to Llandudno for the next control, at Queens ferry I encountered my first patch of fog this was the first of many that stayed with me throughout the day. This coupled with very extensive road works on the M6 and M5 made progress somewhat slower than you would normally expect. I picked up my final 2 controls art Rous Lench and Warwick plus my final receipt somewhere just of the motorway and managed to complete within the time scale.
Summing up the ride was enjoyable got me out and blew some of the cobwebs from over xmass when opportunities have been limited. I had expected adverse weather conditions and been prepared for a cold damp day as it was there is not much you can do with fog except plod on at a safe pace. I arrived back home in the fog at 7:45 covered 549 miles and return a very impressive 57mpg
Hope the rest of you had a good day to.
Cheers Dave Winter

[Grim Rider]

Thanks Dave - good to read your account. When I stopped at Albert Dock a very helpful guy who was a local guide showed me where to park next to the letter box and offered to take my photograph for me! Glad you got round okay despite GPS problems (if you will have a TomTom ).

[dave.winter]

The Tom Tom is brand new and I'm still learning its little peculiarities I' ve worked out how to get the gps screen up now, does not work when in its mounting. Mrs Tom Tom still has moments when she stops talking to me something to do with the blue tooth connection i prefer thinking I've offended her in some way. New technology seems to be a bit of a challenge for me but eventually I'm going to work it out. In my defence i had never used sat nav until September last year.
Cheers Dave

[rigsville]

Cheers Dave, thanks for the write up!