RoadHOG April 2013

April 2013 Official Newsletter of the Great Western Chapter INSIDE

Features

9 - Road Movies

11 - Back Chat

13 - Cotswold Cruise

14 - Gower Gander

Regulars

2 - Director’s Cut

3 - Between the Covers

3 - Committee Meeting

4 - Secretary’s Update

6 - Cockers Bits

7 -10th Anniversary

Events

8 - From the Front

12 - Cangen Cymraeg

15 - Ladies of Harley

16 - Pete & Duncan’s

Pump Stop

17 - Orchard Trust

19 - At a Glance

H.O.G.® Chapter 6655

Hi All,

April is the month when we ramp up our 10

th An-

niversary celebrations. The weather has turned glorious (I hope) in time for the boys’ only trip to the Isle of Wight and hopefully my bike is up and running as I’m part

of the ride team. I don’t fancy being a pillion! Later in the month is the night ride for people who obviously struggle to sleep at night! For those that are not tak-ing part please come and join us to welcome the sleep-walkers home on the Saturday morning at Riders, circa 9.00 am.

Also in April we should now have five new Road Captains, fresh from their training course at Oxford. A big thank you to all of them for giving up their time to organise rides for us all. Actually with five they could have been a boy band, especially with Tom Jones look-[alike aka Greg Payne in the group, but then again……. sorry boys!!

Unfortunately, I do need to make you aware of some sad news. In late February Sian Fisher, Cangen Cymraeg member, was diagnosed with breast cancer, so our very best wishes go to Sian and her partner Richard Van Gemeren for a tough time ahead. Also Charlie Gray’s (Brenda's other half) health is not so good now so, unfortunately, they decided it was time to sell their bike and side-car.

Luckily, we have found a willing soul in Stephanie Evans to replace Bill MacDonald as Charity Coordi-nator. Stephanie has past experience of charity work and has many new ideas to raise money. Listening to some, I think she belongs to an extreme sports club!

Charity will be a hot topic this year as we start our search for an organisation to support in 2014. Please share any ideas you have with Stephanie.

The lucky winner in February for a free Hogs in the Hayfields ticket goes to Tony Yendle. I was gutted because I was in that draw! Well done Tony I’m not bitter! Tony James is ramping up the rally planning now and you are invited to either, take part in the planning, or lend your support over the weekend. Key contacts are Andy Kendall, gate duty; Jane Scott, hospitality tent; Mike Filder, games. If you’ve not got your tickets yet, COME ON, you will not want to miss three great bands, a fab rideout, the Gurzels, Stars in your Eyes, a risqué balloon dance and loads of other fun and games.

Hopefully by now you have registered for the chap-

ter mileage challenge, as registration opened on the 30

th March. If you hand your completed forms to any

of the Committee members we’ll do the rest. Extra miles are on offer this year, if you submit an amus-ing group photo of at least 5 members displaying Chapter patches, at one of the eight designated H.O.G

® events.

I hope you like your free tee shirts and, for a few members, a great opportunity to display whilst tak-ing part in the various Parade of Flags events. Of the eight in Europe GWC will be represented at at-least half of these and wait for it, Graham & Jenny Roach plan to attend the rally in Kuala Lumpur, Ma-laysia, so I think that’s a first to add to the ribbon collection in Riders! If you want to take part in any of these please contact me.

If your favourite pastime is sitting in the saddle for hour after hour perhaps you would like to join Steve Link to complete the Iron HOG Ride. Basically you must visit the Maidstone, Plymouth, Edinburgh and Norwich H-D Dealerships in 48 hours and you can gain an extra 30 minutes for each additional dealer-ship you visit. This is a “Go Your Own Way” event so if you’re interested please contact Steve at [email protected] or call on 07889 692047.

Some of you may have noticed that Hoggin’ the Bridge this year will end up at Chepstow Race-course instead of the centre of town. Who knows how this will work out and it puts our curry get to-gether at the Mughal Spice in doubt.

Finally, the Xmas Party has been booked at St Mary’s for the 7

th December, so suggestions wel-

come for fancy dress themes. I can’t believe I’m talking about Christmas in April!

For full details of events please visit our website, as this is being frequently updated as events firm up and if you find anything missing please remind us, we’re only human!

Take care and ride safe.

Barry “Bazzzzer” Aggett

Director

Email: [email protected]

Home: 01291 620371

Mobile: 07907 351650

Director’s Cut By Barry “Bazzzzer” Aggett

mailto:[email protected]

Between the Covers

Hi All and welcome to

the April edition of

RoadHOG.

It’s been good to see

some sun for a

change and the other

day the thermometer

registered a balmy

10°C. Now I don’t want to take the credit for this

improvement in the weather, what with Spring

normally being a given around this time of year,

but I have just bought a pair of heated gloves.

Sods Law it works every time.

Back to business, so what can you expect to find

in this issue of RoadHOG? Well for starters we

have reports from both of last month’s rideouts,

“we missed you guys”, and an excellent piece

from Christof (Mr Hardass to you) providing some

pointers on how to make your very own road

movie. However, for me, the highlight is the inclu-

sion of our very first ‘Back Chat’ article from the

fair pillion Stephanie.

Now, if my recent pleas invites for articles has inspired you to submit something, or perhaps you just feel a little guilty (you know who you are), but don’t know what you could write about then check out my RoadHOG page on our website. There you’ll find a list of ideas to get you thinking.

Mark

Editor

Email: [email protected] Mobile: 07900 496711

(Note: Views expressed in the articles are not necessarily

the views of the Editor)

Baz welcomed Stephanie Evans, our new Charity

Coordinator, to the meeting.

The minutes of our last meeting were agreed.

Peter had sent out his Treasurer’s Report for

February in advance of our meeting and there

were no matters arising.

Big Al gave the main points on the feedback he

had received from other Committee members on

the proposed new Group Riding Rules. He in-

tends presenting the revised version of these at

our Club nights.

We spent some time on forward-planning for the

rest of 2013, looking at the events we would pro-

mote as a Chapter. For those members who are

planning on attending other events, the use of our

Blog was suggested as a good way of communi-

cating this information to other Chapter mem-

bers..

Anita gave an update on the progress of our re-

maining events planned to mark the 10th Anniver-

sary of GWC. The latest updates are in this issue

of RoadHOG and on our website.

Both Stephanie and Anita plan to meet with

Kathryn from the Orchard Trust to plan the details

of the BBQ and camping after the Canoe event

on August 24th.

Other information which was discussed was de-

tails of the Chapter Challenge and a proposed

refresher/new member ride, preceded by a group

riding discussion at Riders.

The date of our next GWC Committee meeting is

April 27th at 10.30 am at Riders

Secretary’s Round-up of March’s Committee

Meeting, held on March 9th

http://greatwesternhog.co.uk/gwc1/index.php?page=roadhog-mag


P.S. For the latest information on our GWC Merchandise, please look at the Merchandise page on our

Chapter website, where you will find the details of prices and how to order our range of t-shirts, sweatshirts,

and fleeces, which all have our GWC logo embroidered on the front, as well as all of our patches and pins.

Hi Everyone!

I’ve just about recovered

from bagging and label-

ling over 260 10th Anni-

versary t-shirts! I’m

pleased to report that

we’ve already managed

to give out quite a large

number of them at our

Club nights and at Riders. Thanks to Jackie,

(Queenie), for braving the throng and helping to dis-

tribute them. I must say it was a more orderly affair

at our meeting at the Ship than at St Mary’s, where

there was almost a “scrum” caused by individuals

trying to grab their t-shirt! Anyway, we hope we can

deliver all of them to members as soon as possible.

If you can’t collect yours at our April Club nights, I’ll

let you know when I’m next in Riders, so that I can

arrange to give them out there.

It was good to see so many of you at our March

Club nights. It was our last meeting at the Ship as

we’ll be back at the Cross Hands, our usual venue,

for our meeting in April. A total of £157 was raised in

our raffles at both of our Club nights, for the Orchard

Trust, thank you.

Tony Yendle was the lucky winner of the monthly

draw for a free Rally ticket. Mike Sage won first

prize of £60 and Peter Roberts won second prize of

£30 in our quarterly 100 Club draw.

Baz announced that, sadly, Charlie and Brenda

Gray had decided to put their motorbike and side

car up for sale due to ill health.

Only 4 days later I was pleased to learn that it had

been bought by Paul and Leona Chivers! Or should

I say Arthur and Olive? Our best wishes to Brenda

and Charlie.

Baz introduced Stephanie Evans, our new Charity

Coordinator, who invited members to start thinking

about which charity we could support for next year.

She even mentioned extreme fund raising, such as

parachute jumping!

Baz outlined some of the events which were hap-

pening in the UK and Europe, with opportunities to

fly the Chapter flag, and also gave the details of the

2013 Chapter Challenge. He looked further ahead

to December 7th, the date set for our Christmas Par-

ty at St. Mary’s!

Big Al announced details of the forthcoming

rideouts, including a re-run of the famous White

Horses Ride! Thinking of Ian Johnson, who did the

planning for that ride, Big Al presented Ian with his

Road Captain’s certificate.

Anita gave a thorough update on our 10th Anniver-

sary events, details of which are to be found on the

10th Anniversary Update page in this issue of

RoadHOG, and on our website.

New Merchandise is now available: men’s Regatta

thermal balance plus, full-zip micro fleece, @ £25. It

is the same quality as the very popular men’s ¼ zip

micro fleece.

(Continued on page 5)

Secretary’s Update By Yvonne Roberts

For information on all our GWC Merchandise,

please look at the Merchandise page on our Chap-

ter website, for the details of prices and how to or-

der our range of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and fleeces,

as well as all of our patches and pins.

Welcome to our new members: Paul Varney from

Bristol, Danny Arnold from Bristol, Justin Moreman

from Swansea, Philip Nugent from Monmouth

Michael and Julia Snelling

Nicky Dodd

Andy and Sandra Preston

Beverley Mcilvar

Jenny Jeary

and Pete Arnold

Now you know who they are, if you see them

around, please make them welcome.

I am available at Club nights, and you can also con-

tact me by phone on: 01225 751017 or by e-mail:

[email protected]

Ride safe and keep warm,

Yvonne

Secretary


I can’t believe that I’m

writing an article for the

April edition of the mag;

where has the year

gone? I haven’t even sat

on the back of Mark’s

bike let alone gone out

with him for a ride. Still

maybe the gods will

smile on us for the ride-

out on the 24th March like

they did for the Welsh ride out to the Gower earlier in

the month (missed that one too).

So, it’s been a quiet month on the old activities side of things, but that’s only if you don’t count all the plan-ning meetings between the planning team and the Committee, but from now on it’s going to pick up a pace so make sure you read the events page in the mag and/or look at the website. A lot of the events are now ‘closed’ as we needed to place firm bookings with hotels etc. But there are still more events you can attend, so just remember “if you snooze you lose”! So what do we have going on in April……..

The second of our 10th Anniversary events is the

Gentlemen’s Weekend Away to IOW from the 12th -

14th, recently renamed from the “Boys Only Week-

end”. Why the name change? Have they all suddenly matured I ask myself??? Knowing the guys on the tour I’m sure they will thoroughly enjoy themselves and still behave like gentlemen (If not then can we have photos!!). With 34 of you going I’m sure our Edi-tor will be demanding a write up of this weekend so remember to make notes guys. Ride safe and have fun. The week after sees the Night Ride starting on Fri-day 19

th April at around 9.00 - 9.30pm from McDon-

alds in Brislington, but this is dependent on the weather. Yours and the rest of the groups’ safety and enjoyment are paramount so the ride will be deferred to the following weekend if the weather is not good. It’s a challenging ride as its not only through the night (ooo! scary dark) but its going to take in some 300 miles through 10 counties (with a little bit on motor-ways out of necessity) so not for the inexperienced rider. You’ll obviously have plenty of ‘pit stops’ to fuel up both the bike and yourself but then when you’re close to Knightsbridge (if there’s somewhere safe and legal to park up) you’ll take a longer break. If you are still thinking of joining (the now 19 strong group) and haven’t made contact with Tony ([email protected]) please make sure that you do by the latest 11th April. Please do not assume that you can just turn up on the night as there are neces-

sary health and safety procedures to discuss with you beforehand and we don’t want you to be disappoint-ed. Now, we can’t just let the guys ride off literally into the night without a proper send off. So if you want to see them off, come along on the Friday night before 9.00pm as we’ll need photos taking (but please please, please make sure the event is happening un-less you were going for a McDonalds anyway). How-ever, what’s more important is that we have a ‘Welcoming Committee’ early on Saturday (20

th)

morning to see the group safely back in and yes take photos, but more to the point to hand out hot tea and coffee (hopefully we won’t have to prise their hands off the handle bars to drink it). So, if you’re interested, get to Riders early (before 9.00am) Saturday morning and join us. So that’s what’s going on in April. Make sure you keep an eye on the dedicated 10

th Anniversary page

in our RoadHOG mag and the dedicated web page as to what’s coming up next and what you can still join in with. Dinner/Dance 26

th October

As mentioned at Club nights the majority of events where hotels etc. are involved need us to pay upfront, so it’s vital that we need to know numbers by a cer-tain date. With this in mind we are now taking book-ings for the 10

th Anniversary dinner/dance on the 26

th

October at The Hilton, Bradley Stoke. This will be our only ‘formal’ event, so a great reason for the ladies to get those fantastic dresses out of the wardrobe and put on a show! And not forgetting that this is an op-portunity for the men to don their DJ’s (or smart lounge suits). This will be the penultimate 10

th anniversary event of

the year and therefore we hope to see and celebrate with as many members as possible to round off our very special year. The finer details of the evening’s theme/entertainment will be advertised as soon as possible. Now down to monies. It’s £30 per person for the din-ner/dance, so we will need at least 50% deposits by the end of June. Monies can be paid by BACS, cheques or cash so please contact me or my lovely right-hand lady Lynne Avery for more details. Don’t forget that the hotel is also offering discounted room rates for party goers so look at the 10

th Anniver-

sary Events page/website for more details but don’t leave it too late to book! “Cockers”

Activities Officer


Mobile: 07702 073361

Cockers Bits By Anita Cockwell



Our Remaining 9 Anniversary Events

Event 2 – Night Ride, April 19th & 20th

Tony Yendle and Andy Kendall have devised a ride of ap-

proximately 300 miles, covering 10 counties: Glos, Wilts,

Oxon, Bucks, Greater London, Surrey, West Sussex,

Hants, Dorset, and Somerset, starting in Bristol around

8.30pm on the Friday and ending at Riders for breakfast on

the Saturday morning. This is a challenging ride, definitely

not for the inexperienced rider. The date may change, de-

pending on the weather! 17 people have signed up al-

ready! Please contact Tony Yendle if you are interested

a.s.a.p. [email protected] All participants will be re-

quired to read the night ride guidelines and sign and return

the disclaimer by April 12th.

Event 3 – Boys Only Weekend Away, April 12th - 14th

34 likely lads have booked to go on this trip! The deadline

for booking is now closed.

Event 4 – 12th Benelux Rally, Silverlake Beach, Mol,

Belgium – Flemish Kempen H.O.G. Chapter, 20th Anni-

versary, June 7th - 9th

Details are on our Chapter website or contact Chris Har-

ding for full details.

Event 5 – 10th Anniversary Rally at the Hayfields, June

21st - June 23rd

This will be held at Cleve Rugby Club, with loads of great

entertainment, and a special rideout encompassing our

bridges. Tickets are £25 for the weekend, £18 for Satur-

day, now on sale from Tony James, See the special Rally

page on our website for a booking form. Buy early and you

have a chance of winning a free rally ticket in our monthly

draw! Tony is also looking for volunteers to help.

Event 6 - Rhayader Riding Weekend, July 11th to 14th

Bazzer will lead a ride to Rhayader on Thursday July 11th,

and Nige will lead a ride there on Friday July 12th. There

will be a planned ride for both Friday and Saturday, in the

spectacular scenery through the Elan Valley, as well as

evening entertainment centred round the many pubs in

Rhayader. Details for booking accommodation can be

found on our website on our 10th Anniversary page. Please

inform Yvonne Roberts if you intend joining us:

[email protected] as we need to know num-

bers for planning the rides and the entertainment. The

numbers are growing!

Event 7 – Treasure Hunt, June 30th, a day of mystery,

mischief and mayhem!

Meet for 10am at a suitable meeting place (to be confirmed

but there will be coffee and facilities!). After registration

there will be a vague woolly explanation as to how the hunt

works. We will then issue people with their clue packs (top

secret!), and send them on their way! It’s more fun if peo-

ple are in teams. We aim to send the first teams out at be-

tween 10.45-11.00am at timed intervals.

We take great care to plan a safe riding route and avoid

anything that could be hazardous...it’s about having fun

and following the clues, not dodging traffic! We give fairly

precise directions...we figure it’s more fun to take part than

get lost! The clues aren't hugely challenging. Cameras will

be needed. We are aiming for it to take about 4 hours in-

cluding time for tea/beer breaks and the finish will be at a

suitable eatery, (we take orders for food before the off so

that we can let the eatery know the numbers). Allowing for

any bribes etc, the winner(s) will be announced and pre-

sented with "The Trophy", currently on display in Riders

showcase!

Event 8 – Charity Canoe Trip on the River Wye, and

BBQ/camping at the Orchard Trust, Saturday August

24th

33 x 2 person canoes have been booked, so we cannot

take anymore bookings. We also plan to run a competition

to raise money for the Orchard Trust, and end up at the

Trust for a BBQ & camping. Stu Scott is also planning a

rideout for this event.

Event 9 – UK Tour Go East, the Road Less Travelled,

September 5th - 8th

We have 49 people participating in this tour, and booking

has now closed.

Event 10 – GWC 10th Anniversary Dinner at the Hilton

Hotel, Aztec West, October 26th

This will be a black tie/smart dress key event. The cost of a

ticket for 3 or 4 course dinner and disco will be £30 per

person, with hotel accommodation at £50 per room for

B&B, including use of all the hotel facilities. Afterwards,

there is an all-night bar for residents. Rooms can be

booked now by calling Lucy Robinson on 01454 893436.

Tickets are available from Anita Cockwell, Activities Officer,

07702 073361 [email protected] and at Club nights.

The deadline for Anita to receive at least 50% of the pay-

ment for tickets is June 30th. See our website for details.

Ladies Only Weekend Away in London, November 23rd

Bookings are now closed.

Bazzer, Anita, Nige Garnett, Dave Norton, Chris, Tony

Yendle, Martin Rich, Peter and Yvonne Roberts, the Plan-

ning Group




Hi All

This month I would like to touch on the im-portance of having your Harley serviced and maintained prior to the riding season getting into full swing. Personally I do not think you can put a price on the peace of mind knowing the bike is ready to cover those

long miles. I find it just gives me a high level of con-fidence when out on the road. Something for you all to think about.

During February this year I took the decision to have my M.O.T. and 40,000 mile service completed prior to the start of the riding season. In addition, I also took the plunge and decided to change the Cam Chain Tensioners. It’s this subject I would like to touch on. Now this is a job that I would recommend anyone with a Heritage Softail between 2004 and 2007 to consider doing or having done. Failure to have the tensioners in good working order could end up costing you a lot of money. Over the years it has been a topic that regularly cropped up in con-versation. Namely, at what mileage should I get them checked out? My advice is simple as there does not seem to be any rationale as to when. Keep your ears open and listen to see if they start to get noisy. If so, get them replaced. Even if there is no noise, then at 40,000 consider replacement. I per-sonally have seen the tensioners in a bad state at 18,000 miles and equally know individuals that have changed theirs at 57,000 miles. As I say, there ap-pears to be no rationale and it is down to how you ride and maintain your Harley. Certainly regular oil changes at the designated service mileage will help.

On completion of my replacement job, I inspected my old tensioners for wear. I was pleasantly sur-prised with the amount of wear, although they cer-tainly needed replacement. To be honest, it is one of those jobs that if you carry out the work to inspect them, you should then replace them. Most of the effort is stripping down to look at them in the first place. Also consider replacing the bearings in the Cam plate at the same time whilst you have every-thing apart. I also took the decision to replace the oil with Harley Synthetic 3 which appears to aid in the amount of wear. All things to consider and if you want to see the wear on my old tensioners to con-vince you, then I will happily show you.

And now onto the forthcoming rides ……

Sunday 28th

April 2013 – Steph Pocock & Team

“White Horses of Wiltshire”

This ride will be a re-run from last year. Exceptional-ly bad weather resulted in only 3 hardy souls turning out. Consequently the team has decided to run this great ride again, so please turnout and support it.

The ride will take in some of the excellent roads Wiltshire has to offer and will also focus on the re-maining White Horses of Wiltshire. There will be a mid-morning comfort break followed by lunch in Marlborough where there is a good selection of pubs, cafes and shops.

The ride will be led by Ian Johnson. The plan is to meet at the Little Chef, Chippenham (A350 Rounda-bout) for 10.00 a.m. and be ready to depart at 10.30 a.m. The ride will finish back at the start point for those that need fuel for the onward journey.

This is classed as a Level B ride of approx 100 miles on A & B roads (no motorways).

Sunday 12th

May 2013 – Greg Payne, Ian Mead, Si Griffiths & Ian Johnson

“Coastal and Valley Meanderings”

Why not join the team on a ride that will take in the coast before lunch and head into the valleys for the afternoon. This one will be led by Greg Payne who has used his local knowledge to come up with a route which should have something for everyone. The ride will basically be confined to A and B roads for the duration.

The plan is to meet at 10.00 a.m. at McDonald’s, The Coldra (Newport) A48 by the Premier Lodge Hotel. Please be fuelled up ready to depart at 10.30 a.m.

We will ride to the Coldra roundabout and take the 2

nd exit along the Southern Distributor road past the

transporter bridge, then turn left on B4239 Light-house Road and through Dyffryn, Peterstone, Wentloog, Rover Way and on towards Penarth. Then it’s along the esplanade and on to Barry Island for a tea and a comfort break at Marcos cafe. After-wards, we head towards Llanwit Major on the A4226 through Southern Down and to Hillsborough Place car park Porthcawl for a lunch stop at about 12.30 p.m. Leave there after an hour and head to Margam via A48, then Afan Valley road on to the B4282 to-wards Maesteg. Then it’s the A4063 towards Brid-gend and finally finishing at McDonald’s, Pencoed M4/J35.

This is classed as a Level A ride of circa 90 miles.

Sunday 19th

May 2013 – Stu Scott & Team

“EVO’s to Evesham”

This will be a re-run of the cancelled ride last No-vember when Evesham was basically under flood


From The Front By Alan “Big Al” Stokes

water. The ride will be led by Martin James.

The town of Evesham is a great destination and hopefully the ride will bring pleasant Spring weather.

The plan is to meet at Severn View (Aust) Services (M48/J1) for 09.30 a.m. and be fuelled up ready to depart at 10.00 a.m.

We’ll be heading over the Severn Bridge to Chep-stow and winding our way up through the Forest of Dean passing through Tutshill, Coleford, Mitchel-dean and Ashton Ingham. We will then head on to Newent where we will have a comfort break. Then we will make our way to Evesham via Upton on Severn, crossing the River Severn towards Per-shore and into Evesham for lunch.

Departing Evesham will be via the A46 to Ashton Underhill and Ashchurch. From there it’s on to the A38 to Tewkesbury, Longford and then the A40 to Hingham. Here we pick up the A48 down the West bank of the Severn, finishing the ride in Chepstow.

This is classed as a Level B ride, mainly on A and B roads and circa 130 miles.

For last minute updates please call the “Hotline” on 08444 994508 and please keep a check on the website for changes.

Please see below some guidance details of the rides:

Level A - Short and easy below 100 miles round trip.

Level B - Fine for average riders but may be a bit longer.

Level C – Can include some complex sections but mainly a longer duration.

Until the next time, have fun and ride hard.

Alan “Big Al” Stokes

Assistant Director & Head Road Captain

The Chapter’s trips to the USA have become the

stuff of legend. Arizona in 2010, Colorado & Utah in

2011 and culminating in California last year.

I’ve been lucky enough to have travelled on each of

the trips and took it upon myself to produce a DVD

for my fellow travellers on each of them.

Originally, in 2010, I never intended to produce any-

thing much from the footage; I merely intended to

record a few sights, people doing silly things (plenty

of scope there) and some of the scenery as we

passed by. On my return I realised that I actually

had 4 hours of video recordings to play with and so

the idea of a DVD was planted. That first video was

an hour long and had some great tracks, all chosen

for their relevance to where we were: ‘Get your

Kicks on Route 66’; ‘Death Valley’; ‘Viva Las Ve-

gas’; ‘Standin on the Corner’ (Winslow) – you get

the drift.

I was using a fairly small camera that could be at-

tached to the handlebars as well as carried around;

a Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 if you’re into that sort of

thing. It’s full HD, very light and has a good powerful

zoom. That same camera accompanied me on the 2

later trips, plus the addition of a GoPro Hero for

2012, helmet mounted.

I positioned my-

self at the rear of

the group on

each trip so as

to get the most

shots of the rid-

ers; this was

after the very

first day which

basically turned into a ‘Peter & Yvonne do America’

movie. At the back it was interesting to see the di-

vas all jockeying for position in front of me so they

could be caught on film.

After 2010 & 2011, some forward planning started to

come into play. We were going to California and the

music choice was huge: Beach Boys, Eagles, Be

Bop Deluxe (?)… The key track was obviously

‘Hotel California’ and this is where the plan was

born: to have people acting out or saying

(sometimes singing) the lines.

I obtained the lyrics and started assigning lines to

people on the trip – some I told, others I didn’t.

Some I just filmed without telling them why. Hilari-

ous and often suspicious looks ensued.


‘Road Movies – the making of’

by Chris Harding

You remember I

said that in 2010

I had 4 hours of

footage, well in

2011 this had

grown to 9 hours

which took a lot

of time to cut,

edit & produce a

90 minute video.

For 2012 I told

myself I’d be more careful so as to save time edit-

ing. Best laid plans and all that, I ended up with 16

hours… Admittedly a lot of that was from the GoPro

which was on my crash helmet and had to be turned

on at the start of a

ride and off when

the bikes stopped.

But it still needed

to be sorted out

back home.

Anyway, the final

video in 2012 is

85 minutes long

but has multiple

shots – a bit like

on the series ‘24’

where lots of

scenes are hap-

pening at once. It

was the only way

to get all the good

footage included. I think it worked.

Was it worth the effort? Well when folk come up to

you and tell you that they still watch their DVD regu-

larly even now, 2 years on, and can they have a

replacement ‘cos they’ve worn it out, I think ‘Yep, it

was worth the effort’.

Christof

Before Paul and I got together I had never been on

a motorbike – I’d had a boyfriend with a sports bike

(Suzuki I think???) but there was no way I was go-

ing anywhere near that – to start with, call that a

seat! It certainly wasn’t designed for a peachy la-

dies bottom such as mine!!!

So, apart from watching the racing at Donnington

(having driven there in a car) and on the

telly supporting the Norton team, I had

no experience with bikes. Then Paul

bought his Harley…..

When he said he wanted to buy one I

said I’d give it a go and I hired him one

for his birthday a couple of years before

we bought our own. I enjoyed the riding

although didn’t find it all that comforta-

ble but I wasn’t relaxed and it didn’t

have a back rest.

When we bought ours I made sure the

seat was ample and a back rest was in

place and I haven’t looked back since! I

love the freedom of the road; the ability

to completely switch off and just watch

the world go by and I see so much more than

when I am in the car.

My first really big trip was the European Rally

last June and although I was a bit concerned

about coping with the amount of riding I was

keen to give it a go – and how wonderful it

was! From the ferry from Plymouth to the

thunderstorm just after arriving in Santander

where we all tried to get into our waterproofs

under the shelter of what can only be de-

scribed as saplings!

On the route to Cascais I just held on and

enjoyed the ride and the spectacular views in

my own little world sat behind Paul – we

have agreed not to have an intercom as I am

the worst car passenger in the world and I

don’t want to distract Paul on the bike and

put us in an early grave! But, on the route

back I had built up my confidence and let go

and snapped away with my digital camera. It

was exhilarating, fun, but above all, I was

sharing his passion and enjoying it almost as

much as he does.

So ladies, if you don’t ride with your guy at

the moment I would say give it a go! You

may be as pleasantly surprised as I was at

how much I enjoy it.

And guys… remember if you want your lady to join you make sure the bike is comfortable for her and makes her feel secure – that way she’ll enjoy it and won’t be back seat riding!!!

Stephanie Evans

Well here I go again

penning my thoughts

which are loosely asso-

ciated with Cangen

Cymraeg and thinking

bloody hell another

month has gone by.

According to my diary

Spring is here but him upstairs can’t read the

small print as he is giving us a dose of Winter

weather but some of us have taken advantage of

breaks in the weather to do what we do best (no

not holidays) riding our Harleys.

The other Saturday a small band of Welsh riders

rode with the Green Hornet to the H-D dealership

in Cheltenham, which has moved to new premis-

es 100 yards up the road from the old one. We

had a warm welcome and bribes of free donuts

and coffee. I also met Gareth the Director of Roll-

ing Hills Chapter and talked about our forthcom-

ing anniversary events and was assured that

Rolling Hills will be attending our rally.

Our March meeting was well attended with sever-

al new members present and enthusiastically

looking forward to attending Chapter events. As a

wiser person than me said “you only get out if you

put in”. I understand that new member Ian may fly

the Chapter flag at Killarney in the Summer.

Our director Bazzer outlined various 10th Anniver-

sary events which, from the chatter at the tables,

will be well attended with Rhayader and Go East

tours well subscribed. Bazzer also introduced our

new Charity Coordinator, Stephanie Evans, wife

of Paul (Barney) Evans, who has previous charity

work experience and is putting together a pro-

gramme of events, some of which could be chal-

lenging but great fun; watch out for future emails

about this. On this note, can all members think

about a new charity deserving of the Chapter’s

support and contact myself or any Committee

member for onward discussion (a Welsh charity

this time?).

On a sombre note Baz informed the meeting that

Sian Fisher had recently been diagnosed with

breast cancer and is to receive treatment very

soon. I know you will all send Sian and Richard

our best wishes for the future and a successful

conclusion, as the little boy on the Welsh rugby

advert said “WE CAN DO THIS”.

Stalwart members Brenda and Charlie Gray (a

previous photographer and road captain) have

announced that they will be selling their beloved

motorcycle combination because of ill health but

will remain Chapter members. As I write I see on

Facebook that Paul Chivers has given it a good

home to add to his stable of Harleys.

At present we have several members away on

holiday. Barrie and Lynne Avery were transport-

ed to the Antipodean penal colony for the offenc-

es of over indulgence in the imbibing of vino col-

lapso. I understand their sentence was to ride a

Harley on an organised tour. I wonder if Lynne

would write a report of their experiences in mitiga-

tion of any further sentence. Also Kay and Ian

Mead are in Florida taking in the delights of Day-

tona. I have seen some photographs on Face-

book but I am sure Ian is keeping a few better

ones back for idle bar gossip at St Marys.

Lastly well done to Simon Griffiths for leading his

first rideout around the Gower and big thanks for

Road Captains Ian Johnson and Andy Kendall

(RKK) for attending.

Sorry if I have missed anything out but, at the

time of writing, I still have a sore head due to the

greatest Welsh defeat of our old enemy (sorry

folks you know who you are, had to get that in).

See you at the next meeting or rideout whichever

comes soonest.

Greg

Cangen Cymraeg Rep.

Cangen Cymraeg By Greg Payne

Well, the morning arrived for the Cotswold Cruise (to

be sure it was rather chilly around the bits!). Off I trun-

dled down the M5 thinking along the way could any-

body else be mad enough to turn up? On arrival at

Michael Wood Services my thoughts were correct,

looked like I was going to be a lone wolf - but, after a

few minutes, through the mist, like a knight in shining

armour, arrived my first riding buddy - Graham Jones

flying the flag for Wales. To my surprise a further 17

riders turned up, including 3 new prospective members

(which is always great to see) and a couple of brave

lady pillions, one of whom was Jane Johnson - those

Gurzels are made of sturdy stuff!

So, after a jovial briefing and the odd bit of mickey-

taking, we set off on our way to the Cotswolds with me

at the front, Christof marshalling and Andy ‘RKK’ Ken-

dall coming up the rear. Our first destination was to

pass through Andoversford village, followed by an un-

scheduled stop at Bourton-on-the-Water thanks to the

local running club. The only good thing about this was

it gave us all time to compare our heated clothing and

try to defrost whilst watching pretty young ladies in

Lycra, running past. Andy ‘Safety Officer’ Kendall per-

formed a thorough visual risk assessment (note: purely

for health & safety reasons and had absolutely nothing

to do with ogling the female form). He became very

concerned as the young, perky ladies were displaying

obvious signs that they too were feeling the cold – it

should have called for a more hands-on approach but

he couldn’t catch one!

It was time to saddle back up again, plug in our heated

gloves and ride along the side of the stream through

the pretty village of Bourton, heading through Stow-on-

the-Wold and pick up some great riding roads before

passing through the most picturesque village of Broad-

way - I couldn't help but notice a little bit more revving

of the motors than normal, just to attract the attention

of the country folk.

We then arrived at our lunch stop at the old Toddington

historic railway station. I'm sure there were a couple of

members who tried the local horse, sorry beef pie and

chips, but that was neigh problem as they all seemed

to enjoy it!

After a stroll round the shops and a walk down the plat-

form the ride set off again picking up pace travelling

through pretty Prestbury, beautiful Birdlip, picture per-

fect Painswick and stunning Stroud before picking up

the M5 Southbound.

We finished off at Michael Wood Services, to compare

notes about the ride and have a good old laugh, after a

lot of handshaking, the odd kiss (why does Mark

Chinnick always go in with the tongue?) and some

great comments from the lads we all said our good-

byes.

As I headed off on my lone return to Gloucester my

final thoughts were “What an enjoyable ride, with a

great group of members! Now where exactly did my

nether regions disappear to?”

Darren Sharp

The Hard n Sharp ‘Cotswold Cruise’ Rideout Report

Sunday 10th March 2013: remember it well as it was

Simon Griffiths’ first rideout as lead Road Captain

and it was one of the coldest days I have ridden.

We met at McDonalds J35 on M4 and, well before

the chosen start time, other hardy souls appeared

i.e. Popeye Lewis, Dizzy

Dave, Brummie Boy Martin,

Phil, Johnno, Chin the Fag,

RKK and Swarby all trying to

thaw out round Chinnies fag.

One may say a motley crew

but I really couldn’t comment.

Simon did his briefing intro-

ducing myself as sweeper,

Ian Johnson as marshal and

Andy Kendall (RKK) as break-

down and went through what

delights we could expect and

the general route we would

take. Also on the ride was my

trusty companion Andrea whom Mark the Fag chris-

tened a “tough old bird” which she didn’t know how

to take but thought it was a backhanded compliment

from a Bristolian backwoodsman.

Anyway off we went westwards on the M4 and into

the land of the Jacks (Swansea) passing the naugh-

ty boys hotel on the right and along Swansea Bay.

Then it was into the hood of Popeye Lewis who had

previously warned us about stopping and also en-

gaging the local females in polite conversation.

Then it was up the hill to Kittle and on to the Gower

proper, managing to avoid stray horses and sheep.

After sweeping country lane bends we arrived at our

lunch destination the Worms Head Hotel, Rhossili.

This hotel was voted one of the 50 best views to

enjoy a glass of wine, though TripAdvisor didn’t rate

the actual hotel very good for accommodation or

food. The view is of a promontory which locals

thought resembled a dragon (or Wyrme in Welsh

apologies if misspelled) hence Worms Head (cheers

Neil). The bay is a mecca for surfing and bass fish-

ing and is extremely popular in the Summer.

After lunch and thawed out it was off to the north of

the Gower, along the estuary, through Penclawdd

and towards Gorseinon and to our final stop at M &

P motorcycles which is shortly to become Wales’s

only H-D dealership. Another hot drink and then it

was time to say our goodbyes. Mucho thanks to our

Road Captains Ian Johnson and Andy Kendall

(RKK) and for Simon who compiled an excellent

rideout.

Greg Payne

‘The Gower Gander’ Rideout Report

Hi Ladies,

Well one of my New

Year resolutions was to

be a little bit more or-

ganised in 2013, but I’m

not quite sure when it’s

going to start as, every

month, it seems a rush

to get my article com-

pleted, Mr Cockers has

given me the Cinderella warning of 12 o’clock but

the time is going by too quickly lol.

I hope you all enjoyed the March edition of the

RoadHOG and the faces on the photos of the Anni-

versary Party say it all, what a great night amongst

friends.

The first Gurzels rehearsals went well. Thanks

Arleen and yes, girls, practice makes purr-fect; also,

thanks to Bev Horsman for supplying tea and coffee

to go with the Chocolate Birthday Cake made for

Gareth Jones by Laura. It was yummy.

Talking about cakes, we plan, as normal, to run

the Hospitality Tent at our rally. So, there will

be cakes to be made and a rota to be complet-

ed for this weekend. If you’re interested, then

let me know. I will be at club nights to arrange

the rota, all donations for the cakes will go to

Breast Cancer, a well worthy charity.

We attended the Cheltenham Harley opening

day. It was great to see some Great Western

members, and some old Rolling Hills faces, but

they still can’t compete with Riders in the

clothes department, so well done Holly.

I’ve just taxed and insured my bike (ill whisper)

ready for the riding season. I hope it’s better

this year as we have our team ride on 19th May

and Martin is taking us across to Evesham the

longer way around. This is the one we had to

cancel last year so we’re hoping for better

weather this time round.

There’s been some interest in us Ladies doing

a “Race for Life” to show support to some of

our Chapter members, but nothing as yet has

been organised. It’s an event where you have

to register yourself online for a 5k or 10 k walk

or run. If you are interested, then log onto Race

for Life, entry fee is £14.99. If you’re already

planning on doing one of these events then let me

know; we could perhaps arrange to meet up.

Gloucester is the nearest for me but it’s the Sunday

after the rally and I’m not sure I could be up and fit

for a run at 10am, if you know what I mean Ladies.

There is still time to buy your Rally ticket with a

chance to win the money back in our monthly draw.

I must get ours.

Of course tickets are also on sale for the October

Anniversary Dinner. It’s an evening with a chance to

get the posh frock out, more details to be found on

the Count Down Events for 2013.

Well that’s about it for now Ladies. As I have com-

pleted my task for tonight I must start my packing,

as we are going to Cornwall for a week’s break.

Hopefully the sun will come out to play.

Jane x

Ladies of Harley


Ladies of Harley By Jane Scott


Another month into 2013 and, aside from that freak-

ish Tuesday (March 5th) when the temperature hit

16ºC, it doesn’t feel much like Spring. Maybe by the

time you are reading this, everything will have

changed and April will have heralded the arrival of

Summer. If that’s what happens, it’s best to recall

the scenarios of 2011 and 2012 – early sun and

warmth, plus drought last year, followed by rain and

more rain and the long wait for Summer that didn’t

materialise.

So it was, on March 5th, I decided it was the time to

get all the ACF-50 off of the bikes and spruce them

up with Harley-Glaze. Good job I didn’t rush, be-

cause within a couple of days, we were avoiding

cascades of grit and salt from a lorry on the A36.

The bad Winter weather (or maybe good, if you

went skiing) has also claimed some GWC victims.

Most notably, LBD with his multiple arm fractures

after falling over on the ice. It was good to see him

at the March Club night – almost fit enough to hold

the bars on his bike.

Some of you will recog-

nise this little feller, who

is a Gund “Biker Bear”

complete with leather

vest. Pretty much every-

one in the Chapter that

we heard about having

an accident and getting

injured, or being sick and

requiring hospital treatment has received a bear!

All in all, we reckon on having sent out a dozen or

more of these to say that

GWC members are thinking

about you. Alas, the “Biker

Bears” are no more –

Gund, an American Com-

pany that has made bears

since 1898, has “retired”

the bear from its collection.

If you have received one of

these, you have an invest-

ment - they have already

jumped in value and have

been changing hands on

ebay for £36!

Defeat is not an option (nor

are “official” Harley-Davidson bears, which look

cheap, but of course aren’t). Fortunately, Gund sell

a nude lookalike, so Yvonne has been off buying

black leatherette and fabric with small red skulls,

ready to dress the bears. These will be truly unique,

but please don’t be in a hurry to qualify for one!

April will see the second of our special 10th Anniver-

sary Events – what has become known as the

“Gentlemen’s Club” Tour to the Isle of Wight. Many

thanks to Rog “the Dodge” Line who came up with

the concept but, sadly, appears to have jumped ship

from the Chapter, since he and Carol moved to an

apartment in Eton with views of Windsor Castle!

April 12th, come rain or shine – but hopefully the

latter – 34 of us will be sailing the high seas to Yar-

mouth (well, 3½ miles across the Solent) and tour-

ing the island. Is the Island going to be ready for the

invasion, I wonder? No doubt you’ll hear the low-

down, or at least some of it, next month!

As this month’s Pump Stop began on a zoological

theme, I’ll finish on one:

Those of you with e-mail addresses (and look at

their messages!) will

know that our main way

of communicating with

members is by “Mail

Chimp” – a bulk e-mail

system that operates

out of Atlanta, GA. If for

any reason you aren’t

receiving e-mails from

us, please let me know


Pete & Duncan’s Pump Stop

and I can check what’s happening. If you have been

receiving them, but aren’t now, again please let me

know. There are a number of reasons for this – if

your inbox is full, MailChimp will attempt to deliver

on a couple of occasions and then stop trying. Mem-

bers still do manage to click on the tiny

“unsubscribe” at the bottom of the page. Maybe I

should never have mentioned it – it’s as if a few of

you have gone looking for it! Finally, and this hap-

pens all too often: when you see a message that

you would like to reply to, or has amused you and

you want to share your thoughts with everybody,

please don’t click on “reply” or “reply all” – the only

place that your thoughts or witticisms will go, is di-

rectly into my Spam box!

In place of the regular Tip of the Month, some excit-

ing information:

Keep the evening of Thursday 2nd

May clear in your

diaries for the launch of the New Softail Breakout.

We will be opening up on Thursday evening for a

VIP event where you will get to see the new bike up

close and personal for the first time.

More details about the launch will be available on

our website closer to the time but it's going to be a

great evening. Following on from the VIP evening

event we will be holding a Harley-Davidson test ride

weekend on 4th May in Bristol and 5

th May in our

Bridgwater store (to coincide with the Bridgwater

Rally). This will be your chance to ride either the

new Street Bob Special Edition or the new Breakout

for the very first time. Book your test ride now to

avoid disappointment.

The Street Bob Special Edition will be available in

strictly limited numbers; the interest in the new bike

has already been high. If you are considering one, I

suggest you get down to Riders quickly so you don't

miss out!

Once again, Ride Safe

Peter & Duncan@riders

Orchard Trust By Kathryn

Hi Everyone,

Well, we’ve started lambing up at the Smallhold-ing and our first lambs were born over a week earlier than expected. We’ve had seven lambs so far and mums and babies all seem to be doing well. Some of the older lambs ventured outside for the first time this morning and had a fantastic time racing around the field! Here’s Tony with one of our new born lambs.

Sevenoaks has had a very busy month! Lorraine had a buffet to celebrate her birthday, along with birthday cake, of course! It was also Max’s birth-day during March, so it was fish and chips all round to celebrate! Jacob and Max are attending Music Appreciation at College and their group had a ‘Karaoke and Hot Dog’ night last week, which they really enjoyed and both joined in en-thusiastically with the dancing. Christina has started going horse riding in Hereford each week, which she loves and from the beginning of April,

Simon, Jacob and Christina are going sailing each week at Frampton on Severn. Staff at Sev-enoaks have been busy out and about getting sponsorship from local companies to get more Orchard Trust t-shirts printed, ready to wear at events, including our Summer Fayre, the Canoe Paddle and Hogs in the Hayfields.

Three residents from Hilltop had a day out recent-ly, for what was hoped to be a sunny day at the seaside. Unfortunately, the rain and wind came rather than the sun at Clevedon, but a good time was still had by all! Our maintenance men are busy at Hilltop at the moment, constructing a new modern shower room, painting one of the bed-rooms and hopefully, weather permitting, erecting a wheelchair swing that the staff fundraised to purchase.

Truly Scrumptious Cafe at The Learning Centre had another of their ‘Sandwiches and Muffins’ days last week, where customers were invited to place their orders earlier in the week and then on Friday, the group baked muffins and made sand-wiches and delivered them to their customers within Orchard Trust. They’re now hoping to de-velop ‘their round’ by marketing it to other organi-sations in the area.

The new Service User Group met again this month and individuals have now voted to elect eight Service Users to form their board, which will include members from each home.

There were celebrations at Kimberley Drive re-cently for Lindsay’s 60th birthday, when the ten-ants went out for a lovely meal in Chepstow. Everyone was surprised and thrilled when their taxi arrived, as it was a stretch limo, enabling them to travel there in style! Last week, Lindsay dressed up as a ‘super cool dude’ for a day out with the local Fairtide Centre, to raise money for Comic Relief.

There was a fantastic response here from people wanting to join in the Canoe Paddle on 24th Au-gust and I’m meeting with Stephanie and Anita soon so that we can plan for the day re: camping, BBQ, etc. People all keep telling me that the weather on August Bank Holiday weekend is usu-ally more settled, with plenty of sunshine, so let’s hope that this year is no exception!

Thanking you all for your continued support and with very best wishes from everyone at The Or-chard Trust.

Kathryn

The Orchard Trust

Committee Contacts

Sponsoring Dealer

Duncan White 0117 9588777

Director

Barry Aggett 07907 351650

Asst Director/Treasurer

Peter Roberts 07540 164157

Asst Director/ Head Road

Captain

Alan Stokes 07766 237242

Secretary

Yvonne Roberts 01225

751017

Webmaster

Chris Harding 07801 562011

Activities Officer

Anita Cockwell 01761

471385

Safety Officer

Andy Kendall 07905 397474

Editor

Mark Cockwell 07900

496711

Photographer/Historian

Tony Yendle 07787 551612

Ladies of Harley

Jane Scott 07894 086626

Charity Co-ordinator

Stephanie Evans 07983

259752

Cangen Cymraeg Rep

Greg Payne 07976 913004

Rally Co-ordinator

Tony James 07940 895921

Road Captains Barry Aggett, Paul

Bromhead, Nigel Garnett,

Paul Groom, Chris Harding,

Martin James, Ian Johnson,

Andy Kendall, Andy Kendall,

(RKK), Dave Pocock,

Stephanie Pocock, Dave

Roberts, Darren Sharp,

Jane & Stuart Scott, Alan

Stokes, Tony Yendle.

Road Marshals Mike Brake, Tony Cole,

Steve Crook, Simon Griffiths,

Ian Mead, Greg Payne, Mike

Sage.

RoadHOG is printed

by the Woodside Press

All details on GWC web site

www.greatwesternhog.co.uk

At a Glance - 2013 GWC Activities Calendar

Contact Anita Cockwell if you have any other events you would like to see listed.

Tel: 01761 471385 or mobile: 07702 073361 or e-mail: [email protected]

For further details on any event listed visit “What’s On” on the GWC website.

Date Chapter Events Organiser Details

April

9th Club Night Bazz Aggett Cross Hands Hotel, Old Sodbury

10th Club Night Bazz Aggett St Mary’s Hotel, Pencoed

12th - 14th 10th Anniversary Nige Garnett Gentlemen’s Club IOW Weekend

19th 10th Anniversary Tony Yendle 10 Counties Night Ride

23rd Natter Night Bazz Aggett Ferry Inn, Beachley

28th Ride Out Steph Pocock White Horses of Wiltshire

May


12th Ride Out ‘Big Al’ Stokes ‘Coastal and Valley Meanderings’


19th Ride Out Stu Scott Evos to Evesham

28th Natter Night Bazz Aggett Ferry Inn, Beachley

June

7/8/9/10th 10th Anniversary Chris Harding 12th Benelux Rally, Belgium



21/22/23rd 10th Anniversary Tony James Hogs in the Hayfields Rally

22nd Ride Out ‘Big Al’ Stokes The 4 Bridges Rally Ride

25th Natter Night Bazz Aggett Ferry Inn, Beachley

30th 10th Anniversary Jeff & Julie Treasure Hunt

July

4th Activity/Ride Out ‘Big Al’ Stokes Weston Bike Night, “American Power”



11/12/13/14th 10th Anniversary Yvonne Roberts Rhayader Riding Weekend

21st Ride Out ‘Big Al’ Stokes TBA

28th Ride Out ‘Big Al’ Stokes ‘Roving around Resolven’

August

11th Ride Out ‘Big Al’ Stokes Ice Cream Sundae



18th Ride Out Steph Pocock ‘Meandering to Sammy Millers’

24th 10th Anniversary Nige Garnett Canoe Trip/BBQ @ Orchard Trust

September

5/6/7/8th 10th Anniversary Peter Roberts Go East Tour

8th Ride Out ‘Big Al’ Stokes TBA



29th Ride Out ‘Big Al’ Stokes TBA


RoadHOG April 2013

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Transcript of RoadHOG April 2013