Picture and description of your best motorbike ride this year..

[weeksy]

OK, so i only have 1.... Only ride a bike once and that was to give it a test before Silverstone trackday for @Welsh Muffin

2023-05-03_11-31-44 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr


But hopefully you lot have a better story

[wull]

To work and back

[Yorick]

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[MrLongbeard]

A week messing about in Wales;

PXL_20230724_104647455~2 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

PXL_20230724_151620729 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

2023-07-26_11-31-20 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

PXL_20230726_090455669~3 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

[Supermofo]

Weymouth loop I reckon. Was a really good 3 days of riding, chance to catch up with my uncle and spend some time just looking at stuff and being on a bike alone. I've had better individual rides this year in terms of roads/speed but can't beat spending dedicated days riding a bike with somewhere to go.



Had some good rides with Cheesy too this year.

[KungFooBob]

Had some good rides with Cheesy too this year.

They only count if a bike was involved.

[dern]

Rode to Saint Antonin Noble Val (just north of Toulouse) for the weekend to see a couple of friends. Camped on the way there and back and was an excellent trip. Sold the bike as soon as I got home and bought something better for long journeys.

Would like to do more of this next year when financial pressures ease (two girls at uni) but would like to head to Spain and do some of the TET to get to my friends rather than slog down the motorway. Just looking for a suitable bike atm.

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[Bustaspoke]

I didn't do as much riding as expected this year,the weather's been rubish,but now as I'm retired I can make the most of the good weather days.
The ride that stands out the most was a trip to Ireland & doing the WAW up to Galway.
We were booked on the ferry from Holyhead,so I met my mates in Bangor where we were staying for 1 night.
I rode through Snowdonia,they went along the A55 Back in the 90's a lot of sunday rides were around north Wales so I enjoyed going back there



I really liked county Clare & county Kerry



One morning we rode from Dingle,where we had been staying & did a loop around Sloe Head.This specific ride stood out,the ride was really enjoyable



At some point,sooner rather than later I'll go back & spend a few days in Kenmare & Dingle instead of just overnighting.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

My best ride of the year was on my CB1000R in September, Ipswich to Hunstanton in just over an hour on a Saturday morning, I can't find the photos I took of it, I guess they're on my old phone that got broken.

It's basically from mine onto the boring A14 to Elmswell, then up to Thetford, then to Kings Lynn and then the final bit to Hunstanton which is on an A road that used to be 3 lanes, 1 for coming, 1 for going, 1 for dying. The roads were pretty empty all the way and it was the first long, fast ride on the Honda.

[Cousin Jack]

Best ride by far was the trip to the Pyrenees

[dern]

It's basically from mine onto the boring A14 to Elmswell, then up to Thetford, then to Kings Lynn and then the final bit to Hunstanton which is on an A road that used to be 3 lanes, 1 for coming, 1 for going, 1 for dying.

I remember that road well, scary shit in a 2cv.

[Horse]

OK, so i only have 1.... Only ride a bike once

Ditto. In a field, at slow speed, just to know I still could.

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[mangocrazy]

Without doubt the best day's riding I had was in France, not too far from our gaff. Not sure if this route will display here, but this is my 'TT course' in the sun:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45121173


This is a screen shot of the route:

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And this is the kind of scenery you're riding through

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[Skub]

The highlight of the year for me was the arrival of the H1 on my birthday. Any of the ensuing rides have been mega enjoyable. I wish I'd bought one years ago.

[weeksy]

Mine was one of those rides that happens maybe a dozen times in a lifetime, when I got my two-stroke throttle position absolutely perfect in an absolutely perfect place.

Exiting a bend in second gear, I had it perfectly set up to wind the throttle on just as I apexed and the front wheel climbed perfectly, super smooth and controlled, it was like one of the those Wayne Rainey shots from a 1980's GP as he exits a bend perfectly with the front wheel rising and then dropping back down as he snicks it into another gear.

Those guys get it perfect a lot of the time, but for us mortals it's probably happened to me less than a dozen times. I'm not talking about simply getting it in the right gear as you exit a bend, I'm talking about it being the perfect conditions for the jet size in the carb, perfect ambient temp so the air/fuel mix is perfect, perfect bike placement, perfect throttle position at the perfect time, etc.

I can remember each time it's happened because there isn't a feeling like it.
It's like when you exit a bend and the rear slides perfectly in a perfect controlled rear wheel steering thing, that's only happened a few times as well.

I get that... you have the same on MTBs too, sometimes you ride and it's all over the place, sometimes you get on and just 'feel it' straight away and it all falls nicely into place, you hit the lines, the poppy jumps. I had it last weekend when out with @Couchy every line i hit was the correct one and it all just flowed lovely.

[Rockburner]

Highlight of the year was undoubtedly the FLASH tour. I was on the first "official" FLASH weekend in 2002, so felt honoured and very glad to have been able to make the last(?) one as well.











Some of the fastest riding I've done for years, and probably the smoothest, mainly because I was carrying a pillion at all times and so not "pushing", but I found myself settling back into concentrating on being smooth and that meant I was actually taking bends faster and getting along the road more rapidly than I have for a while. Always amusing to find yourself catching and passing bikes 20 years younger then yours too

I do love riding in France, I really should do it more.

[Dodgy69]

My Euro trip was the highlight by a mile, didn't do much more with the GS once home. Many great pics, but this one sums up the greatness of the machine quite nicely.

Split > Ancona ferry departure.

[Count Steer]

Highlight of the year was undoubtedly the FLASH tour. I was on the first "official" FLASH weekend in 2002, so felt honoured and very glad to have been able to make the last(?) one as well.



...

I do love riding in France, I really should do it more.

Is that his old GS1100?!

Really loved the ride down there and back, shame we never ended up on the same week.

What you say about riding with a pillion is right though. 'How can I do this without them going ' ....smooth is the answer. Sometimes smooth is quite quick*. It's a good discipline.

* Well, quick enough for me

[Couchy]

Haven’t had one but have had plenty of mountain bike rides that were awesome and my mtb does have a motor. Tbh last weekend in the deep snow will take some beating. Three hours of superb riding each turn was a lottery but didn’t fall off

[mboy]

I organised a day out for a guy I've known a few years but never ridden with before, and his mate, both of them on KTM 1290 Superduke R's. I know most of Wales pretty well on a bike, they are from Sussex and don't. I put a challenging route together, and they loved it! Both of them turned out to be decent riders too, and as such, I extended the route a bit too... Did over 350 miles by the time I got home that day, all on twisty welsh roads primarily!



Had an awesome day out finishing running in my Gasgas SM700 on my own. Devil's Staircase was stunning that day, and nobody else out on the roads made for an epic ride!



Saw this (and a Norton V4 that had just been picked up that morning) on a brilliant day out on my GSXS after having just put a long day into working on it the day before, having stopped at Baffle Haus (best fish finger sandwich in the world!) part way through another superb solo ride out.



Also had many fantastic days out on my KTM (typically less pictures, more riding on that), most notably the weekend I took the KTM 1290 Super Adventure UK owners group around some of my local routes back in late March. Met a load of great guys, had some fun... Immortalised by this video where poor Sam Vincent binned it on a patch of gravel! Fortunately he was fine and minimal damage and we carried on...



I've had many, many more fantastic rides in 2023. Most without any pictures sadly, but there we go! Done about 9k miles in 2023 so far on a motorbike, all for pleasure, slightly down on the 10k I managed in 2022 But I've had more time unable to sit on a bike in periods of good weather due to recovering from surgeries again and also haven't been on any trips away this year either so not bad all considered... Still 3 weeks left to change that of course, but whilst I'm certainly no fair weather only rider, I'm also not a believer in going out for the sake of it when it is too cold/wet/dangerous to be much fun...