July 2010

The year moves on and bike nights have been going well.  After a great start in June with brilliant weather, July saw us having to cope with the final stages of the World Cup (that’s a small football competition which was held in South Africa. England arrived home before their postcards apparently) and some very inclement weather. The bikers who attended bike nights have, as usual, been very generous and a good amount has already been raised for our chosen charities. Click HERE for amounts raised.

New committee members have taken up positions that were relinquished at the A.G.M. and are settling in well and are contributing to the work of the committee which continues apace.
We, as a group , have been given the go ahead to run the Bike Festival next year and work has already started on the preliminary stages of this with the bands and events organisers contacting acts to ensure their availability.

Social nights continue at the Pier Inn, Paignton, on Friday nights where we are made most welcome by Wendy and Colin and their staff. It really is a great venue for us and Friday 23rd July saw us holding our first D.I.Y. Barbeque which was held on the roof terrace and was a great success. (Thanks to Shark for the organising. Pics are HERE. Once again good food, good friends, good fun).

Rideouts continue when possible and are usually impromptu and discussed and sorted over a drink at the social nights. (July 25th saw some of us go to Cornwall and visit Newquay and Perranporth.  Pics are HERE. Once arranged we do try to post details on the forum to ensure that members are informed, but the best way to stay abreast of stuff is to try and make the social nights.
We have arranged a Sunset Cruise leaving Paignton Harbour on Tuesday 31st August @ 7.00pm. Members are free; friends and quests are £5.00. Please contact Shark through the social page if you would like to go.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010

The start of a new decade brought BMAD some changes, but we are all still hanging on in there to make sure that we keep the best Bike Festival and Bike Night Programme going strong!
We have had to change our meeting place, due to The Embassy closing and Sue (at long last) is getting a bit of a break and now joining us in front of a bar. So we found ourselves another pub with a tang of the sea on its doorstep - The Pier Inn has made us welcome and we are making friends with the locals and staff as we fill the place on a Wednesday for our social evening and use the side room on a Tuesday for committee meetings, friends old and new are welcome to come and meet us and enjoy the great atmosphere that is generated.

New and enthusiastic faces on the committee are bringing fresh energy to the planning and organising for the Festival so we are looking forward to a bumper May Bank Holiday! In addition a large contingent of riders are aiming to support the Wootton Bassett Afghan Heroes ride and flags are in the process of being aquired to fly from the bikes. We'll be leaving McD's at Penn Inn, Newton Abbot at 0800hrs then joining more at Exeter Services M5 at about 0820hrs and stopping at Sedgemoor Services at 0900hrs for a break.

Sunday morning breakfasts continue to be "de rigour" at Haldon Grill, and its a good job they are called "all day" breakfast - we are there until 12 most Sundays! As the weather warms up we will no doubt be doing a bit more riding out from there, but for the moment the hot tea and bacon butties are having a very gripping allure! Stu and Cowboy Dave won the prize for failing to recognise 'when is not a good day to ride' !

Keep an eye on the forum events section, as the weather improves then flyers and posters will need to be distributed to biking haunts so no doubt these will be arranged on there.

DECEMBER 2009

Here we are at the end of a very busy year and a very succesful year it has been for BMAD, as always thanks to both the committee and members and also the many supporters who have been involved in Bike Nights, the Festival and our social events. Here's hoping that 2010 goes as well.

Decembers ridout for the hardy, was to Tavistock and apparently it was an eventful one but safe and fun!... it went something like this ~
Will, John, Paul, Norman, Sawnoff, Double D and Tilla left Newton and took the road through Bovey and out through Moretonhamptead to ride out across the moor in bright sunshine at 10.30
First little episode was a herd of wild horses (tones of the Stones!) being driven down the road and into a field. But to get there they had to get through a right old flood. We waited and let a car come through the other side before we tackled the water - wow - made some pretty impressive bow waves - it was like crossing the Rio Grande! Several people complained that they got water up their trouser legs - well if you will put your feet up on the bars! and Sawnoff reckoned his foot plates were acting like surf boards - he aqua planed!
Couple of miles up the road and it was hazards on again, wait for the cruisers to catch up and keep out of the way of a huge red bull (aren't they suposed to give you wings?) He was being herded into a field and had to cross the road in front of us - no way were we going to argue with him! If Cowboy had been there he might of ridden him into the corale.....
Tavistock and Costa Coffee with friends of Will and John's - Megan and her dad, and Tassles up from Camborne for a little ride. We couldn't keep the GT people out of the pasty shop so left them munching on pastry to ride down to Plymouth and our separate ways home

The BMAD Xmas party was so good we held it twice !! 2 sittings over 2 nights so all could come.
	Lets just say that the dress code was 'alternative' with some making an effort and then others who forgot their underwear ! He could have waited till after the meal to let us in on that age old question......"what do old people forget to wear when they go out ? " As always Sue did us proud with the catering and it would be a good point to thank her for her hospitality and putting up with us over the year. Thanks again Sue and the staff at The Embassy Tavern

NOVEMBER 2009

The year is flying past and November was another busy month. New members have taken up places on the Committee as we are in full swing for next years Festival and need all the help we can get.

		This months official rideout was to Kingsbridge via various coastroads and other scenic locations! The ride was described as a triumph of determination over road problems! Apparently Tilla had chance to recite some poetry to herself as they bowled along, and alledgedly Mervy was listening to Songs of Praise! Corky claimed to have been listening to the Dam Busters theme in his head - each to their own!
The Breakfast Club continues to grow in popularity with some brave soles even attending in their cars when it's wet, lets here it for the Plymouth HOG section :) Wednesday nights we still meet at The Embassy and this month Chris and Roger Yetton gave us a talk on motorcycling tours in the USA. They must have made a good impression as Les has departed for a 3 month sojourn to our american cousins. God Bless America !
Tilla arranged a trip to the NEC Bike Show and managed to fill a 57 seater coach.....with other people not just her! It was a very early start but we made good time up to Brum with a good bit of coach banter, thankfully nobody sang and a suitable DVD - Wild Hogs, kept us entertained. Strange how each character in the film could be identified on the coach.
		I think the general consensus was that although the trip was well worth going on, the actual show was a tadge dissapointing with many of the manufacturers missing. Keri did a good recruitment job while we were there any manged to sign up a number of traders for the Festival. The rest of us made our own entertainment !!

Just a quick advert for the Christmas meal - Starting at 7pm on Wednesday 16th December at The Embassy Tavern, Colin Road, Paignton, all welcome. £10 a head for 2 courses for further info see the Forum or contact Tilla on 07929 079084

OCTOBER 2009

October saw the end of Bike Nights and the start of preparations for the 2010 Festival. The last Bike Night was a great success and many people commented on what a great atmosphere there was. The final total for the Bike Nights + Festival was £34,599.39. For a break down of each nights takings click HERE.

October's official rideout took us to Sidmouth zzzzzz, well we certainly woke the town up. Once again it was good to see some new faces and in total 15 bikes (18 people) came out, so a good turn out.

With good weather blessing us for all the Sundays in October, impromptu meets took place at the Haldon Grill where breakfast was consumed with the regular banter, which seemed to continue onto the Forums and mostly involved Andy H. Various routes were then chosen adhoc and some great rides were had.
		October 31st, being Haloween, saw the gathering of ghouls, ghosts and the living dead at the Embassy Tavern (that said you can see them there on Wednesday nights too) Tilla did a great job of organising the festivities and she promised she wouldn't wear such a hideous mask next year ;) Great effort on the costumes people, although Kerri shouldn't have worn her best frock !

Just a reminder that Social Nights at the Embassy have moved to Wednesday nights feel free to drop in and say hi. 18th November we are having a presentation about touring in the USA.

JUNE 2009

Once again June has been a busy month for BMAD, the first Bike night saw 1400 bikes descend on Paignton Sea Front, as always a huge thank you to all riders who attend and a bigger thank you to the marshalls that give up their time to make it all happen, pfft! to the committee you chaps do it because you have nothing better to do ! ;) (Not true I know)

The sixth monthly ride out saw 13 bikes leave Newton Abbot, for St Austel. Only 2 made the final destination, which sounds like carnage but, weather, and time took it's toll on the way down

The second bike night was a washout, the weather let us down and Man U were playing in some football match which they needn't have bothered turning up to, as they lost, that said we had a few hundred bikes on the seafront.

June is traditionally when we have our France trip due there being no Bike Night on because of other events on the green. 6 went over on 4 bikes, Chris, Neil, Mark, Keri, Stu and Debs. With out going in to great detail (as it is all on the forums), I think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all, although no one is allowed to mention Sat Navs ever again ! Big thank you to Keri for doing all the organising and to her and Mark for allowing us to use their house in Brittany as a base. Cutting grass has never been so much fun!.

Whilst some of us were sunning ourselves in France others took part in the Mega Ride which I understand was very succesful again this year.

The last Bike Night of June saw in excess of 1500 bikes on the sea front, our best night so far this year.

Just a reminder that we meet on Friday evenings at The Embassy Tavern in Paignton (details here)for a few drinks and a chat, if you are in the Torbay area come and say hi.

MAY 2009

May 1st and festival here we go!. The committee and others started on Wednesday on site preparing the site ready for the event which opened at 6pm on Friday. It's not until you get involved in something like this that you truley realise the amount of organisation that goes into it. It's been said a lot but thanks to the dedication of some who take the time off work and give their time for free the Festival would not be the sucess it is. And it was a sucess, no one seriously injured, happy traders, happy bikers, happy tourists, and lots of money raised for charity, £16,000 to be exact. The final total was added to by the traders on the pier to round it up.

Sadly Friday came in a bit damp but made way for a glorious Saturday and Sunday, no one came preparred and aftersun was the order of the night. The Festival closed it's gates on the Sunday, then came the clear-up which continued into Monday. By Tuesday you couldn't tell that 30,000 people had been on the green over the weekend.

All involved took a deserved rest from BMAD issues (well kind of as the AGM needed to be arranged) and are now getting ready for the first Bike Night of the year on Wednesday May 13th.

The AGM took place on Tuesday 19th May and members were elected to posts within the committee.

Rideouts have been taking place most Sundays with a reasonable turn out, more details can be found on the forum or here.

Bikenights have started in ernest now with the first week being a bit damp, week 2 was a reasonable turn out despite being overcast and week 3 was damp and some football match was on (rather than see Man U get defeated you could have all come to Bike Night !!) so numbers were down. Details of how much is taken on the gate are on the Charities page.