Received from Paul Airton, East Anglian Air Ambulance
Please find attached the preliminary details for a planned ride-out on 7 & 8 August….
The ride is in two separate days, with currently no overnight stay….although that is a possibility for those wanting to do both days, travelling into Bedfordshire to start the run….
Day 1 is completely under the rotors of EAAA – and we are delighted that the organiser has selected us to be the beneficiary of his efforts. Graham is in the ambulance service – and when folks from the ambulance service itself are giving money to the air ambulance, it says an awful lot about the need for the charity.
Day 2 takes riders through the area of Essex Air Ambulance & Hertfordshire Air Ambulance. Any riders are welcome to take part in the ride, and if they wish to raise money for their local air ambulance of these two counties, please set your own JustGiving or VirginMoney pages up for your sponsors.
Please Support Graham in any way you can. Join in the ride, or help organise the rideout – or both. Either way, this is not a race…..remember Think Bike applies to riders as well as other road users. Ride Safely…
From Graham Sharp …
I am organising a motorcycle rally over two days on the 7th and 8th of August 2010. The route over both days will take us to 13 different ambulance stations within the East of England Trust area, stopping off for approximately 15 minutes for a leg stretch and brew, and an hour for lunch at the seafront of Great Yarmouth and Southend. Attached is the planned route of main roads to be travelled on. (Any better route suggestions considered!)
I would like to add some fundraising for the rally in aid of the East Anglian Air Ambulance charity. Any ideas for the raising of money, e.g. sponsorship or entry fees, to me ASAP please! One suggestion is for each rider to donate and a little bit of “not bucket shaking” 
at the stations stopped at en route….
If you or your friends/family ride a bike and would be interested in joining us for the whole rally, part of the rally, or maybe you live/work out of one of the stations along the route and would like to join us from there? Or have any questions, please let me know/contact me by email to (don’t laugh!) grahamsharp999@hotmail.co.uk or txt to 07500706435 (just for rough numbers of expected participants).
Everyone is welcome to join us, the more the merrier!!!
Thanks for reading and hope to see you on the road.
Stay upright!
Graham Sharp, SAP, Kempston Group.
Motorcycle Ride Out
Planned Route for Day 1, Saturday 7th August 2010
(Timings and mileage are an estimate from AA route planner, town to town)
- Leave Kempston @ 0800hrs > A421 > A1 Northbound, 41 miles, 51 minutes to Peterborough
- Leave Peterborough @ 0915hrs > A15 > A47, 37 miles, 58 minutes to Kings Lynn
- Leave Kings Lynn @ 1030hrs > A148, 43 miles, 1 hour to Cromer
- Leave Cromer @1145hrs > A149 > A140, 23 miles, 36 minutes to Norwich
- Leave Norwich @ 1230hrs > A47, 20 miles, 32 minutes to Great Yarmouth (Lunch)
- Leave Great Yarmouth @1345hrs > A12, 57 miles, 1 hour 24 minutes to Ipswich
- Leave Ipswich @ 1530hrs > A14, 54 miles, 1 hour 14 minutes to Cambridge
- Leave Cambridge @ 1700hrs > A428 > A1 southbound > A421, 30 miles, 49 minutes to Kempston @ approximately 1750hrs.
Total miles for day 1 – 305
Motorcycle Ride Out
Planned Route for Day 2, Sunday 8th August 2010
(Timings and mileage are an estimate from AA route planner, town to town)
- Leave Kempston @ 0900hrs > A603 > A1 southbound, 23 miles, 36 minutes to Letchworth
- Leave Letchworth @ 0945hrs > B656 > A507 > A10 > A120, 23 miles, 41 minutes to Bishops Stortford
- Leave Bishops Stortford @ 1035hrs > A120, 35 miles, 56 minutes to Colchester
- Leave Colchester @ 1145hrs > A12, 25 miles, 36 minutes to Chelmsford
- Leave Chelmsford @ 1230hrs > A130 > A127, 21 miles, 33 minutes to Southend on Sea (Lunch)
- Leave Southend on Sea @ 1400hrs > A127 > M25 to J22 (I know, boring road!), 55 miles, 1 hour 10 minutes to St. Albans
- Leave St. Albans @ 1530hrs > A1081, 11 miles, 23 minutes to Luton
- Leave Luton @ 1605hrs > A6, 20 miles, 36 minutes to Kempston @ approximately 1640hrs
Total miles for day 2 – 213
We’ve just received this email from our colleague, David, in West Yorkshire. As many of you are regular commuters, you may wish to help out by giving some feedback …
I’ve been asked by the guys who made the ‘Great Roads Great Rides’ DVD’s if I can pass on the message below. They’re putting together a new riders DVD and want your input:
Filming for the Commuter Survival Guide for Motorcyclists starts 15th June and we want the input of real bikers to shape the production. The film will deliver practical guidance and tips from a top rider’s perspective on surviving the commute. This commentary based film will follow a motorcyclist on a journey out of a busy UK city during rush hour.
To ensure we create a programme with all the information a biker could ever need, we would appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete the pre-filming survey on the link below. Please tell us a bit about yourself. This information will not be shared and is for internal use only.
It’s been all quiet on the blog for a while, but we’ve been busy behind the scenes working on new safety initatives for motorcyclists for 2010.
We’re pleased to have produced our second edition of Bedfordshire Biker magazine which was mailed to all subscribers and distributed to local motorcycle dealers in March and April. If you haven’t seen a copy, contact us and we’ll add you to our subscriber list. Subscribe online at www.bedfordshire-biker.org or phone Nicola or Caryl 01234 716333 or email your address to subscriptions@bedfordshire-biker.org.
We also have a season of RideSafe assessments planned – your chance to have your riding assessed by a Bedfordshire Police Advanced Motorcyclist. It’s free and you’ll receive expert advice on what you do well and where you could improve or benefit from further training. For dates and details, follow this link.
1st Ride for pre-CBT novice riders, launched lat year, is also running throughout the summer. For details of 1st Ride, follow this link.
We’re also pleased to be distributors of the CRASH card, developed by the Ambulance Motorcycle Club and supported by the East of England Ambulance Service. The concept is simple – motorcyclists are asked to carry a CRASH card inside their helmet which includes your name, post code, date of birth and any important medical information that paramedics and hospital staff can refer to in case you are involved in an ‘unscheduled dismount’. A small green dot to fix to your helmet will let paramedics know that you have a CRASH card inside your helmet. For your CRASH card, email info@motorcyclingmatters.org or call 01234 716333. For more information, visit http://www.ambulancemotorcycleclub.150m.com/crash-card.htm
Over 1000 people attended the open days held at Dunstable Community Fire Station on the 21st March and Bedford Community Fire Station on the 29th March to help kick off the Motorcycle Training Matters initative.
Carl Fogarty attended the first open day held in Dunstable and said “I was really pleased to come along and support the event and to help spread the word that “training matters”. It doesn’t matter whether you ride on the race track or on the roads – it’s training that makes you a better rider and makes you less likely of being involved in an accident”.
Many thanks to Shaun Masters, everyone who helped organise the events, the exhibitors and all who took part.
We hope to do more of the same in the future.
A post from Simon Deards (Chairman, Motorcycling Matters Forum)
I was deeply sorry to hear the news that Peter Cox died on Wednesday. I first met Peter through the Bedfordshire and Luton Motorcycle forum, which he supported very actively. His keen eye for detail and passion for motorcycling helped us to develop the work of the group and improve how we do things. He was heavily involved in promoting the BloodRunners service to Bedford Hospital, which started up just a few weeks ago. Peter’s valuable contribution to the development of motorcycling locally will be sadly missed and my personal sincere condolences go out to his family.
