CW Motorcycles off road ride, Shaftesbury to Stonehenge, 23/05/05, Transversality

May 23, 2005

CW Motorcycles off road ride, Shaftesbury to Stonehenge

Follow-up to The wisdom of Obi Wan Kenobi from Transversality - Robert O'Toole

Just to prove that the GS is a great off-road bike rather than a two wheeled Range Rover, we went out with a group of 14 of them in difficult conditions across Dorset to Stonehenge.

Martin (BMW R1100GS) and I (BMW R100GS-PD) had a great weekend in Dorset. On Saturday we had our bikes serviced at the always excellent CW Motorcycles in Dorchester, and then stayed in Charminster's Three Compasses Inn for the night (really good beer). On Sunday morning, we met up with the CW Riders Club and went for a swift road blast to Shaftesbury, where a group on 12 other bikes met up. These included almost all of the bikes from the 25 years of the GS range, including an early 80's GS made into a lightweight trail bike…

…my '93 GS Paris-Dakar, Wally's GS sidecar outfit next to Martin's R1100GS…

…several F650's, R1150GS's, Martin's R1100GS, and even a new R1200GS.

The route was excellent, starting with a long stretch along the top of a ridge – an old drover's route i think. An 1150GS was an early casualty, going over just in front of me as it dug awkwardly into a section of chalk gravel used to repair a worn track. Wally followed us with the mechanic Richard on the side car to help with any problems and more importantly to take photos of the fallen bikes.

We then came to a long section with more pools of water than dry road. This was great fun, splashing down into them, causing a bow wave to splash out, and then powering up the other side. Unfortunately, in one very large pool, I got cross-rutted just as I came out, and ended up going sideways and landing with a splash. As you can see from this photo, I was heavilly loaded with camping gear, which didn't help its stability…

After a short section of road, we turned back onto another byway, leading up a steep hill. By this time it had started to rain, and the chalk track got quite slippery. This was made worse by the deep ruts cut into the hillside, some of which were narrower than my rear tyre, causing it to spin. I paddled my way to the top, with both feet down, pausing twice to rest. Once up to the top, we were treated to better roads and a great view. Martin powered along, much faster than me, seeming thoroughly at home sitting rather than standing on his big white GS.

After some smoother tracks, we reached another road, at which point Wally advised the bikes without full off-road knobbly tyres to take a road route for the last couple of miles, as it had started to rain heavily. Once we reached our destination, it really started to pour.