Lincolnshire’s magnificent seven

As a long-term member of the International Motorcyclists Tour Club (IMTC), I was delighted to be leading a day out. A meet was organised at Nocton Heath Café, just south of Lincoln, for a 140-mile ride around some of the area’s quieter roads, most of which I have to say were minor, with many having grass growing up in the middle – superb for the KTM with its long suspension travel.

When any run is posted in the monthly IMTC mag the organisers always wonder just what the turnout will be. Fortunately, the weather was kind and a total of seven bikes met for a 10.30am start. Another machine turned up from Sheffield, but just joined us for breakfast.

Due to risk assessments now having to be completed for regional rideouts, the days have sadly passed when aimless runs, led by our hearts, were possible. Prior to the day the pre-runs were done, one about a month beforehand and a second a week prior, to ensure that no roads had been resurfaced or closed.

Breakfast over, we set off south of Sleaford for a ride north to the Wolds. After some 50 miles the attending bikes had their suspension tested by doing the ‘Wasps Nest’ loop – yes there is a village (well three houses and a farm) called Wasps Nest – give it a try if you’re in the area. It’s off the B1190 Bardney to Lincoln road. The loop is of the undulating 30mph comfort suspension testing type, as opposed to the smoother and faster A-road test – I make this point as one of the guys was on his Honda CBR600 – he also owns a Gold Wing and a BMW 1200GS. I bet he was cursing me!

While on the subject of other machines, it was interesting to find that a total of 18 bikes were owned by the seven participating riders. The average age was 61 and three of us were just a year shy of 70. The lunch stop – in picnic style – was taken at Willingham Woods, near Market Rasen – an ideal break as toilets and refreshments are available. It’s a popular Lincolnshire bike meet that attracts upwards of 500 machines on any sunny Wednesday evening. Picnic over and a short one-hour ride around the Wolds saw us conclude at a café in South Willingham, where ice creams, coffee and cakes were enjoyed.

The KTM rarely runs at such a sedate pace – I normally find myself riding a lot faster than I did on this trip – but it proved to be entirely suitable on this jaunt thanks to its all-day comfort, luggage capacity, visibility and fuelling – it excelled at the Wasps Nest of course. And with that well-controlled fuel management system, it even managed 54mpg on the day.

After saying my farewells to the group I hacked home on my own. Over some 35 miles, the mpg dropped to 42, so I certainly appeared to have upped the pace somewhat. Okay, it’ll mean me reaching into my pocket a little more at the pump, but who cares? It nicely blew the cobwebs away and made my day’s ride even more memorable.

The rider Sixty-nine-year-old Roger Jones has been riding since he was 16 – first on a two-stroke Royal Enfield 150cc Prince. He’s owned 52 bikes, including an R100RS that he bought new in 1977 and still owns. He joined the International Motorcyclist Tour Club at the same time and still travels around 8000 miles a year. In 1984 he rode 970 miles in a day back from the Austrian GP on a 1984 K100RS.

The bike Cost new: £15,999 Performance: 160bhp, 103lb-ft Wet weight: 249kg Tank size: 30 litres Seat height: 860mm

This month Miles: 730 Miles in total: 4980 Average mpg: 45 Highlights: Every ride in the dry Lowlights: Keeping other testers’ hands off the KTM