Evening at Woody’s
The Tracer gets an evening out to join fellow bikers and campers in Lincolnshire
SINCE GETTING THE Tracer back from its 600-mile running-in service, I’ve been on a few long trips – well, long for a novice. I’ve put on an additional 1100 miles this month, visiting friends and family and just getting out and about.
I decided it was time to go to my first ever bike night and roped in a friend to come along. We met at Woody’s Bar and Restaurant, a popular Monday evening get-together at Woodland Waters, a camping and fishing site in Lincolnshire just outside Ancaster.
The route there covered everything the Tracer is good at – a 20-minute jaunt up the A1 followed by some lovely sweeping open roads from there across sections of the former Roman Road Ermine Street (now called High Dyke) to Ancaster.
There were well over 100 bikes at Woody’s, from sportsbikes to a big collection of Harleys. I parked the Tracer on the edge of the field, feeling like I’d turned up to a Ferrari meet in an Astra, but the Tracer still got a lot of attention, with many people saying they hadn’t seen one before.
Woody’s is a great SPEC YAMAHA TRACER 700 £7139 + 689cc parallel twin + 74bhp + 196kg + 17-litre tank + 835mm seat + Miles so far: 1780
venue for a bike meet, with a tarmac entry road and a large field for bikes. There’s a well-stocked bar and the restaurant serves everything from cheesy chips to a very decent-looking steak. A summer evening helped with the vibe, with campers and families joining in walking around the bikes.
Having not ridden in the dark before, I was keen to get home before darkness fell – something that I need to tackle before the nights start to draw in again. SARAH NORMAN