R5K members get ready to ride
With the lockdown about to ease, big-mile riders reveal what they’ve missed most…
‘I miss stopping for a chat and bacon butty’ #R5K MEMBER DAVID RAYMONDE
Covid-19 has curtailed everyone’s big-mile aspirations, but as restrictions look set to ease #Ride5000miles members are getting ready to more than make up for lost time.
With marginally more relaxed rules due to come into effect in England on Monday, March 29 members of the group revealed what they’d missed the most. “It’s the riding and the stopping and putting the world to rights over a bacon butty and a cup of tea,” says David Raymonde, from Bury. “I miss that freedom a bike gives you, something you don’t get in a car.” Normally covering around 6000 miles a year, many as an IAM National Observer aboard his Ducati Multistrada 950, David is looking forward to restarting his weekly rides with friends – having established a Thursday night group before Covid. He continued: “We look at the weather, decide which direction we should set off in and one of us will have a route, or we’ll put something into the satnav.” And 28-year-old Freddie Sheddington, from Leicester is also itching to get going. He usually covers between 8000 and 10,000 miles on his two bikes. That dropped to just 2500 miles in 2020 due to the pandemic, and now Freddie is determined to pile on the miles once riding restrictions ease.
He said: “Riding to me is everything; it gives me motivation to keep moving forward and gives me something to aim for. Riding motivates me and helps me make positive changes in my life.
“I love riding in new places. I love the fact something incredible could be beyond the next bend. Every mile brings you closer to seeing somewhere new or meeting a new person with their own story.” Another R5K member Andy Radley, from Mersea Island, is simply missing the people you meet along the way. He explained: “I miss stopping and chatting to people – whether they’re mates or strangers that you bump into. Bikes are a great conversation-starter.”